The Willows Read online

  I had my cell phone with me, but out here there wasn’t any service. So instead of calling someone or using an app to pass the time, I scrolled through the pictures I had saved on it. My heart panged with each swipe of the screen, passing memory after memory of better times. Time when my parents were still here, time when Jackson was smiling and laughing at me, times when Landon had his lips pressed against my cheek, and times with Emma and Jane on either side of me.

  Sometime after I had looked at all the pictures, when I was staring off into space just zoning out, I heard a scuffle from somewhere behind me. I jumped up and huddled closer to the door opening even though the wind and snow were more potent there. My heart was beating even though I knew I was being irrational. It’s not like anyone could have snuck up on me.

  I strained my ears and waited. The seconds ticked by and then, just when I was thinking I had definitely lost my mind and was imagining things, I heard it again. Footsteps; it definitely sounded like footsteps.

  “Hello?” I called out.

  Silence.

  “Is someone there?”

  Footsteps.

  Deciding I would much rather face the blizzard outside then whatever was making the noise behind me, I took off running out of the door opening. It was so overcast outside that it almost looked like night time. There was no sun shining at all. Luckily for me, though, the snow wasn’t coming down as hard and I was able to see where I was going. I was just pulling up to the jeep when another car came sliding to a halt next to me.

  “I knew you’d come out here, you crazy girl.”

  The older man from the diner, Arnie, stepped out of an old beat up car and walked toward me quickly. He was scowling and his face was red. I wasn’t sure at that point if it was from the cold or anger. Either way, I found him slightly intimidating and the knowledge that I was now alone with him in a very private and remote place was not lost on me.

  “Are you out of your dog gone mind?” He was huffing and the air in front of his face was full of little white puffs from the heat of his breath. I changed my initial thought; it was definitely anger and not the cold making his cheeks rosy.

  “I’m sorry.” I wasn’t sure why I felt like I needed to apologize, but there was something in his eyes that shone out like concern for me. It was almost touching and it put me slightly more at ease in his presence.

  “Get inside your car and lock the doors.” He looked up at the sky and muttered something about the lack of light. “You need to get out of here.”

  “I’m sorry, but what are you afraid of?” As soon as the words were out, my mind flashed back to moments before, when I had been running for what seemed like my life out of the women’s bathroom. Was there really something out here? The echo of footsteps pounded in my skull.

  “You and that Hallie… crazy,” he mumbled, “ought to just let you get yourselves killed.”

  “Excuse me, what did you just say?”

  His eyes shut forward me like he had forgotten I was there. They were bloodshot and I wondered if he was drunk. Instead of answering he began backing up toward his car. He stared past me, seeing something that when I turned, I couldn’t see; but it scared him. Whatever he saw scared him enough that he turned and ran toward his car.

  He may be irrational and he could possibly be drunk and out of his mind, but the fear I saw in his eyes and the way he ran for escape, were enough to convince me. Thanking whatever it was that had made me leave my car unlocked I jumped into the front seat, jammed the key into the ignition and put the car in reverse.

  Arnie was already in his car and for a moment, our eyes met through the windows and it looked like he was trying to say something to me. I rolled my window down, but he didn’t wait, his car sped through the newly fallen snow, sliding slightly before speeding down the road. Not wanting to be left behind, I quickly followed. When I put my car in drive and began speeding away myself, the hair on my arms stood up.

  Somewhere, off in the very near distance, I could hear the same maniacal laughter I had thought I heard in the restroom. I rolled up my window and pressed my foot down as hard as I could on the accelerator. Jackson my have had something to do with what was going on up here, but I wasn’t ready to face it yet. Not until I got some answers, and based off of what Arnie said, I figured that tomorrow, the diner would once again be my first stop.

