Chapter 3
June 29, 2026 at 7:00 PM
I opened my eyes, grogginess lay over me like a blanket of thick fog. I heard some giggling and snickering and lazily looked at Ava. Instead, I saw the back of some boy.
Joy.
“Oh, hey, Toby.” I tried to make my voice sound as apathetic as I could muster.
This kid, Tobias Rohd, didn’t know how to be polite unless it was toward his crush of the month. Okay, well, I say that, but once he fixated on Ava, he was stuck. And he’d been head over heels for her for a while now.
It was gross.
I had no clue how his mom could stand him.
And I’ve had the unfortunate displeasure of knowing him for…well, forever. Ever since we were newborns. Was that enough time to officially declare I hated him?
Upon hearing my greeting, he shot me a cold glare that tried to stare daggers. I only gave back a pleasant smile. He ignored me and contin-ued talking to Ava.
I never got how Ava liked him or found him remotely pleasant to be around, but I always made sure not to upset him too much. He was a weird kid. He was really into tennis and was surprisingly good at it, yet he was also very into writing poetry.
I guessed it was poetry. I mean, what else could it be?
He was always scribbling away in his leatherbound notebook, but no one really knew what he wrote. Ava’s the only one to really ever get a glance, and she only looked because she knows he wouldn’t get upset with her. She told me it was some love poem, but he’s never read her anything like that. But his crush on her was beyond obvious, so maybe he’s pathetically practicing for some grandiose moment.
As long as I wasn’t around for it.
And I couldn’t forget his precious pin. A chrysanthemum that sparkled in all the ways he didn’t. His mom gave it to him and he wore it too proudly.
Their talking was annoying me, and I wanted to get out of this hos-pital. So, that was what I set out to do. Getting out of bed was simple enough, I only had bandages around my right forearm and a few fingers.
Nothing held me back.
I rolled out of the bed. The ache in my fingers was a bit sharp, but I headed for the door.
Ava spoke up. “Where are you headed?”
“Just out. I thought it hurt to talk?”
“It’s less painful now, don’t worry about me. The doctor gave me some numbing meds.”
I gave her a thumbs up. Toby thumbed me down.
Jerk.
With that, I decided I’d take my leave. We should be discharged from the hospital soon, so I decided to look around for Dr. Hernandez.
Usually nurses ran the place, but I didn’t spot a single one. Weird.
I wandered the halls, looking inside any open rooms. The stench of cleaners and sterility came on stronger out in the hallways.
Yuck.
Patients of all kinds were here. Some, like me, only suffered minor injuries. Others restrained in any number of casts. At some point I spotted another doctor tending to his patient. Given the empty halls, I popped in and noticed the girl he was tending to.
She seemed pretty beat up with a cast on her left arm and bruises on her right but didn’t seem upset and laughed up a storm with the doctor. I raised a hand, nerves making my body feel both weightless and anchored, and knocked on the door before entering.
“Um, excuse me, Doctor?” My voice cracked. I hated talking to strangers alone, but Toby made sure I didn’t have backup.
“Yes, young man?” he didn’t turn around, but that was fine with me.
“Have you seen Dr. Hernandez anywhere? I’ve been looking for her.”
“Why’s that? Something happen?”
“Oh, no. I just wanted to ask when my sister and I would be dis-charged.” A torrent of sweat invaded my palms, and the room suddenly felt like someone cranked on the heater.
“Oh, well, she isn’t in right now. An emergency popped up with a house call patient. Those don’t usually take long.” He turned and faced me with a smile on his face, locking eyes for a brief moment before turning his head back to his patient.
How was he so confident?
“Alrighty, Ms. Hampton, you should be fine from here on out. Just be careful with your cast.” He turned back and walked past me, out of the room.
My gaze followed him out, and then I realized I was alone.
With this girl.
I panicked and looked at her. “Sorry, I’ll get going.”
A quick heel pivot and I was nearly out the door.
“Wait.”
I stopped mid-step and faced her again.
She had cascading blonde hair that swooped around her gentle, cu-rious face. Her eyes were a light blue like the peaks of glaciers, yet gave off a warm and caring feeling. Almost as though she, herself, was a cozy campfire on a cool autumn hiking trip.
I couldn’t mess this up. Be cool.
“It’s nice to have a guest. I’m Sophia, Sophie for short,” she said, her expression not faltering.
