Chapter 13
The silence hanging over the desolate gas station was deafening, broken only by the hum of the overhead lights and distant highway traffic.
Tessa stared down at the child in her arms, her mind reeling in absolute shock as she tried to process Evan’s confession.
"You... you monster," Tessa whispered, her voice shaking with a terrifying mixture of hatred and absolute heartbreak.
"I was four years old, Tessa!" Evan screamed, covering his face with his hands as he sank to his knees on the cold asphalt. "My mother told me Abigail was sleeping! I didn't know!"
"You kept the secret for thirty years!" Tessa yelled back, tears streaming down her bruised cheeks. "You let me bring a child into your sick, twisted family!"
"I thought the curse was over!" Evan sobbed into his hands. "I thought if we stayed away from Pine Ridge, Maisie would be safe!"
Hank shifted his weight nervously beside Tessa, his heavy tire iron lowering slightly as he looked between the broken father and the mother.
"Lady," Hank whispered quietly out of the side of his mouth. "Is this guy telling the truth? Is that kid..."
"Shut up!" Tessa snapped, her maternal instinct overpowering the paralyzing fear surging through her body. "She is my daughter! She is just a child!"
Maisie slowly turned her head, her deep, pitch-black eyes fixing onto Evan’s trembling form kneeling in the dirt.
A cold, unnatural wind swept through the gas station canopy, blowing empty soda cans across the concrete floor with a metallic clatter.
"Brother," Maisie spoke, her tiny lips moving, but the voice echoing from her mouth was distinctly that of a four-year-old girl from 1994. "You promised you would come back for me."
Evan lifted his head, his face pale with utter terror as he looked into the dark eyes of his three-year-old daughter.
"Abby... I'm so sorry," Evan wept, his hands trembling as he reached toward her. "I'm so sorry I left you in the dark."
"Sorry doesn't fix the ice, Evan," the child whispered, her small hands slowly unclasping from Tessa’s jacket.
Maisie leaned forward, extending her tiny right hand toward her father.
As she did, the lights hanging above the gas pumps began to buzz furiously, flickering wild sparks before bursting one by one in sharp pops.
May you like
Darkness enveloped the gas station, leaving only the dim moonlight and the headlights of the semi-truck to illuminate the horrifying scene.
"Tessa, run!" Evan suddenly screamed, his eyes widening in realization of what was about to happen. "She's not going to stop with my mother!"