  Chapter Seven

  Sunday dawned with serious questions looming over my head. Not only had my second interaction with Arnie sparked a fearful curiosity in what was going on at the Willows, but once I was safe inside of my own bedroom, I realized what the metallic smell in the restroom had been. Blood. On the back of my coat, where it had been pressed up against the wall, were streaks of red. Something had happened to my brother, of that I was sure, but he didn’t commit suicide and he most definitely didn’t kill Piper. I just needed to prove it.

  It was lucky for me that Mason had already been at work when I got home. It took an hour in a steaming hot shower to finally dispel all of the tremors rocking through me. When I was done with that, I had put on my warmest pajamas, wrapped myself in a huge blanket and downed about double the recommended doze of nighttime cold medicine to help me sleep.

  Now, as I walked into the kitchen, I knew by the look on Mason’s face that I wasn’t going to be so lucky today. He looked tired. His hair was sticking up all over his head, there were dark circles under each of his eyes, and his morning beard looked even darker than usual. He was still in his bathrobe, but although he was nursing a cup of coffee, there was no newspaper in sight. He had been waiting for me.

  He took one look at me, fully dressed in jeans, boots, my coat, hat, scarf and gloves and shook his head.

  "What?"

  "Where do you think you are going?"

  "By the way you are looking at me, I'd guess that you already know," I snapped at him.

  He slammed his hand down on the kitchen table causing me to jump. "Damn it! No! Enough is enough, Evie. You're forcing me to put my foot down."

  I snorted, "seriously? Mason, you can't tell me what I can and cannot do."

  He stood up. With the anger and frustration emanating from him, he seemed all of the sudden very tall to me. I had to stop myself from shrinking away from him. "I can and I will, Evie. This isn't right. You can't just keep digging more holes into your heart. It isn't healthy."

  I bit my lip. Mostly just to stop me from saying something truly ugly to him. He held out his hand expectantly, "what?" I asked again.

  "Your keys. Please give them to me."

  I backed away and shook my head. "No. No way, Mason, you can't do this to me."

  He closed his eyes for a moment and swallowed hard. I knew that this was hard for him, but it didn't make me any less angry about it. "Now."

  I pulled them from my pocket and threw them at him. Hard. "There. Are you happy now?"

  He shook his head and laughed softly, but there was no humor in the sound. "No," he closed his fist around my keys; around my freedom, "I'm not."

  Without another word to him I stomped like a toddler back into my bedroom. Shit! Shit! Shit! Now what am I going to do? A million ideas ran through my head. Did I hitchhike? Did I steal a car? Not that I'd even know how to do that in the first place. Our old bikes were still in the shed out back, should I ride one?

  Sighing, I sat on the edge of my bed. There was a cork board hanging on the wall across from me, full of pictures, quotes, and old fortune cookie messages. It was the pictures that drew me in. They seemed to be doing that a lot to me lately, like each glossy image was trying to help me, reach out to me and tell me that I was on the right track; that something was definitely going on and not to give up.

  My eyes focused on one of me and Jane. I couldn't remember why Emma wasn't in the photo with us, that didn't happen often, but seeing Jane's face a peacefulness washed over me. She'd help me. Despite the separation we had been experiencing these past few months, she'd help me. I could always count on her.

  I pu
lled my cell phone out of my pocket and dialed. She picked up after just one ring.

  "Jane? I have a favor to ask."

  A few minutes later I was walking back into the living room. Mason was just coming out of his bedroom and I was happy to see that he had his work uniform on. Even better, I thought. He looked up when he heard me, probably surprised that I had left my room after the way I had acted.

  "Hey, Mason? Jane's going to come over for a while, is that okay?"

  He smiled and raised his eyebrows, seeming relieved that I was being civil with him. "Of course it is. It's not like you are on lock down or something." I looked at him skeptically. "It's not!" he insisted.

  "Whatever you say."

  I plopped down on the sofa and started flipping though the channels. It wouldn't take Jane long to get here, but I figured it would look less suspicious if I was doing something normal. After watching me for a few more moments with unsure eyes, Mason finally grabbed his own car keys and cleared his throat.

