In my room, I lean against the door and then sink to the floor. My breath comes out heavy and desperate. She had me and she could have easily killed me.
She’s in control and there is nothing we can do.
That can’t be true.
“Kayla,” I rasp as quietly as I can manage, clawing the floor.
I need help.
I blink and burning tears streak down my face. “Kayla, please.”
She jumps awake, flicks on the lamp and props herself up on her elbows. “What? Esme?”
The room floods with light and I slump against the door.
I’m back and safe.
You are not safe here!
When Kayla’s eyes land on me, her mouth pops open.
Slipping out of bed, she pads toward me.
“Oh my God, what happened to you?” she asks. “You’re covered in dirt and…blood!”
“I woke up in the forest.”
“You did what?”
I shake my head, trying to make sense of it. “I went to sleep here and woke up in the middle of the forest with blood on me.”
“Jesus.”
Kayla rushes to close the distance between us and wraps her arms around me.
I fall into her embrace. “I didn’t know what was going on. I was so scared,” I sob. My chest caves and I almost drop to the floor again.
“It’s okay. It’s okay,” she hushes me, her hands shaking. “Come on.”
She helps me walk to the bed and sits me on her bunk. I stare at the window, half expecting Lillian’s face to be on the other side.
“How did you get there?”
“I—I don’t know,” I tell her. “I don’t remember anything other than what I told you. I think Lillian drugged me. She must have!”
Kayla stands and grabs a bottle of water off the chair. She opens the lid and takes a towel from a pile in the closet.
I watch as she kneels in front of me and wets the towel.
“You’re going to be okay, Esme.”
Am I?
It doesn’t feel like it. I’m cold and tired and I just want to go home.
What we did that night was bad, but we don’t deserve this.
“She must have drugged you as well,” I say.
Kayla nods. “Yes, I figured.”
Her voice is small and squeaky.
She’s scared.
She wipes my hands with the towel and smears some of the blood.
Clenching my teeth, I turn away.
“She did this to me,” I say, my vision blurring with tears.
“And you survived.” Kayla scrubs a little harder. “Whatever the little psycho is doing, we can beat her.”
Can we? She drugged us and hauled me into the woods.
“Esme, where did the blood come from?”
The deer flashes in my mind.
“When I was running, I found it.”
“Found what?”
“A deer, a small one. It was tied to a tree.”
Kayla scrubs even harder, like she’s trying to take off a layer of skin. “Tied?”
I close my eyes. “Upside down, cut all the way down the middle and—”
“Stop! Please don’t finish telling me, Esme.”
“I’m sorry.” I snap my teeth together.
She doesn’t want to hear it. I had to see it.
“There, all clean.”
I look at my hands. “Thank you.”
“Take your clothes off. I’ll bag them. You can wash in here with the towel and water, and then we’ll get you changed.”
“Keep the clothes. In case.”
“In case of what?”
“In case they’re needed for evidence.”
“We’re not telling anyone what we did, Esme!”
“We might not have a choice. We’ll hide them for now.”
“Fine. You get yourself washed.”
What I really want is a shower, but it’s four in the morning.
I stand and strip off my clothes. Kayla stuffs them in a plastic bag, which she hides at the bottom of the cupboard.
She hands me the bottle of water and towel. I manage what’s probably the least effective wash of my life, but it’s the best I have right now.
“Here, put these on,” she says softly, handing me fresh pajamas.
I curl my hands tightly around my heart pajamas and hold them to my chest. “Kayla, what are we going to do?”
We’re too calm. I want to freak out properly.
Yeah, because that’s going to get us far.
“We figure this out in the morning,” she says.
“Are you suggesting we go back to sleep?” I look at the bottle in my hand and my face falls. “Where did you get this water?”
Kayla drops the plastic bag in the trash can. “From the kitchen.”
I whip a pile of clothes off our chair. There are two more bottles of water beneath them.
“Oh shit,” Kayla says, turning the open bottle around.
“Lillian drugged these and left them in our room.”
“How did she know we’d drink them tonight?”
“Because it’s summer in Texas…and because she’s watching us.”
“I can’t deal with that.” Kayla shakes her head and clutches her hair in her fist. “I hate her. We have to do something. We can’t live like this, and we can’t let her get away with what she’s doing to us.”
“Can we just get through the night and then we’ll come up with a plan.”
“When do we call it quits and dial nine-one-one?”
“I don’t know,” I reply.
“I’m scared of people finding out. Things are going great with Jake. I finally feel more myself after being in therapy for years.”
“This won’t change that, Kayla.”
“It will. Of course it will change that. It changes everything.”
“You care too much about what people think.”
She snorts. “And you don’t?”
“I did. But I’m caring less and less these days.”
Kayla turns. “Sleep with me?”
“Oh, I was planning to.”
I stuff the spiked bottles of water in the bag with my bloody clothes. Kayla gets into bed and scoots to the wall. I turn off the light and slide in beside her.
“She’s worse than I could ever imagine,” she whispers.
“I knew there was something wrong with her that night, but I never imagined she would be this sick.”
“I need this to be over. I can’t take it.”
I nod. “Me too. She’s crazy and dangerous and threatened the campers if we go to the cops. They’re just kids. We need to do this ourselves.”
“Do what ourselves? What does that mean?” Kayla asks, the fear in her voice ringing through the air.
“It means we take control.”
“Like how? That doesn’t sound like a very good idea. What do we do precisely?”
“We’re going to her.”