My mother remains silent for a moment. “Yeah, I guess.” Her voice sounds odd—wobbly and yet empty. “Do you think it’s a good idea to continue, though, with what just happened?”
“Are you questioning me?” my father asks in a tone that is chillingly cold.
“Not at all,” my mother quickly says. “I just want you to be careful. That’s all.”
“I am careful. What happened just barely… That wasn’t my fault. It was her’s. She came on to me. She did this.” A short pause. “She’s a fucking little slut.
“Agreed. It’s good you got rid of her.” She pauses. “Marissa isn’t taking it well, though. Her death, I mean.”
“You haven’t told her the truth, right?”
“I’m not stupid, James. I know she has to believe it’s an accident.” She pauses again. “I wish she’d never brought her into our lives. I don’t know why she let that slut in her house when she knew what she was?—”
Knock. Knock. Knock.
Someone knocks on the window, startling me so badly that I jump. My gaze darts to the right, and I find my aunt Marissa glaring at me through the window.
“Why are you just sitting around in your car? You should be at school,” she warns while wrapping her jacket around herself.
I reach for the shifter. “I am.”
Her glare deepens. “Trystan told me about the people you’ve been hanging out with at school. That has to be an embarrassment for your mother. And do they know that you're dressed like a slut right now?” Weirdly, I swear there’s a twinkle in her eyes, like she’s getting off on tormenting me.
I think about the memory I just had.
I wonder who the person was that was related to Marissa.
I stare at her, wondering if she’s aware of the stuff my parents were talking about that night.
When she glares at me, I tear my attention away from her. She’s always so timid unless it’s directed at me. It’s beyond annoying, and I don’t even know why she seems to hate me.
She continues to glare at me as I drive away.
I know for sure when I return home, she’ll have told my parents about what I was wearing, and I’ll be in trouble.
Except when I get home, she hasn’t told them.
She kept it to herself.
It makes me wonder why.
And what other secrets she’s holding inside her.
33
AVA
I’m trying not to freak out as I make our way back to the rental cabin. Ellis ran after the person, and I’m worried about him, but I lost track of him in the woods. I also haven’t found Bailey. It’s causing this pressure in my chest to build. If I can’t get myself together, I’ll end up having another panic attack.
It doesn’t help that I’m unsure if I’m going in the right direction. Before Ellis took off, he’d pointed this way and told me to go back before sprinting off into the night. I’d called out after him, but he didn’t turn around, vanishing into the night.
As I hike forward, thunder booms in the distance, a warning that a storm is coming. But it might already be here, even before the rain showers down.
Was it my aunt Marissa taunting me tonight?
Why would she do that?
What is she hiding?
