Status: Complete - February 22, 2018

Haunting Grey

Twenty-Two

"Travis?"

I blink, my head turning at the sound of my name. I was home, in my bed, buried underneath the comforter, the darkness surrounding me.

Then her voice broke through the quiet.

I close my eyes and remember the last time she was here. When she told me the truth. But that wasn't real. She wasn't real.

Natalie was dead.

"No," I whisper. "You're not here. I keep telling you, Nat. You won't leave me alone." I curl onto my side as the mattress sinks.

"I won't leave you until I know you're okay, that you're safe," she tells me softly. "I love you so much, Travis."

"Safe?" I repeat. "There's nothing to be afraid of."

Even as I said the words, I knew I was lying. I remembered what my father said about the woods, about how it pulls you in, and takes something from you.

"You died because we went into the woods," I say. "Can't you see that?"

"You're wrong," she murmurs. "There was a man."

"There wasn't." I sit up and run a hand through my hair. "Natalie, your memories messed up. My dad said the woods take something from the people who enter." I twist part of my blanket, my mind searching for the right words. "And it took you."