Page 198 of Shhh…It’s A Killer Story

Inside I was screaming in pain, but on the outside I smiled wider. Something flickered across his face. Not fear but confusion. People become deeply unsettled when pain produces the wrong expression. He stared another second before grunting to himself, turning away and disappearing through the heavy iron doorway. The lock engaged behind him. One bolt. Then another. Then silence.

I rested my head against the back of the chair and closed my eyes for only a moment.

Elias...Please come home. Please notice the back door. Please notice the flour still scattered across the counter. Please notice Gerald’s fallen pieces. Please.

A drop of water struck concrete somewhere deep inside the warehouse. Another. Another. Each one is perfectly spaced. Like a metronome. Measuring time for something neither of us could see.

Slowly I lifted my head again looking at you.

You've stayed…I wasn't sure you would have I thought maybe you would've closed the book already.

The warehouse was still silent. My eyes wandered lazily towards the darkness beyond the doorway. Another slow drip echoed somewhere overhead. Footsteps came measured and unhurried.

One. Then another.

A shadow stretched slowly across the concrete until it reached my bare feet. It stopped. I looked up. Recognition struck me harder than the slap ever had.

"...You?"

For the first time since waking inside the container… I genuinely hadn't expected this. A slow smile unfolded across my face, not because I was safe but because everything had just become infinitely more complicated or well interesting.

"...Well."

I laughed quietly.

"This is a wonderful plot twist."

I whispered into the dark, my eyes locking onto theirs.

"This just became remarkably interesting."

I tilted my head, my dark eyes shifting from the figure right back onto yours, the distance between us narrowing down to a single line of text before the slate goes clean.

What is it I said to you in the beginning? Monsters aren't always what they seem.

My smile widened, sharp and hollow and perfectly calm.

They look like people you've already decided to trust…

Elias

The diesel engine growled beneath me as I turned onto the narrow mountain track, its familiar vibration travelling through the steering wheel and into my aching hands. Fog drifted lazily between the pines, swallowing the headlights before reluctantly giving the road back to me a few metres at a time. The entire valley felt muted, wrapped in a damp silence that settled over everything after sunset.

Max shifted restlessly in the back seat.

His claws scratched against the rubber mat before his nose pressed eagerly against the window, fogging the glass with quick bursts of breath. His tail thumped once against the side of the cab.

I couldn't help the tired smile that found its way onto my face.

"Easy, buddy," I muttered, glancing at him in the rear-view mirror. My own reflection looked like hell. Four days without real sleep had carved dark hollows beneath my eyes, and the stubble along my jaw had turned into something that barely resembled a beard anymore.

"We'll see her in a second."

Max answered with another impatient whine.

"I know,"

I chuckled quietly.