Earlier, when Addison touched the box, she’d felt a slight rush of energy. It seemed the box had awakened. When she placed her hands on the lid, she’d breathed new life into a pile of old relics which had sat on a shelf in a room, growing old beneath a blanket of dust.
Addison lifted the lid and peered inside the box. Sitting at the top was an item she recognized—the teddy bear Josephine had given to Sara. She grabbed the bear and inspected it, the stains she’d noticed before becoming obvious now. The stains were dried blood.
Addison set the bear to the side and kept digging. Next she pulled out a purse belonging to Scarlett. Inside was a pack of cigarettes, a hairbrush, several sticks of gum, and a pair of Led Zeppelin tickets. The box also contained a shirt and skirt and a small, rolled-up blanket. Beneath the blanket, sitting at the bottom of the box, was a gold, heart-shaped locket.
The locket was glowing.
Addison reached for the locket and opened it, hoping the inside would reveal something—a lock of hair, or even better, a portrait. To her dismay, she found nothing but a tiny black-and-white fragment, a remainder of a photo perhaps that had once been pressed into one of the locket’s halves. Addison slipped the thin, delicate chain onto her hand, closed her fingers over the locket in her palm, and chanted a passage she’d read in the book of enchantments:
Secrets locked up nice and tight.
Show me the memories you contain tonight.
Addison blinked and found herself in a forest. She looked up, eyeing the brightness of the full moon. Unsure which way to go, or if she should head in any direction at all, she waited for the forest to come alive, hoping it would reveal its connection to the locket.
A twig snapped beneath Addison’s feet. It made a sharp, popping noise. Addison jumped then sucked in a lungful of air and breathed, calming herself.
You’re fine.
This isn’t real.
It’s a memory.
It’s just a ...
In the distance the sound of footsteps approached, light and fast, followed by a woman’s desperate pleads.
“Stop it!” the woman cried. “Leave me alone! Go away!”
The woman’s voice was staggered and anxious. Addison searched the forest, trying to locate her. Seeing nothing, Addison raced toward the sound of the woman’s voice. She ran into a clearing, and the woman appeared before her, brushing through Addison’s shoulder as she ran past and crouched behind a tall oak tree.
Addison looked the woman over. She was young, early twenties, she guessed. She was barefoot, her left leg bleeding from a nasty gash just below her knee. Her long, blond hair fell in loose curls around her shoulders, and the gown she wore was familiar. Addison had seen it before on the woman staring down at her from a window at Belle Manor.
An ominous feeling of danger flooded Addison’s mind.
Addison shouted, “Hey! I don’t know why you’re running, but you must keep going. You can’t stay there. You’re not safe.”
But her words were of no use here.
She was in the past.
The forewarning offered would not change what was to come.
A man pushed through the clearing and looked around. He was tall and muscular and had large, broad shoulders. He wore a blue satin shirt, hip-hugging bell-bottoms, and scuffed, white dress shoes. He appeared bold and confident, and he had the slightest hint of a smile on his face—a smile that seemed to say he enjoyed the hunt, the round of hide-and-seek they were having. He clicked a flashlight on and waved it in front of him, scanning for movement between the trees.
“You’ve stopped running, which means you must be around here somewhere,” he said. “Where are you, Libby?”
When his words were met with silence, he kept moving, swatting branches out of his way as he poked his head around each one of the trees.
“Now, now,” he said. “Which one would you be hiding behind? You know, it’s just a matter of time before I find you. There’s no escaping me out here. I’ll look all night. Why don’t you make it easy on both of us? Come out, and we can talk. I know you’re scared, but it’s not what you think. I swear. Won’t you let me explain? I’m a reasonable man. You can trust me, darlin’.”
The man was anything but trustworthy and reasonable, and he was close to Libby’s hiding spot. Too close. Three more trees and he’d find her.
Desperate for an alternate option, Libby poked her head out to gauge the distance between where she was and where else she could go. Her eyes darted around, searching for a place, any place. There wasn’t one. She was trapped. Still, she grasped the urgency to do something, to try at least, and when the man turned his head, she darted out from behind the tree and sprinted in the opposite direction.
The man laughed. “Aww, there you are. I knew you couldn’t have gone far. Not in these woods, and not without shoes.”
In seconds, he was close enough for her to feel him breathing down her neck. He reached out and snatched her dressing gown. Clutching it in his hands, he yanked it back, breaking the gold locket dangling from her neck in the process. He grabbed the locket off the soil and shoved it into the pocket of his pants. Libby jerked around like a feral cat, resolute in her attempt to free herself from his grip. It aggravated the man even more. He grabbed a fistful of her hair and spun her around to face him.
Libby wasn’t going anywhere.
The realization hit her, and her eyes flooded with tears.
“Aww, stop it, now,” he said. “Don’t turn on the waterworks. Are you trying to make me feel bad? It didn’t need to be like this, you know. You were the one lurking around in the dark. If you would have left well enough alone, none of this would be happening. Guess it’s fair to say you did this to yourself.”
“I ... didn’t ... do anything,” she cried. “You did! You’re a disgusting, awful person!”
“I’m an awful person? You seemed to have a different impression of me yesterday when you batted those long eyelashes at me every time you walked by. You knew what you were doing. You knew I had a wife.”
“Whatever you saw, it’s not what you think. And I wasn’t flirting.”
The man tossed his head back and laughed. “Now, if that’s not the funniest thing I’ve heard all day. I’m not sure what you’d call it, then.”
“I was only trying to be nice.”
He nodded. “You sure were. I didn’t mind. I thought it was cute.”
The man leaned forward, forcing his lips against hers. “Mmm. Your lips taste like cherry pie.”
“Stop it!”
“Why? It’s just you and me now. We can do whatever we like out here.”
“I wouldn’t like to do anything with you.”
He shrugged. “I’m not sure why you deny it. You wanted it before. I could tell.”
“Let me go. Please!”
He leaned back and said, “Huh,” like he hadn’t thought through his next move yet.
Or had he?
“Why don’t you, uhh ... get on your knees, I guess.” he said.
“What? Why?”
“On your knees. Now.”
She refused, and he pressed his hands onto her shoulders, forcing her down.
“What are you going to do?” she asked. “Rape me?”
He tossed his head back and howled with laughter.
“It’s not funny!” she said.
“Rape you? Are you crazy? I can’t believe you’d suggest it. I’ve never forced anyone to have sex, and I’m not about to start today.”
“What are you doing, then?” she asked.
“Close your eyes. I don’t like the idea of you looking at me.”
He pulled the flashlight out of his pocket and swung his arm all the way back. Libby glanced up just in time to see the wind-up before the pitch.
“No, please,” she begged. “I won’t say anything to anyone, I promise. You don’t need to do this. Your secret’s safe with me.”
When he didn’t respond, Libby stared up at him and screamed.
He bent down, staring into her face as he said, “Scream all you want, honey. It won’t make any difference now.”