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They both laugh in the hysterical way only true friends can. Despite all the bad, all the sad, all the frightening.
Sam wipes a tear from her cheek, not sure if it was brought on by their current situation or the burst of much needed laughter. She sighs, “Oh Em… it really does. It’s so shitty.”
The mood returns to somber with this agreement. They exchange a glance and feel one another’s fear.
“I feel so much guilt,” Sam admits through gritted teeth, hating to give him the satisfaction of making her feel this way.
Emily looks shocked, “You feel guilt? This whole goddamn situation is on me. I started this.”
With a shake of her head, Sam goes on, “Don’t do that to yourself. I was the one there that day. It was me he was with when it all started. I antagonized him.”
“That’s not when it started, Sam,” Emily shakes her head, “That’s just the day it got worse. It started the first time he gave me a clue into who he was and I didn’t run.”
“You can’t keep going back to that, Em. You were a kid. We were all kids.”
Emily releases all the air in her lungs in a deep sigh, “You all warned me and I didn’t listen. I should have known.”
With Emily’s words, Sam suddenly feels a burst of power bloom inside her. Why were they still letting him put them down? No fucking way, “No. You will not shoulder all of that. Fuck him. None of us should shoulder any of it. It wasn’t anyone’s fault, but his. He did this to us. He made us who we all are today and he is why we are going home to find our friend. Just him. We aren’t giving him our power anymore.”
Emily smiles in Sam’s direction, “Thank you, love. I needed that reminder.”
The rest of the car ride goes back to silence, this time a comfortable one. A silence full of promise to finally reclaim their control over their lives. To finally take away his right to hurt any of them. This is all going to be done this time.
The certainty they feel in this quiet promise to one another seems to grow in strength every mile they pass until they reach the town of their childhood. The promise fades away to anxious energy as they come to the large billboard welcoming them to their hometown.
Parked beneath the sign is a classic 1979 Plymouth Road Runner painted candy apple red. There is no denying what is directly in front of them. It’s him. It has to be. It’s too surreal to be a coincidence.
They both stare gape-mouthed at the car as they pass. The car’s headlight flash at them and the horn honks. It is everything Emily can do to not run her car off the road. For the first time, they have proof that this is really happening. Willow did not just get lost or hurt in the woods. It’s official. He is back and they might not survive him this time around.
“Please tell me I didn’t just see that,” Sam says in a shaky voice.
“We’re just going to pretend we didn’t, understood?” Emily responds
Sam shakes her head, “But, Em, that was him. Just sitting there waiting for us.”
Both friends are in tears now over what this likely means for Willow, but Emily doesn’t seem to want to acknowledge it, “Look, we both know what we just saw, but Raven doesn’t need to. Not yet. It will just make things worse until we find out everything we can about what is going on.”
Sam understands. She sits back in her seat and nods solemnly.
Emily has to make sure, “Just between us for now?”
“Just us,” agrees Sam.
“Promise?”
“Promise.”
Sam and Emily finish the ride to Raven’s home in weighted silence once again.
Raven has been a fidgeting bundle of nerves all day and waiting for her friends to arrive has only made it worse. She has cleaned the whole house from top to bottom about four times. She tried to read but couldn’t make it a full sentence in before completely zoning out. She went for a walk but only made it to the end of the driveway before becoming too afraid to go any further. Casting is pointless because she can’t even remember basic spells with all the craziness running around in her mind. She eventually settles for watching anxiously from the front window until they arrive.
She is basically bouncing on her heels when she finally sees a car pull into her drive. Without a second of hesitation, she runs to the front door, flings it open, and rushes into the now steady rain. Emily and Sam rush from the car and the three embrace. This is a much needed squeeze for the entire group and they can feel at least a little of their stress melting away in each other’s presence.
By the time they run inside together, they all look like they’ve had a shower. Water pooling at their feet and tears pouring from their eyes, they hug again and fully take in the joy of being by each other’s side again.
Sam holds Raven at arm’s length and asks, “What happened?”
Raven looks at the floor and studies the water droplets falling from them because making eye contact is too much, “Willow went to look for some plants she saw growing wild about a mile or so into the woods. She told me she may be gone for the night because she wanted to check out a trail she found too, but then I didn’t hear anything the second night. Or the third either. I tried to signal her with a summoning spell, but nothing. And then I went to the coffee shop and, look!” Raven rushes to her bag and grabs the coffee cup.
