On the drive, my phone blows up with messages from Mia.
MIA: That had to be the best classical concert I’ve ever been to.
MIA: Have you seen the videos?
Footage from the concert has taken off on social media. Rydell Prep students, in particular, are taking great pleasure in sharing it. Stonybridge will need to work extra hard to erase this scandal. As well as videos, someone even created a meme of me playing with the captionPied Piper. Witty, but unoriginal.
“Can I make you some food?” Mom offers when we get home.
“Thanks,” I say, trudging up the stairs. “But, after tonight, all I want to do is to finish my book report and go to bed.”
Finally alone, I slump down at my desk, thoughts abuzz with giant rats. I watch every video I can find of the concert, slowing them down to study each face in the crowd. No one looks out of place. I scour the background, searching for the masked man, but find nothing. If I’d really seen him, surely there’d be evidence somewhere? No one can be that good at hiding.
After endlessly scrolling for a few hours, I mentally shake myself. There has to be a logical reason to explain the figure I saw—a shock-induced hallucination, perhaps? Yes, that has to be it. Finally more at ease, I pull back my bedsheets.
“Fuck!” I gasp and stagger backward.
Nestled underneath the comforter is a rat skull with purple flower petals neatly scattered around it. A note rests next to it, written in the same cursive that I’ve seen before.
Did you really think you’d got rid of us?
We live in the walls, Little Ghost.
I race to my en suite and throw up. I hug the toilet, consumed by uncontrollable shakes. Fear takes hold. It’s no coincidence my performance was targeted. It was them. They’ve broken into my school before, but their latest message changes everything.
They’ve been in my space.
In my home.
My bed.
It’s not over.
Yet, the police claim they found all the missing patients. My father was adamant about the number of patients that escaped. He can’t have got it wrong, could he? I could tell him what happened, but that’d mean explaining what happened after he left me in Sunnycrest. I could go to the police, but they won’t take me seriously. They’d take one look at my past, a historyof depression and a missing sister, and take me straight to Sunnycrest for a permanent vacation. The men have to know that, otherwise they wouldn’t be so brazen. No one will believe me, so I have no choice but to stay silent.
What do they want? Maybe if I don’t give them a reaction and continue like everything is normal, they’ll get bored and move on? What alternative option do I have?
I rinse the acidic bile from my mouth and scrub my face clean. They think they have all the power, but they’ll only break me if I let them.
If they return, I have to be ready…
CHAPTER
NINE
ERIN
Another uneventful week has passed,only putting me more on edge. Sometimes, the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end when I walk the school hall or when I’m at home alone, sensing their presence. I’m probably paranoid, but my instincts tell me I’d be naive to think they’d forgotten about me already.
But I refuse to stay locked inside, hiding away. They can’t control me. I won’t let them. That’d be giving them what they want.
Mia admires my dress as I twirl. It’s emerald green with a tight bodice and translucent floaty sleeves. Delicate sequins in swirling patterns catch the light as I swish the tiered skirt across the floor. I look like a forest fairy, which perfectly matches the autumnal season.
“You look amazing,” she gushes.
“So do you,” I say.
Mia straightens her golden tiara, which matches her flaming red ballgown. Vibrant orange fabric layered underneath her dress leaves a trail of flames with every step.
