I need to know the answer. I need to know I hadn’t been losing my mind the entire time. They had been lurking in the shadows, watching, tormenting, stalking me to the point of insanity. And Louisa… she played the cat-and-mouse game with them. Hadn’t she?
Or does she want me to believe they are here simply by planting the straw herself?
“Tell me,” I demand. “Do you know where they are? Or is this all a sick game? How did you get my book? Who left this cross of straw?”
Her sickly smile only grows bigger as she takes a step toward me. Not answering my questions I so desperately need answers to, she finally says, “You know what you have to do,” she says. “If you love my son like you claim, then you know you have to leave him. He can’t take care of you forever. He can’t watch your every move. You’ll suffocate him, drown him in the broken shards that will forever be your history. Have mercy on my son. I’m asking you to do that, even though I shouldn’t have to. You know what’s right.”
“Did you do this?” I scream, feeling the room begin to spin. “Tell me what’s going on! Tell me!”
“I need you to come with me downstairs,” she says, hooking her finger at me to follow.
I’m paralyzed for a moment, but as if under a trance, I eventually follow.
As we reach the top of the stairs, my knees nearly buckle as I look down below. As insanity nears, I hear her say, “They’re waiting for you.”
THE END