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“Sam! Move!” Emily calls out.
Sam turns to see Emily carrying a giant rock. A rock so big, Sam can hardly believe Emily can carry it. Sam scrambles out of the way and Emily drops the rock directly on his face. The wet splat it makes when it hits him is satisfying beyond words, but absolutely nothing is more satisfying than watching him fall back down into the darkness of the cave under the weight of the boulder. Sam and Emily watch intently until the darkness swallows him up. Still, they watch until they hear his body splatter below, followed by the cracking impact of the rock hitting bottom too. Once they hear that sound, they celebrate.
Screaming out in joy, laughing through tears, jumping up and down. The group of five embraces in victory. Anyone on the outside would assume they had just cashed in the winning Lotto numbers. No one would ever guess, their prize had actually been the death of a villain they, themselves, had finally slain.
Huddled together, they finish their celebration and take a steadying breath.
“Do you think this is really over, now? Like, for real this time?” Sam asks.
A meaningful silence passes between them and they all take one another’s hand.
Willow speaks first, “I don’t know how, but I’ll do whatever I can to make sure we’re safe from him.”
Emily shakes her head, “You shouldn’t have to do that. You didn’t do anything to earn this.”
Callie squeezes Emily’s hand, “None of us deserved any of this, including you, Emily.”
Raven squeezes Callie’s other hand, “We’re all in this together.”
Nods of agreement spread around the circle.
Sam speaks up, confirming the sentiment, “We’re in this together.”
Callie and Raven blush as they respond in accidental unison, “Always.”
Emily smiles, “I’m in, too. We’re in this together.”
Now, Callie adds, “And we will never tell a soul what happened. That is step one in protecting each other.”
Raven gives Callie a knowing smile. She will forever be grateful for these women willing to keep her safe.
Willow locks eyes with her sister now too, “Our secrets are buried with him and we will keep it that way.”
Sam laughs, “Like anyone would believe us anyway.”
These ladies, forever bound to one another, travel back through the woods together. They laugh. They joke. They hug.
They begin a long walk down a path toward moving on. Together.
Raven, Emily, Callie, and Sam stand hand in hand just outside the woods that hold all the secrets they’ve never told. They stare at the trees, completely unsure if today these woods will shelter them or break their hearts.
“So, just so we’re all on the same page,” Sam says, “we have no idea if this will work.”
Raven nods, “All I can find in our family spell work, is how getting rid of the attached object will shut down a spirit. It just never says exactly what that means, but I assume shutting it down is what we want. Right?”
Emily nods optimistically, “I would think that’s exactly what we want.”
“Yeah,” Sam says, “We got this Ray.”
Callie asks, “Are we ready, ladies?”
They all release an anxious sigh and begin walking into the woods. They know he will be watching and waiting. They know they are prey to a vicious predator the second they walk beyond the treeline.
But they keep walking anyway.
Within seconds, they can feel his eyes on them. With each measured step they take down the worn path, they can hear him slinking through the underbrush. A twig snaps to their left. Then, another to the right. Leaves rustle ahead of them. Heavy footfalls sound behind them. He is everywhere and nowhere all at once, but they know his game and refuse to give him the satisfaction of their fear.
A tree branch reaches out for them and nearly causes Callie to fall to the ground. She takes a breath to steady herself and carries on.
