122. All the Difference

Suddenly I know what to do.

No voice tells me. It’s just a gut thing. Or maybe a spirit thing. I just … know.

I dig into my pocket and pull out the trinkets I brought just in case I needed them. Not knowing how I’d use them or why.

I take the leather band that Jocelyn gave me. The one that disappeared with the bag I tossed over the falls, only to reappear in the field where her parents were buried. I wrap it around Kelsey’s bleeding wrist and tie it as tight as I can.

This isn’t some medical procedure that I think will work. You can toss science out of here at this point.

Then I get the necklace that once belonged to Aunt Alice, with the picture of the child she abandoned and basically murdered. I tie this around Kelsey’s neck.

There’s just—so—much—blood …

She’s still conscious, but woozy. I whisper to her to try and keep her from leaving.

Both of these items I tie on her have some kind of supernatural thing about them. Maybe … hopefully … I don’t know.

Enough with the self-doubt: act do move now.

“I have to get to Marsh Falls.”

“What?” Brick looks confused. “Why?”

“I can’t explain. You know how to get there from here.”

“Man, Buckley, that chick needs the hospital.”

“How do I get there from here?” I spit out, angry now that I’ve wasted a few minutes while my brain needed CPR.

“You gotta go back out to where—well, no, actually, there’s an old road heading into the woods. Nobody uses it, and it might not really be in any sort of condition to get there. But it’s a straight shot.”

“What? A real road?”

“Yeah, off the main road here, right behind the church, through the woods. I used to take a three-wheeler around here. It’s rough. Real rough. Nobody’s traveled on it for a long time.”

That word does something.

Traveled.

I pick up Kelsey and rush toward my bike.

Two roads …

In a wood …

I took the one less traveled by.

And that has made all the difference.

“Come on, Kelsey, it’s going to be okay,” I tell her as I jog toward my bike.

The flames are reaching for the heavens right next to us. Brick follows, though he doesn’t know what I’m doing.

Has the message been clear for me for this long?

Has this moment been predetermined, the question already answered long ago?

Jocelyn’s locker and the picture and the poem …

“Stay with me, come on,” I tell a fading Kelsey.

She’s so light in my arms.

I didn’t have a chance to carry Jocelyn to safety. Nor Lily.

But now I have a chance.

I believe. I have faith, Lord. I trust in You.

“Help me,” I cry out.

I position Kelsey on the seat, then pull one leg over the bike. She begins to fall, and I pull her up, talking to her and trying to get her to stay awake.

“Brick—you got a belt on?”

“Yeah.”

He takes it off while I undo mine with one hand and hand it to him. I ask him to tie them around Kelsey and me. “I don’t want her falling off while I’m driving.”

Brick is fast, and he doesn’t give me any attitude or freaking-out mentality. I sit behind Kelsey, and a memory of the night I rode behind Lily after the party where I was drugged flashes through my mind. It seems like a million years ago.

Brick ties us together. I lean forward and can feel Kelsey snug against me.

It takes me a few tries to start up the motorcycle.

“So the road just takes me straight there.”

Brick nods. “Yeah, basically. You may have to walk a little bit, but not far.”

“Thank you.”

I take off without hearing a response. I get on the road behind the church, and sure enough, there’s a cleared-off dirt road heading into the woods. My headlight beams down it. The forest is thick and creepy-looking, and who knows what’s inside it.

I turn around and look at the furious blaze behind me. It’s now heading into the surrounding woods like some wild brush fire.

Marsh must have planned to burn this whole place down.

But why?

I jam on the gas to head off into the woods. A Bible verse comes to mind.

The terrible flames will not be quenched.

Now I know that even that wasn’t just a random verse.

There’s nothing random around this place. Nothing whatsoever.

I ride down the road as fast as I can.

Still praying that Kelsey’s going to make it.

Still praying that this is going to work.