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“You didn’t tell me you spread his ashes,” Charlie interrupted.
Sadie groaned, briefly squeezing her eyes shut. “You didn’t tell me my sister was with you.”
“She came over last night worried about you.” He sighed.
“Don’t be sneaky,” Charlie said softly. “Just tell me what’s going on. I already know you and Skyler were up to something the other day. He might know how to hide the truth because of his job, but not with this. I know you two didn’t go to the mall. You hate the mall.”
“We went to a metaphysical shop, all right?” Sadie huffed. “Not that I have to tell you where I go. I know how you get around things like that or I would’ve asked you to come.”
“It’s not that I fear the things in those types of shops, but it’s hard to explain how they make me feel. I could’ve easily gotten some sage and lit it at home after, though,” Charlie grunted, and Sadie rolled her eyes. “I’m not going to push, but I want you to confide in me.”
Sometimes, even when Sadie knew she could do things on her own, she still needed her sister. “Fine. After spreading River’s ashes in the woods, I’ve been experiencing these lifelike dreams, then the past few days I’ve found … River there. I know what you’re going to say, and you don’t have to believe me if you don’t want to, but I’m choosing to believe. It’s not only that … other things have been happening to me here.” She then confessed to her sister what she’d been experiencing during the day. The shadows, the animals, the silence, the rousing of sound, the dowsing rods. Even if she were conjuring up these things, she was functioning just fine. She wasn’t going off the rails, wandering the streets while shouting for River to come home to her. This was in her woods, her cabin, her home. It didn’t matter if any of it was a hallucination—it was her decision.
For a beat of a second, there was silence before Charlie spoke in a rush, “I’m taking off work and coming over.”
“Do not do that,” Sadie bit out. “I told you the truth, trusting that you weren’t going to treat me like a child. Mom and Dad don’t even do that.” She hadn’t talked to her parents about any of this, only checking in on them and telling them she moved out of Charlie’s place and into the woods.
“They stopped doing that when we became teenagers.” Charlie sighed. “And I’m not treating you like a younger sister—I only want to know if you need me to come to the cabin.”
Sadie mulled it over, and maybe she would’ve asked Charlie to swing by, to take off of work, if she were able to see the things she was. But she couldn’t. And even if she could, this was her needing to unravel the secrets with River.
“I’m all right. But if anything else happens, I’ll confide in you, Charlie. I promise.”
“All right, Sadie. I don’t care if I’m at work, call me if you need me. This is me treating you as an adult and not hurling myself over there,” Charlie said.
“I bet that was hard for you to say.” Sadie smiled. “I love you.”
“I love you, too. How about we get together on my next day off, at least? We can watch a movie of your choosing.”
“I’d like that. Tell Skyler I said bye.” Sadie set the phone on the counter, then placed frozen pancakes in the microwave before making hot chocolates.
To pass the time until midnight after getting ready for the day, Sadie took her laptop to the library, where only a few people were milling about. She submitted her magazine article, and since she was there, she glanced at the horror book section, yet nothing called to her. When she was younger, she used to read books all the time, but then she started veering away from them and falling in love with films more.
Sadie fidgeted with a corner of a tattered spine, the draw to get home to the woods pulling at her. She’d planned to stay out a long while—however, her mind was turning elsewhere, unable to concentrate on anything else. Gathering her things, she left the library in a rush.
Back at the cabin, she didn’t find another stag or doe close to her home, only a small brown rabbit and woodpecker. She wondered if this was the same woodpecker her sister had seen.
Sadie scooped up the rabbit, its chest gently rising and falling, and rested it near the woodpecker—all the while the shadows lingered on the ground near her. A little before sunset, she would return to see if they would stir as the stag had.
The group of shadows didn’t follow her back to the cabin, except for one that halted near her truck. Even though she couldn’t see the eyes hidden in its dark depths, she knew they were pinned to her.
“I know it’s you, River,” she said. “You might as well just come in the cabin.”
With that, she went inside, yet he didn’t follow. To keep herself busy, she worked on a short story that was due soon, but she had to stop as her mind continued to spin. So she took out her screenplay and listed more things that had occurred. River and the dagger, the bleeding hearts, the stitched trees, the cloak of moths, the goat-skulled creature warning her.
Sadie put on a seventies vampire film to play in the background for a bit of noise until daylight was about to end. She then went back outside to where the rabbit and woodpecker still rested. Sinking to the dirt, she waited with the shadows as company.
The sun seemed to take forever to dip down into its slumber. Sadie held up her phone, and as the sky darkened, she started to record. A few moments later, the sleeping animals’ eyes cracked open, their small heads perking up, then the bird darted into the trees, and the rabbit hopped away as if they hadn’t been in a forced sleep.
Sadie cut the beginning of the video, focusing on when the animals woke, then she sent it to Skyler and Charlie. What do you see?
After a couple of minutes, Charlie texted back. A tree trunk and grass?
Sadie frowned, rewatching the video again. She was still seeing the wildlife rouse. She then headed inside the cabin when Skyler messaged her. What am I supposed to be seeing?
A shiver ran up her spine. Why weren’t they seeing these things? She didn’t have the strength to wait in the woods until midnight. Besides, did it matter where she lingered? Each time, whether outside in the swing, inside the cabin, or near the opening leading underground, she found herself in that eerie night world of the woods.
As midnight neared, and she started to fidget, Sadie changed her mind, taking a flashlight and darting into the woods. Even though the shadows hadn’t spoken to her, she wanted their company again, wanted them beside her as she waited.