“Sorry, uh, I’m Evan. Evan Adams. It’s nice to meet you.” I held my hand out and realized how bad of a move that was.
So much for that.
She giggled, melodious and full of life. “Well, Evan Adams, the pleasure’s all mine.”
My hand lingered in the air and it took me a minute to realize. I tried to change the subject. My hands got to a new level of clammy. “So, what happened to you? You seem a little worse for wear.”
“Oh, it’s a pretty unfortunate story. Ya see, I was out hiking with a friend, and we ended up getting caught in a storm. We ran back to get our stuff and I tripped in the mud, where a tree fell over and crushed my arm. I also twisted my ankle pretty bad, but that’s nothing compared to breaking an arm.” Her story flowed out as if she’d told it hundreds of times and her tone made it seem like it was just another Thursday.
Ouch, “I hope you’re okay.”
“Oh, don’t worry about me, I’m actually being let out today,” she seemed excited. Good for her.
“That’s awesome!” That was the best I could come up with.
“Yeah, what about you? Trying to hide something in plain sight?”
I broke out into a sweat. Was I that obvious?
“Right, long story. But the gist is that I was out in the forest at night and ended up with a nasty cut.” I shrugged and tried to be as casual as she was. Did she buy it? I didn’t think she’d believe me if I told her the full story, but I also didn’t want to revisit that right now.
She nodded one too many times, but her smile said she felt sorry. “That’s too bad, I’d love to hear the full story sometime. We should hang out later; I like you. Give me your number.” Despite her scattered thoughts, she oozed confidence.
Meanwhile, my charm floundered harder than Toby. Maybe she thought it was cute anyways?
I should get back to Ava.
We exchanged numbers. “Yeah,” I started, “I’ll see you around. I gotta get going.” I took a step back and waved goodbye. As I took another step backwards, I tripped on some kind of rock? I didn’t see or feel anything when I fell. I stumbled to my feet.
Why now? Of all times.
She put a hand up to her mouth and snorted. “Oh gosh, are you okay?”
“I’m good. I’ll see you around.” With my pathetic excuse of a goodbye, I bolted like my life was on the line.
When I got back, Toby and Ava were still talking and Mom and Dad had joined. I wondered when they got here, but that didn’t really mat-ter. I told them where Dr. Hernandez was and took a seat on my bed, being extra careful not to trip. I wasn’t sure if Ava ever updated our parents on her half of the story, but they seemed happier than ever to see her awake and talking.
Me, too.
A knock on the door came, and Dr. Hernandez followed with it. She walked much slower than yesterday, and updated us on our situation. Guess she was in a better mood today.
“So, you and Ms. Adams are going to be discharged soon. You don’t need to worry about much. Make sure you keep your cuts clean and take your antibiotics. But you, Ms. Adams, have to be careful with your throat. I’ve called my colleague, Dr. Naveo, and filled him in on the situa-tion. He’s the psychiatrist I mentioned earlier. Don’t worry, he’s a nice man and highly trained in these kinds of situations.” We all nodded as she spoke, and she handed my parents a card with his info on it.
I licked my teeth. A shrink? Really?
No doubt Ava wasn’t thrilled, either.
Dr. Hernandez answered a few questions my parents had, namely how much Dr. Naveo charged for his services, and then she left the room. She told us to hang tight while she filled out some last bits of paperwork.
We were being let go soon.
Finally. I could talk to Ava without prying eyes. Though I wasn’t sure when that’d happen with Toby having been pretty hard-set on sticking by her side. He really was like a lovesick puppy.
My thoughts drifted and thinking of the woods brought a sour taste to my mouth, but I also felt the urge to run back to them and discover the secrets they held. I kept telling myself: the woods aren’t the danger. It’s what lurks in them that is. We’ve lived in and around them forever and basi-cally grew up in them.
My thoughts were interrupted by Mom and Dad tapping on my shoulder. We were discharged and leaving. That was fast.
The drive home was silent. There was an unspoken tension despite the cheerful walk to the car. Toby, Ava, and I all sat in the back seats. I could almost taste my uneasiness, but my excitement to be back home was strong-er.
When we arrived, Mom and Dad thanked Toby for keeping us company and offered him to stay the rest of the day and overnight. He thanked them but refused the offer. He said he needed to let his mom know where he’d been and had some homework to do.
I really didn’t want to deal with them staying up all night.
So, thank you Ms. Rohd for always having homework. Never thought I’d be thankful for that, but here we are.