  "I have to work a double today so I won't be home until after midnight. Will you be okay by yourself, or do you want to see if Jane can stay?"

  "Sure will," I smiled sweetly at him, "and if she can't and I have an emergency, you know the kind I would need a car for, I'll just call an ambulance. I'm sure it will get here in time. Or if a psycho comes breaking through the back door, I'm sure the cops will get here before I'd need to get away."

  Mason rolled his eyes, "ha ha, very funny."

  I could tell that he was worrying about it though. He was one of those people who always planned ahead. He looked at things from every possible angle to make sure everything was covered and there were no loose ends. I knew that it would only be a matter of moments before he started freaking out and wondering if maybe leaving me without a car was such a good idea.

  "I think I'm going to run over to talk to Mr. Gates for a second. I'll make sure that he'll be around to keep an eye on things in case you need anything."

  Crap! That's not what I wanted him to say.

  "Okay." Maybe I'd get lucky and Mr. Gates would tell him that he was being irrational and that he should let me have my car back. It was a long shot, but one could always hope.

  I glanced over at the clock. It was already almost ten. I had really wanted to get an early start today. There were so many questions that needed to be answered and I wasn't going to rest until they were. Willow Grove was definitely turning out to be something my mind couldn't let go of. There was a connection between Jackson, Piper, and those missing people posters. It was a gut instinct and I just knew that I was right.

  The front door opened and I looked up, expecting to see Mason. Instead, it was Jane who walked in. She smiled at me, and stood awkwardly in the doorway, unsure of what to do or what to say after such a long silence between us.

  "Thank you for coming." I smiled over at her and she relaxed.

  "No problem."

  There were plenty of places to sit, but she sat down next to me. She was so close that our legs were touching. It felt alien to me. It had been too long since I had really had a lot of human contact. Other than Mason, that is. She cleared her throat like she was about to say something.

  Bang!

  We both jumped when the front door slammed open. Mason smiled sheepishly at us, "oops, sorry." He closed it much more gently than he had opened it. "Hey, Jane, how are you?"

  "I'm good, thanks."

  He looked back towards the door frowning. "Hey, Evie, did Mr. Gates say anything about going somewhere to you?"

  I shook my head, "nope, but I haven't talked to him since Friday." My stomach was starting to feel funny; uneasy. "Why?"

  Mason walked to the front window and pushed aside the blinds, looking toward Mr. Gates house, "he isn't home."

  If it was anyone else, it wouldn't be a big deal. If you knew Mr. Gates, though, you'd know that him not being home was totally out of character. He didn't even go to the grocery store. Once a week, they delivered to him. It was very rare that he would leave his house.

  "Are you sure?" I stood up and walked over to the window, pushing him aside so I could look, like me being there was going to change anything.

  "Yeah. Well, I mean I knocked and he didn't answer."

  There are things in the woods... dangerous things.

  I pulled away from the window and put my hand on Mason's arm. "What if something happened to him? We should see if he has a spare key hidden somewhere."

  "No." Mason shook his head, "no way. That's invasion of privacy Evie."

  "Mase, something could have happened to him. He's getting old, what if he fell and hurt himself?" What if he's dead? Whoa, where had that thought come from?

  "His car is gone, Evie, I'm sure he just went somewhere."

  "Oh." I guess that made sense.

  He rolled his eyes and grabbed his car keys off of a side table. "Hey Jane?"

  "Yeah?"

  "Can I talk to you for a second?"

  What was I, like five years old? He was seriously going to talk to Jane without me? I could only imagine what he wanted to tell her. I watched, with gritted teeth, as they walked together out to the front porch. At the moment, even though Mason was my only family, he was really starting to irritate me.

  After a few minutes, the front door opened, but Jane was by herself when she came in. She smiled at me shyly, like she wasn't really quite sure how to react to me and I was sure that having Mason talk to her didn't help the awkwardness between us.

  "So, what do you want to do?"

  I chewed on my lower lip. "I was sort of hoping that I could borrow your car for a little while."

