Rage filled her, suddenly. An unexpectedanger.No one was around, save for the random cars that drove past, so nobody cared when she let out a choked, furious scream that ended in a sob.
This wasn’tfair.
But life wasn’t fair.
And it was getting late, and she was exhausted, and she was soaked. She needed a dry, safe place to sleep before she could try to come up with a game plan the next day.
She’d debated wedging herself under a bridge or in a doorjamb somewhere, but that didn’t seem very safe. There were always stories on the news about how homeless women in particular were common victims of assault—sexual and otherwise.
There was no path ahead of her. Nothing for her in her future.
The worst kind of thought entered her mind.
One that she didn’t know how to handle. It wasn’t something she’d ever contemplated before. But there it was.
What’s the point in going on?
A rock lodged itself in her throat and she released another broken sob. She didn’t want to die. She didn’t. She wanted to fuckinglive.But what was her life going to become, now? What hope did she have? None.None!
No. No, she couldn’t give up that easily. She couldn’t. She just couldn’t. This was all too fresh in her mind, too raw. She had to take a second, get some sleep, and think about things rationally in the morning.
That meant she had to get some sleep. Somewhere dry. And somewhere safe.
Butwhere?
Then…it hit Ava.
Her steps slowed to a stop. And she looked off into the woods. North Adams was bordered on one side by one of the thickest woods in New England—and some of the only woods that were never cut down when the European settlers showed up.
School trips in Berkshire County weresuper fucking boringso they went into the woodsa lot.Every year was a thing about the Mohawk Trail. Or a trip to the modern art museum. Or both.
But that meant she remembered all the weird abandoned structures that were out there—old abandoned places back from when people in the fifties actually went camping and grilling. And before people got sued into oblivion when others fell through crumbling cement structures.
Including one tower in the middle of nowhere that had been abandoned long ago because someone had jumped off it, or…died there, or something—the urban legends were all tangled up. Either way, it was somewhere dry, and hopefully she’d be…the only homeless person trying to take shelter there.
If she remembered correctly, it wasn’t too far from where she was. Maybe a mile into the woods. Or two.
But what other choice did she have?
With a wavering breath, she took a right and struck off into the darkness. It was funny how things looked obvious in retrospect. But in the moment, things were so easily missed.
She should have wondered how she could have seen where she was going. How the path into the woods was strangely lighter than the darkness around her.
How there seemed to be flickering, glimmering orbs ahead of her, showing her the way to go.
But the deeper she went into the trees, the less those things bothered her. The less those thoughts even sunk in. She had them—something is wrong. This doesn’t feel right. What’s happening? Am I high?But they skipped across her mind like a stone across the surface of a pond but never sank any deeper.
It was like she was dreaming. Voices whispered to her, calling her deeper. Singing to her. Telling her to follow. And she was helpless to listen. She walked through the woods, the orbsshining around her, leading her through, as she listened to the rain and felt…a strange sense of peace wash over her.
This was where she was supposed to be. The direction she was supposed to go. This felt right. Slowly, her tears stopped flowing. She sniffled, wiping her face. She was still soaked. It was still shit-pouring rain. But she wasn’t shivering anymore.
The path in front of her was beautiful. Lined in flowers and ivy. Even in the darkness of the rain, it was filled with colors, like a dream.
It wasn’t until Ava found herself in a clearing, looking up at a large, seemingly abandoned building—no, an ancientestate,that she had a snap of clarity.
Jolting in surprise, she whirled to look behind her. “How did—” The path behind her was gone. There was only a wall of thickets too dense to pass through. And whatever light she had been following was gone now—it was too dark to even try to find a way through, she’d shred herself to bits.
Shivering in the sudden cold that settled over her, she took a step away from the briars, shaking her head in disbelief. What had justhappenedto her? How did she get here? One minute she’d been on the street, then she’d been walking through the woods, and…why’d she go into the woods? For shelter, but that wasidiocy,when she had no flashlight or?—