Toby helped Ava settle back in upstairs while I took a seat in the living room. The last thing I wanted to see was them be all cutesy and gross towards each other again.
Mom turned on the TV and I noticed she turned the volume up higher than usual. Dad glanced at the stairs and then looked straight at me.
Because that wasn’t weird.
“Can we ask you a few questions about last night?” he asked in a whisper.
“Um, sure?” I said, trying not to be suspicious.
Ah. There it was.
Whether or not I’d have to lie depended on their questions, and Ava wasn’t here to back me up on anything I’d tell them. The couch felt scratchy against my back and the TV blared at me. Like it was yelling at me to tell them everything. I tried to focus on my bandages. But they were itchy.
“We understand that this can’t be easy on either of you but, from what’s transpired, we don’t think Ava’s the best one to bombard with ques-tions.” Mom gave a wry smile, and I got the feeling she was holding back tears.
“Evan.” Dad patted me on my back. The kind he usually did when he was proud of me. It made me feel less overwhelmed. “What happened last night? I know you told us before, but maybe you remember more now.”
I bit my lip. He had to know I wasn’t telling the whole truth.
Still, I started from the beginning.
The stupid fight. The woods.
Ava.
Fear dug its claws into my shoulders and slithered towards my throat the longer I spoke. My voice trembled when I got to saving Ava. The glass. The cuts. The thing that stalked us in the dark.
That’s when Dad cut in. “Did this, ‘creature,’ have any noticeable features?”
“Well,” I stumbled, “it was freakishly tall. No face. Pale. It looks like your typical nightmarish abomination.” My voice regained confidence as I recalled how the creature looked.
“Did it talk to you at all?” His eyes were hard-set, “surely it com-municated something to you.”
Had he talked to this thing before? He acted like he had.
“Well, it talked to me, but without actually talking. Voices, but not actual voices. If that makes any sense.”
“What did it say?”
“It told me it was excited to meet us again and then to get out.”
“Huh. Alright,” he said, standing and taking Mom’s hand. “Go and get some rest. It’s been a hell of a day.”
Nodding, I headed upstairs; my feet raced faster than my mind. His responses. They knew something about that thing. They didn’t tell me to stay away from the woods. Shocking.
Either way, I wanted to go back.
Eventually.
When I entered Ava’s and my room, she and Toby were sitting on her bed. Both of them were careful and there was an unbroken silence in place.
“What were you three talking about?” Ava asked. Of course she heard, she could hear the wind whisper if she really wanted to.
“Oh, they wanted to hear what happened again. Figured you’d want rest, so they asked me,” I said.
I wasn’t lying.
Toby got off the bed and stretched. “Well, I’ll leave you be. I’ve got some stuff to do today. Text if you need anything,” his eyes radiated a guardian’s oath to protect what he held dear.
I was not part of that. The act dropped and replaced with disinter-est tinged with something else. I ignored it.
He also mouthed something while roughly patting my shoulder. “This is on you.” I think? But I didn’t care enough to react, I ushered him out instead.
Get lost, Tobias.
After he left, I plopped onto my bed and stared at the ceiling. I could feel Ava’s stare, but I didn’t want to confront it. “What did you two talk about up here?” Keeping things light.
“Not much, he mostly comforted me and then we tried to listen in on you three.”
I didn’t know where to go with this conversation, so I changed the topic. “And how are you feeling? Your throat?”
She massaged her throat. “It still hurts to talk once the medicine wears off, but I’ll be okay.” She took in a deep breath before letting her walls crumble. “That creature. I didn’t even see it before I was suddenly in the air with a noose tied around my neck. I chased after you, but lost track. When I heard your voice, I tried to find you. Then,” she struggled to get the words out. “All I could hear was static, and, and,” she went quiet.
Static?
I furrowed my brow. What did that mean?
Whatever, she needed me. I sat down next to her and wrapped her in a blanket. I hugged her. She leaned into me and I could feel her shaking. Ava never got like this. She was always like a superhero: standing tall and always cheering me on; picking me up when I fell down.
It was my turn to do the same.
“What happened after that?” I asked, giving her hand a squeeze.
“Then you came and got me down and we ran away.”
She wiped away her tears, and it wasn’t long before she calmed down and I handed her some tissues. Some of the details she mentioned.
We only saw the thing when it wanted us to see it.
I decided to fill her in on my side of the story.
Her eyes widened.
Her breath caught in her throat.
