Chapter One
Emma
I don’t like this.
I’m against trespassing.
“I promise that this is not trespassing,” my roommate Katie says as she shines her flashlight on me.
I wince and put my hand over my eyes.
“How is this not trespassing?” I say as Katie swings her flashlight back to the path in front of us.
I step over some unlodged tree roots as she leads me toward the flickering orange flames up ahead. The sun is low in the sky, and the trees towering above us are casting long shadows.
“Hannah has a set of keys from when she used to feed the cat and water the plants of the guy who lives here. Or lived here. Or something.”
“Lived here?” I ask. “How long ago was this?”
“Um, like, eight years ago?”
My heart drops, and my feet stop moving.
“And when was the last time she fed the cat?”
Katie just gives me a funny look.
“Seriously, when was the last time she fed the cat?” I say a little more desperately.
“That’s not important,” she says, laughing and swatting her hand at me as she looks over her shoulder.
“It is important,” I say as I run after her. “There is a statute of limitations when someone gives you a key to their house. It’s like, a year, max, and even then, you don’t just show up unannounced. And you definitely do not use the key for anything other than its intended purpose! We really shouldn’t be doing this.”
“Look,” she says as she marches over to me. She grabs me by the shoulders.
She’s smart and savvy, and that’s the only reason I came out here with her today. I’m not used to Halloween outside of NYC, and I wanted a taste of the local flavor.
Katie smiles and gives my shoulders a little shake.
“The guy is never around. No one has seen him in years. There are going to be streams and brambles and birds. This is the most beautiful wooded area in New York State. You’re the one who said you wanted to see the leaves changing color.”
I look up at the last of the orange and red leaves forming a canopy high above us. Most of the leaves are already on the ground. Some are even falling just while I stand here.
One of my favorite things to do growing up was taking a drive upstate with my mom to see the leaves change color. We had to stop when my mom’s car stopped running. We took the train up here a few times after that, but it was such a pain in the ass that it wasn’t worth it.
“It really is beautiful,” I say.
“That’s the spirit!” she says.
There are thick trees dotting the dense forest, and it’s hard to see anything beyond them, but there’s an ultra-modern house on a hill that I can make out a little way off in the distance.
We keep walking farther into the woods, and my mind feels more at ease. We get to the edge of the property where there’s a tall, gated fence and Katie’s friend Hannah waiting for us on the other side.
“Welcome,” she says seductively and tents her fingers under her chin, tapping them together like an old lady luring small, innocent children into her gingerbread house.
Katie takes off her backpack and throws it over the fence, then wedges the toe of her combat boot into one of the gaps in the twisted metal.
“Wait a second…” I say as my body breaks out in a cold sweat. “I thought you said there was a key to this place.”