Hola! Thanks for reading this chapter:)

|chapter 12|

|through the letters|
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Rune startles up from the side bed of the emergency room in a flash with heavy breaths. She looked up to find Aiden standing beside her. She jumped and hugged him "Aiden...". He held her and gave a tight hug in return. "I missed you, Rune".

"Me too Aiden" They both were hugging and weeping. The friendship was coming alive again. 

Ivy entered the room and they broke from the hug. "Rune is up now? Good. Aiden are you happy now?" She asked. 

"Yes, I'm. I'm so so happy" he gave her a bright smile.

"You know Rune he was so worried about you. After you fainted last night, Aiden gained his consciousness and from the moment he was up, he started questioning about you." Ivy said. This made Rune more emotional. She started punching Aiden's chest. "Ah! Rune! Shop it. It's hurting." Aiden shrieked chuckling a bit. Seeing Rune's action Ivy started laughing, " you surely is his best friend, Rune. Who will dare to beat a man like him?" she laughed out. Rune breaks down and falls on the bed. Ivy sat beside her and Aiden gave her a hug again. "Awww! Rune, you are crying because we laughed at you? So sorry, Rune. I really apologize" Ivy joint in, "Yes, Rune. I'm sorry" 

"No, I'm not crying because of you guys. It's just I saw Aiden after a long time and what happened with him, worried me" She said. 

"Aww! Rune. Don't worry. I'm ok. Can't you see, I'm walking and talking. I can do other things too" he smirked bending in front of her. Their faces were barely away. For a moment their eyes were piercing each other's eyes. Rune gulped and Aiden moved further making the space between them even less. Just then, Ivy coughed making the situation to feel less awkward. The moved away looking at the opposite sides. Ivy started laughing, "Aiden! For a moment I thought you were about to kiss Rune. You pervert" 

"Aye! I'm not a pervert! I was just trying to make Rune calm down" he exclaimed. 

"Yeah, right!" Rune said sarcastically which made Ivy chuckled. 

Rune's phone started ringing: Callan

"Hello?" 

"Rune?" 

"Yes, Callan" 

"Come to the library, ASAP. I'll call others also." 

"But why?" 

"Come, I'll tell. I got something here. Maybe it might help us with Abigail." 

"Okay, I'll be there in no time." With this, she hung the phone. "What was he saying?" Ivy asked. 

"Callan got something which might help us. So, we have to go library" Rune said.

"Oh, let's go then," Adrian said. 

"Oh, hello! You are going nowhere" Ivy said. 

"Why? I can come you guys as I'm good now" he shrugs 

"No, you are not. You still need rest also they won't discharge you this early. Just yesterday you were lying on the bed, unconscious and today, the won't let you out" Rune said. 

"Oh, man! I wanna come with you, guys. I'm telling you, I'm ok now" he said.

"No, Callan. Take some rest. We'll meet you after returning from the library. This time we all will come. It's a promise" Rune kept a hand on Adrian' s shoulder and gave it a light squeeze. "Okay, I won't come," he said in a sad tone. 

"Aww! Adrian. Take rest. Will be back soon" she gave a peck on Adrian's cheek and went out leaving Ivy and Adrian in shock. Ivy followed Rune, still shocked due to her gesture towards Adrian. 
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After a drive, they were at the library. The dark clouds started to cover the sky. 

Rune and Ivy rushed in from the big doors of the library. Everyone was waiting for them inside around a table. "Hey, guys!" 

"Hi, Rune! Hi Ivy! Come fast we were waiting for you only" Callan greeted them. 

Rune and Ivy Join them. Dylen made some space for Ivy to stand. Rune went and stand beside Callan. The library was empty as it was 5 in the evening. This was the usual time for the library to close. Callan took out a book from under the table. It was huge with leather covering.  It was looking old enough from the texture of the dull papers. Callan flipped through the pages to reveal a page with a symbol drawn on it in the middle. "Do you guys remembered this symbol?" He placed a finger over it. 

"Umm...I guess not. Jan said. 

"It's the symbol we saw in that cabin. It's exactly the same one." Rune said. 

"Yeah, I remembered it now," Dylen said. 

"So, what's with this symbol?" Ariadne asked. 

"It seemed to be used by a clan of witches when they perform a ritual. They believed that it is a means for them to contact the other dimensions " Callan said.