  She frowned. "I'm not sure that's such a great idea, Evie."

  "Oh come on! There's just something I have to take care of, then we can hang out the rest of the day."

  "Well what do you have to do? It can't be that important."

  I groaned. "It is though. Please Jane, I swear I won't be gone long."

  In the end, the most I could get her to agree to was for her to drive me somewhere. It wasn't my ideal choice, but after almost fifteen minutes of arguing, I knew that it was the best offer I would get.

  By the time Jane and I got to Willow Grove, it was almost noon. My stomach was starting to growl and despite the welcome I was sure we’d get inside the diner, it was the first destination I had in mind. Jane pulled into a parking spot along the road across from the diner and I was out of the car as soon as it was in park.

  “So what exactly are we doing here?” Jane asked. She was standing just outside the driver side door, with the door still open. There was a bite in the air, making her breath puff out in front of her, but at least for now the skies were still clear.

  I didn’t want to answer her. This was part of the reason I hadn’t wanted her to come; questions that I was uncomfortable with. I was sick of everyone judging me, questioning my moves and the motives behind them. I was chewing on my lower lip, debating what to tell her, I was already halfway across the street and eager to get some of my own questions answered.

  “Evie?”

  I sighed, “I found out that Jackson and Piper used to hang out here a lot. I just want to find out what they were doing.”

  She rolled her eyes and looked up into the sky. “Mason warned me about this. Evie, I think we should just go back to your house. This isn’t a good idea.”

  I narrowed my eyes and crossed my arms across my chest, defensively. “What do you mean Mason warned you about this?”

  Sensing the angry turn of my mood, she held her hands out in front of her, “don’t kill the messenger. He’s just worried about you. So much has happened to you guys these past few months and he is afraid you will never be able to get over any of it if you can’t let it go.”

  “Look,” I took another step backwards toward the diner, “if you want to go back to my house, fine, go. I’m staying here, I’m sure I can find my own way home.” It was a total bluff, but now that I was here, I was unwilling to back down. I knew Ja
ck was out there somewhere, I could feel it.

  She slammed the car door shut. I wasn’t positive because she was a little too far away, but I was pretty sure she was mumbling under her breath about me; probably cursing me for not telling her what I was up to before I convinced her to drive me out here. She was just about to cross the street toward me when she froze. Her eyes got really wide and her face turned super pale. I could see her mouth moving, but I couldn’t hear her over the roaring of an engine.

  When her arms started flailing and I could see the panic in her eyes, I realized that the car whose engine was revving was coming right toward me. Everything slowed down then. For a moment, I simply froze. I remember thinking, okay, this is it. This is how I’m going to die. My mind just went blank. There was no flash back of my life like some people claim to have happen when they are about to die. There was just nothingness.

  One second I was standing, my head turned toward the sound of squealing tires and an engine screaming as it was pushed to the max, and the next second, I was on the ground, the wind knocked out of me and something heavy laying across my chest.

  “Are you okay?”

  The voice was gruff and sounded winded, but it was definitely male. I tried to lift up so that I could see who was talking to me, but whoever was on my chest was too heavy for me. “I’m not sure,” I admitted.

  “Oh my goodness, Evie are you okay?” I heard Jane’s shoes as they smacked against the pavement. “Watch where you are going, jerk!” She screamed.

  “Here let me help you up.”

  There was an instant of more pressure on my chest while whoever it was pushed their self up, but then there was relief. I took a deep breath and mentally checked for injuries before grabbing hold of the hand that was waiting for me. Once the sun was out of my face, I gasped when I saw my rescuer.

  “What are you doing here?”

  Out of uniform, Jake Cole was the sort of guy that made your heart beat faster. He had dark straight hair that fell across his forehead, icy blue eyes that looked intense on duty or off, tanned skin that was uncommon for this type of year, and muscles that flexed with every move that he took. Towering over me the way he did, he should have been intimidating, but I wasn’t afraid of him.