Dead End: Midnight Hollow by Penn Cassidy (best e reader for epub txt) 📕

genius, but it did feel amazing to be near my parents again. I laid down on my side, curling up against the headstone, and closed my eyes with my hands pressed beneath my cheek.

I blinked away more tears, wishing so hard that I could talk to them just one more time. During this last year, I’d lain awake at night going over all of the things I’d say to them if I’d been given just one more day, one more minute or second. I’d have told them how much I loved them, and thanked them for keeping me safe and giving me a good life. I’d have told them I couldn’t wait to go back home and watch a movie with them and drink Mom’s spiced cider. I’d curl up in my dad’s strong arms and breathe in the scent of tobacco and peppermint that I swear sometimes I could still smell.

So many things I never had the chance to say. So I found myself murmuring the words to a tilled patch of earth in the middle of this graveyard. It was growing colder by the second, but for just these short moments, a warmth surrounded me, and I imagined it was their embrace. I allowed myself to imagine, to yearn and mourn. I allowed my body to purge the grief, because it was the only way I would have the strength to keep on going without them.

I must have dozed off, because I snapped awake sometime later, and the clouds had rolled in. My hair was plastered to my skin as raindrops pelted me in the face. Time was so disorienting here, especially with no sun in the sky to guide me.

It made me wonder if I’d ever see another sunrise again. Standing up, I wiped off the graveyard dirt that was quickly turning to mud and said my goodbyes to my parents. I’d come see them again soon, any chance I got. Scanning the area, I tried to find Jessica, but she wasn't there. I called out for her a few times and expected her to scuttle over, but there was only silence. She’d probably bailed, feeling too creeped out to stay the whole time. I didn’t blame her.

I still had that weird feeling from earlier—the feeling of someone nearby. So, I decided to get back to the aunties’ before this rain turned into a downpour.

Closing the gates behind me, I looked down the road both ways. There was the Hangry Forest to my left, and Midnight Hollow to my right. I shivered, just looking at that dark tree line. I didn’t understand the feeling, but I could have sworn there was something in there with its eyes on me. I needed to get out of here and hoped Jessica somehow found her way back to the aunties’ house.

I started walking, then full out sprinting as thunder crashed overhead. I had no realistic way of knowing how long I’d been out there, and the others were probably about to send out a search party. I was just passing Farmer Orson’s—or what used to be Farmer Orson’s land—when something shoved me from behind. Tumbling to the asphalt, I caught my fall with my palms, scraping my skin off.

“What the hell?!” I yelped, flipping over and crawling backwards. My eyes scanned the area, but there was nobody there. “Who’s there?!” I shouted. The rain began to fall harder, and a freezing cold wind washed over my neck, almost painfully sharp. “I said, who’s there?!”

Scrambling back, I shot to my feet and broke into a run. Just as I picked up speed, the wind did also, bringing with it a heavy rainfall that pelted me in the face and eyes until I was nearly blinded. I was running faster than I’d ever run before when I heard laughter in the wind. The cornfield blurred by as my head whipped left and right, catching on a flash of movement. Something was running really fucking fast through the cornstalks, keeping pace with me. Dread pooled in my stomach as the laughter grew louder. It wasn’t a voice I recognized. It was low and maniacal and all around me, even though I was running.

Another shove in the back tried to push me down, but I managed to catch my balance and kept going as if my life depended on it, which I had a feeling it did. This time, though, I veered off the road and barreled my way into the cornstalks. I kept running in the same direction, hoping to make it into town. I had to catch my breath so I stopped running, bent over the waist with a stitch in my side.

I could only hear my breathing, the thunder, and that was it. There was no sound of movement in the cornfield I was standing in, except for the slight breeze of the cornstalks rustling with the wind. It was too eerily quiet, and I felt something staring holes into my back. With my breath stilled in my chest, I looked over my shoulder and let out the loudest scream I’d ever made.

Baggy, weathered clothing hung off its tall, skinny frame with hay sticking out of his dark brown buttoned jacket, and his face was covered in shadows with his wide brimmed hat obstructing my view.

“Who are y-you?” I couldn’t even talk, my voice was trembling from cold, stark fear.

Lightning struck as he lifted his head, a dirty brown fabric like burlap, and stared at me with crossed Xs for eyes made of black stitching and a mouth sewn shut. Its face was held together by more black thread, and I knew it was one of the scarecrows that I’d seen when we were first heading into town the night of the crash.

He was just standing there motionless with his head tilted to the side. I was terrified to move a muscle, until another strike of lightning lit up the sky and I could see three