blogwithvalor

Get another old story here today. I think the Steampunk Sleeping Beauty story is going to take a second to figure out.

This old short was written August 27th of 2021. I think this one missed fitting Autumn into the story. Although the main character’s name is Winter. I think maybe we meant to write Autumn. Ah well. I try not to edit these from when they were written. So it will just stay.

Anyways, enjoy.

…

Always ask myself, “Should I kill her or runaway forever?” I really need to stop talking to myself so much, it’s getting weird. Next to my laptop is an old family photo of the four of us and I look at Summer when she was sitting closest to my mother, why are the youngest in the family always the favorite? “Stop talking to yourself Winter!” Jeez, I will never be normal again. Not after Summer was murdered.

I close my laptop and leave my homework for later. Can’t focus right now.

I’m sitting right next to Summer in the photo and I can hear my mother telling me to scoot over. Scoot over Winter, Summer is going to sit right here. “Jesus Christ”. Don’t take the lord’s name in vain.

I turn away from the photo but have to play out the rest of the scene.

Mom calls Dad to take the photo. We smile. He walks away to take photos of other people at the party. My sister looks at me, I get up, and I follow Dad.

We’re at the Petersons’ Friendsgiving party and my Dad has found his way to the charcuterie board. “Once you start eating know one will ask you why you’re not talking.” I start stuffing my face and Katie Peterson walks over to me mid chew. “My parents spent a whole month planning this party only for half of the people to not show. This town is so weird!” I look at her and nod. The Petersons’ moved to Morgan Hallow this year and has no idea what this place is really like. Not yet at least.

“At least your family was nice enough to show up. By the way have you heard about the Melanie girl? I like she was a sophomore. Did you here any of the details?”

I nod and say “Yeah, she stole her mom’s car and got in an accident.”

“Weird,” she blinks. “And then that senior girl ‘accidently’ fell off her family’s tractor and died when I first moved here. I’ve been going to school a few months now and all the girls seem really nice. Just seems weird.”

I stuff cheese into my mouth and she keeps going.

“Somebody told me that a senior boy disappeared or ran away last year. Do you think that’s weird?”

I nod again. I see Summer arguing with Mom in the background. Summer gets up and leaves.

The photo reminds me of the life I left behind. I place it face down on the desk. Need a drink. ‘Of course you do.’ Damnit, stop talking to yourself.

I open the fridge and there’s some local bougie IPA in the fridge. Some dude told me it was good for a hot day. He lied, but it’s all I’ve got. So fuck it.

Katie Peterson is still alive today but she won’t be for long if she stays in Morgan Hallows. My family thought Summer would be safe, that we had made a deal. But we were wrong.

I finish my beer and grab the semi automatic I keep in the garage. I roll down the window of my dad’s beat up sedan as I drive to Old Oak Forest.

It’s how I clear my mind. I look for whatever took her. That photo was the last one she ever took. After she walked out, no one ever saw her again.

My parents never talked about it. The closest my mom ever got to acknowledging her disappearance was a letter she sent me a few months ago right after I moved out. The letter was so formal that it could have been written by some member of congress sending me their condolences.

I turn on the brights and a deer jumps right into the street and freezes.

Shit.

I hit the brakes and swerve to the right. The car dives into a ditch. As the front of the car crumples, the airbags go off, and there is a loud bang.

I blink my eyes open and see the deer standing at the side of the road. It’s staring at me like it’s checking on me. As if it’s curious. “Little asshole. Get out of the road.”

It turns around and walks away.

My foot is cold. No. It’s wet. My calf is bleeding. My gun went off during the crash. Dam. The radio still plays while my leg writhes in agony. How am I going to drive home? I can’t go to the emergency room with a bullet wound, they’ll report it to the police. Double damn. I reach around the car looking for my old hoodie to make a tourniquet for my calf.

I hear casual footsteps coming toward me but I’m too dazed to speak. In the shadow of the late evening it looks like a normal 20 something woman, but her eyes glowed in the dark. As I look out the window and see her dark figure walk towards me, I black out again.

The sun is peaking over the mountain and I’m in the back seat of the car with my leg tied up really tight. I check my calf and there is a wound there, but it looks like it’s been healed. Not completely, but the bleeding’s done and the wound doesn’t look like it’ll open again.

It was her. I’ve seen her walking through the woods before. At least I think I see her in the corner of my eyes sometimes. She’s never there when I look. Just a dark spot in my peripherals. I can sense her more than see her. A cold chill runs down my spine. It’s fear. She’s out here running away from something. Something far darker than what’s left of her.