Where the Darkness Goes

Chapter 28

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

GARRETT — AGE 18

I keep Tessa close as we rush through the packed house, the party devolving into pure chaos before our very eyes. Half of our classmates are running toward the sound, while the other half darts away from it. Everywhere I look, people are scrambling either to find out the source of the chaos or to escape it.

Someone shoves past me. Someone else trips and falls coming down the stairs up ahead.

“Will!” I shout, trying to hear him, but it’s impossible to hear anything in this place. The house is deafening with footsteps and shouted directions, people looking for the ones they came with, and everyone scrambling and fighting to make their way around.

I keep a tight hold on Tessa’s hand. It’s the only thing that matters aside from finding Will. I have to get them both out of here.

“Move!”

“Watch it!”

“What was that?”

“Have you seen Sarah?”

“Dude! Did you hear that?”

“What the fuck?”

When I finally lay eyes on Will, he’s standing next to the open basement door with a horrified look on his face, eyes wide and wild as if he’s seen a ghost. His hands are up close to his chest, clutching something either invisible or unseen from where I stand across the room.

The basement door is open, and people are slowly making their way down, while others are fighting for a way up with equally haunted faces.

In the basement, more people are screaming. Justin Davis comes up the stairs with his phone pressed to his ear, a finger pressed to the other. “We need an ambulance.”

Tessa and I make terrified eye contact for a split second, more determined than before as we zigzag our way through the crowd to reach Will. When we do, I drop her hand to step in front of him. “Will. Man. What’s going on? What happened? Are you okay?”

His eyes drop to mine, and he shakes his head. “No. No, I’m not. It’s… It’s Cassidy.” His skin is pale. Ghostlike. He looks as if he’s going to pass out.

“What did she do?” Tessa demands, voice sharp.

“She’s dead.” He glances toward the basement.

“What?” A dismissive laugh dies on her lips. “No. What are you talking about?”

Will covers his face with his hands, sobbing. “She’s dead.”

I look at Tessa, whose expression displays a fraction of the disbelief and terror I feel. She doesn’t want to believe it, and neither do I. “Stay with him.”

She wraps her arms around her brother, a blank stare on her face, as I dart away from them and make my way down the stairs with the crowd, determined to prove Will wrong.

This has to be a misunderstanding. It can’t be that someone else has died. It just can’t.

There are fifty-four people in our graduating class. Half of them are girls. Three of those girls can’t be dead in a matter of months. It’s impossible. It’s stupid.

Serial killers are supposed to be smart, aren’t they? Why would they make their operation as obvious as this? Why would they target our town?

When I reach the bottom of the stairs, there’s a crowd already gathered around. The air is electric with a palpable sort of panic. I squeeze my way through, nudging people out of the way to get close.

When I do, I find Cory sitting on the ground next to Cassidy’s body, both of them absolutely soaked with blood.