━━━ ꧁ད ✶ ཌ꧂ ━━━

CHAPTER 12

━━━ ꧁ད ✶ ཌ꧂ ━━━

In my room, after turning on the lights, I placed the gift on the nightstand, sat on the edge of the bed, and observed it anxiously.

While it was true that curiosity made me increasingly anxious, the fear of knowing what it hid inside was even worse.

I took off my shoes, and as I let myself fall back onto the mattress, the scent of cinnamon invaded me. I had forgotten to return Ashton's jacket.

I brought the sleeve to my nose, and what I smelled only saddened me, reminding me of how sad he looked sitting in the container. At that moment, I recognized the feeling of loneliness all too well.

I curled up among the fabric and stared at a spot on the ceiling above me until the phones in the kitchen and hallway shattered the calm.

I left the room, slipping on the socks, and reached the nearest phone.

"Hello?" I answered wearily. If my mom had heard me, she would have scolded me.

"Damn it, Zara. Why aren't you answering your cell phone? I've been trying to reach you for hours!" Thomas' voice sounded frantic.

"I lost it," I sighed. It would take me a lifetime to get a new one.

"Why am I not surprised?" There was a pause. "Aren't you going to ask why I've been searching for you like crazy?"

I sensed the reason, but honestly, I didn't want to hear anything more about the circus. I had had enough for one day.

"Why were you looking for me?" I gave in, thinking that maybe he could be helpful in rescuing my family.

"Well, since I'm your best and only friend, everyone keeps asking me if I know anything."

My mind wandered through the possibilities, and the most important one reminded me that shadows don't sit down for a chat.

"Can you get to the point?" I asked, irritated. "You know I hate it when you beat around the bush."

"The rumors spread, and it turns out that innocent Zara tried to kill Natale Barone. You're in serious trouble now, girl."

Great.

Nothing was going to get better at this rate.

When I went back to school on Monday morning, that big issue would loom over me, and it would be disgusting. I could already imagine it.

"How is she doing?" I needed to know.

"She's alive, luckily. She'll be staying in the hospital for a few days for observation. A blow to the head is a serious matter."

"I know," I sighed. Thomas wasn't making me feel any better.

"What happened? The more I think about it, the more ridiculous everything sounds, and I think I have the right to know as your best friend, don't I? Does this have to do with the medallion?"

He caught me off guard. I didn't even know what to say or where to start.

"Zara, if there's a problem, tell me."

"It's nothing," I replied. Since there was a possibility, I didn't want it to disappear either. As he just mentioned, he was my best friend, and I couldn't afford to lose him. I would feel desperate to the point of madness, and I was already halfway there.

"That's it. I'm coming to your house."

"Are you crazy? Hello? Tom?" I looked at the phone when the intermittent sound finally made it clear that he had hung up the call. "Damn it!"

I put the device back with more force than necessary and ran back to my room.

Thomas lived a couple of houses away from mine, so it wouldn't take him long to arrive. It drove me crazy how stubborn and persistent he was.

I stumbled through my room and hid the jacket in the closet, hanging it carefully. Shortly after, I did the same with the gift, placing it on the other side. In the bathroom, I washed my face, hands, and arms, tied my hair back with an elastic band, and changed clothes. When I finished with the most important things, I heard him ring the doorbell.

Just in time, I went to the door while hiding the medallion under my sweater, and right before opening it, I took a deep breath.

"How's it going?" He entered without me being able to stop his intrusion, combing his wavy hair. "It's colder in here than outside in the storm," he noted. It had started raining, and he caught the first drops. "What a waste of light. Are you still afraid of the dark?"

I closed the door and locked it, turning towards him.

"It's not funny. You shouldn't have come, either."

He dropped onto one of the sofas, and I did the same next to him.

"I wasn't joking. Everything's very quiet around here." He glanced toward the staircase. "Where is everyone?" His words pierced my chest, but I managed to shrug. "I thought they would be home, or at least Josef and Vincent. After all, there are fluorescent-colored handkerchiefs hanging at the entrance."

"Handkerchiefs?" I stuttered, experiencing one of my most terrible fears as I stood up automatically. "What handkerchiefs?"

I hadn't noticed any of that when I opened the door. But while it was true that my brothers liked to steal the underwear of pretty strangers and hang them where everyone could see, it was quite obvious that they wouldn't dare to play such pranks at home. Besides, they were supposed to be trapped in that fair, too. Or at least, that's what I imagined.

I stifled a scream when an unexpected lightning strike lit the house in darkness. Through the window, sparks flew from the fuse box on the street.

"Electrical storms," Thomas said, sounding worried and rather exhausted. "Don't worry, it's not like Slender Man is going to show up on the porch to take us with him."

Just after he said that, I sensed the sound of high heels walking outside, and out of the corner of my eye, I think I saw movement too.

I hoped it was just a product of fear and that I was imagining it, but when I approached the window to check, the figure crossed the porch and stopped halfway in the tiny garden. They had their backs turned, but their heads turned 180 degrees on their own axis in my direction, making me recoil until my back hit their chest.

"Isn't that Vincent?" Thomas, behind me, stared at him with his mouth open. "Why is he wearing those old-fashioned doll pants?" He looked at me. "Doesn't his mother scold them for running around with their chests bare in the rain?"

"Didn't you see his head?" I whispered. He seemed concerned about trivial things. But as he just indicated, that thing looked like a human, and he could have mistaken it for Vincent, but what happened with its neck...

"His head?" he repeated after me. "What's wrong with his head?"

"He's not my brother."

"What are you talking about?" He laughed, but seeing my face, the amusement quickly vanished from his.

A new thunderclap and footsteps on the roof, as if someone, or something, had fallen and rolled.

"Puppet!" I announced. "Vincent is a puppet!"

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