bet you thought you'd seen the last of me, huh? don't mind me, just popping by to squeeze in one more quick update before the year ends! hope you enjoy this little chapter ;)

"Tell me what you heard at the church."

Boo pops another fry into her mouth and watches Harry carefully. They're holed up inside his car in the parking lot of the Jack Creek Diner, with an assortment of to-go burgers, french fries, and various dipping sauces spread across the console between them. Boo dunks three more fries into a honey mustard packet and continues to wait for his reply. He nods thoughtfully before swallowing the bite of food in his mouth.

"Nothing substantial," he replies casually. "Mostly just people talking about how they couldn't believe she was gone."

"Who did you talk to?"

He glances up in thought. "Faye, of course. Kelly Graham, who said she used to volunteer with Martha at the soup kitchen. And Eric Welson, who runs the grocery store. Said Martha was in there almost every other day so he knew something was wrong when he hadn't seen her in a few days."

Boo mulls this over internally. "What did Faye say?"

"That she didn't notice anything unusual about Martha's behavior," Harry says, side-eyeing Boo. "Safe to say everyone around here lives with their head under a rock."

Boo shakes her head. "Nana was always sticking her nose into other people's business so I have to assume other people do the same. They probably just can't remember because nothing seems overly significant.

"I mean, think about it. Would you over-analyze every sentence someone tells you, looking for a hidden meaning?" Harry shakes his head at her question. "So we can't expect these people to do that either, regardless of how much they may know."

"So if asking other people is useless, what do we do now?" he asks.

"Keep digging," Boo remarks. "Literally. Nana has one more box we haven't opened."

Harry turns the car on and Boo is hit with a blast of AC. "Let's get to work then."

« • »

Harry is first to rip the tape off of the box while Boo lingers behind, watching with bated breath as he opens the flaps.

"Doesn't look like much," he mutters, reaching in to pull out a stack of dusty books. He sets them onto the carpet before reaching in again and pulling out more leather-bound books. "Seems like she had some reading to catch up on."

Boo inches forward, more concerned by a mysterious black box she can see buried at the bottom of the box. "What's that?"

"What's what?"

Impatient, Boo reaches around Harry and fumbles to grab onto the medium-sized box. She turns it over in her hands, letting the light fall across it in patterns so she can examine the outside of the object. It takes a moment to register, but she has to stifle the gasp that surfaces in her throat when she realizes what she's holding.

"What is that?" Harry asks, peering curiously up at her.

She turns the black square over in her hands, examining it closely. "A tape recorder," she murmurs. "And I think it still works."

Inside the slot she can see a slim tape, waiting to be played. The white label is blank, giving her no clue as to when it was recorded or what awaits to be heard.

"Play it," Harry says immediately, rising from his knelt position on the floor and ambling over to her. His long fingers reach for the recorder but Boo snatches it away and clutches it tightly to her chest.

"Wait," she snaps, her nerves getting the best of her. She closes her eyes and inhales deeply. "Just . . . wait. We don't know what's on it."

"All the more reason to play it."

"Can you just wait one second?" she cries, shuffling away from him. He watches her with furrowed brows and a slight frown on his lips.

"Boo," he says firmly, yet not unkindly. "Whatever's on there, it's going to be alright."

She hates that with one sentence he can say everything she needs to hear; that he can read the emotion on her face as clearly as print in a book. Her jaw clenches and she looks down at the recorder, not daring to remove it from the safety of her chest.

"How can you know that?" she says, shaking her head.

"Because," he answers, kneeling before her and waiting until she meets his gaze. "We're going to listen to it together and hear what's on it. It may be nothing, it may be everything. But you aren't alone. Whatever we hear, we'll get through it."

She likes that he says we.

"What if this is the last thing I hear her say?" she mumbles. She despises the pathetic tone of her voice but she can't help but feel sentimental. "What if this is from the night she died?"

Harry reaches up to encase her hands in his. His fingers are rough and callused against her smooth skin. "Don't ask those questions yet, okay? We'll talk about that if it comes to it."

Boo hesitates for a long moment, her eyes jumping from his hands to the recorder then up to his eyes, forest-green and patient as he waits for her answer.

"Okay," she agrees shakily. "We'll listen."

« • »

Boo's hand hovers unsurely over the play button. She and Harry have since relocated to her cramped dining room, seated at the tiny dining table with buckets of sunshine pouring in through the nearby window. No amount of warmth can rid Boo of the deep chill she feels within.

"Go on, Boo," Harry encourages gently. His sharp eyes stay trained on her.

She inhales deeply to steel her nerves before punching the play button.

The tape is quiet for a few seconds before Boo hears a crackling noise and the faint patter of footsteps walking away. Almost a full minute of silence passes after that.

"There's nothing on here," she sighs in defeat. She goes to switch off the tape but Harry stops her with a gentle shush and a nudging-away of her hand.

Be patient, he mouths to her. She rolls her eyes but slumps back in the chair to listen.

Moments later, a door creaks open and several pairs of footsteps rumble into earshot. Boo's ears perk up in curiosity.

"Let's get this over with," a voice grumbles crossly. Boo's tongue abruptly freezes in a block of ice while her stomach fills with a familiar sense of dread.

She knows that voice.

ahh don't kill me i just love cliffhangers :D who do you think is speaking on the tape? what do you think we're about to hear?

i hope you enjoyed this little snippet and that this will tide you over until the next update (coming next year, literally lol). hope you all have a safe and happy new years eve and that 2019 is full of light, love, peace, and safety for you! xx