Rune pulled the book and flipped a few pages to reveal a figure of women hanged on the stack. "What does this mean, Callan? ", she pointed at the figure.

"It's written that there were witches in Woodsboro during 17th and 18th century. The leader ordered to hang the women who were suspected to be a witch or perform witchcraft. In the year 1692, eighty women were accused, among which twenty-six were hanged or burned alive. Few of them fled to other towns, and few went into the forest to hide" Callan read the script written beside the figure. 

"So this means that Abigail was a witch?" Jan questioned. 

"Maybe" Callan shrugged. 

"If she is then, there is nothing we can do to stop her nor we got any information about her. What are we gonna do?" Ivy asked sitting on a chair in front of the table. 

"Umm... I have heard that there is a room inside the library where they have shifted the books from the past. Maybe we can get anything there" as Callan said this they gave him a look. "Then for what you were waiting for from that time? You, idiot." Adriana said. 

"I thought we can get something in this book. Now I'll go and see there. I have its keys. Anyone wanna come to help me finding anything useful?" He said.

Rune and Dylen agreed to volunteer.  They returned back with a box and a book.

"We got nothing there which could help us," Callan said sitting beside Ivy on the chair. 

"What's this box?" Ariadne asked, looking at it. 

"We don't know. We were searching and it fell down from a shelf. It has a pretty design on it so I thought I can use it as a jewellery box. But it's locked" Rune said, keeping it on the table. 

"Guys, do you remember this comic? It got famous in no time when we were teens" Dylen pushed it towards Ariadne. "Yeah, it was one of my favourites then." Ariadne opened it and started reading. "Look! It's still funny and dark as before. Isn't the leader dumb to let a witch run into the woods?" She chuckled. 

"Yeah, he is. But my favourite character was the admirer of that witch. He writes letters to her even when she was away" Jan said, playing with the sleeve of Dylen. 

They all sat enjoying the comic when Rune claimed, "Guys, I think we know this witch and the forest. The other book told us about a leader who ordered to kill the witches just like the character in the comic. Don't you think it looks similar to him?" 

"Yeah! I think that too." Ariadne said. 

"Okay, if that's a thing then who do you think can write and portray the exact character of Abigail?" Ivy asked. 

"Let's check who is the author," Ariadne said. Dylen took the comic and flipped the pages. On the last page, it was written: Jonathan Walcott.

"I think we found the author and the man who can tell us about Abigail," Dylen smirked.   

"Callan, can we get his address from the library records?" Rune asked. 

"Let me check. As it's a seven to eight years old publication, it will be a little difficult." Callan moved towards the record room. The time passed and the sun went down. It started to rain outside. 

About an hour passed and he returned back with a record in his hand. "Here you go. Jonathan Walcott, sixty-nine years old. Living on the other side of the town." He read it loudly. 

"Sixty-nine...this means that he might be seventy-seven years old now. Ariadne said. 

"No, he is way too old then we think," Rune said. 

"How can you say that?" Jan asked. 

"Just come to think of this guys, he wrote about Abigail. Who might be a witch from way back 17th century? So, I'm sure he might be older than we are thinking him as" Rune claimed and they agreed. While they were discussing when to go, Jan kept on looking at the box. Suddenly she shouted, "woo-hoo!" 

They turned towards her giving a weird look. "What?" Ariadne asked.

"I did it, guys! I figure out how to open this box" she continued "Maybe there is a diamond in there. If a diamond comes out then I'll claim it." She said. 

"Okay, okay, let's first open this then we'll know what's in there. Now tell, how to open it?" Ariadne said. 

"Do you see this mark, it's similar to the one on that black stone which tumbled into Rune's house that day. Also, it seems that a piece is missing here on the top and it resembles the shape of that black stone" Jan explained. 

"Woah! Jan. You too are intelligent." Ariadne said. 

"What do you mean by, you too?" Jan asked. 

"Nothing" Ariadne chuckled and Jan flipped her hairs. "Whatever" 

"Rune do you have that stone?" Ivy asked.

"Maybe it's in my bag, let me check" Rune searched through her bag. "I got it!" She exclaimed.  Callan took it from her hand and put it above the box where it was looking like a piece was missing. The box opened making a clicking noise revealing a few letters in it. "Shoot! I thought it's a diamond in there" Jan got disappointed. "Aww! Baby, I'll get you a diamond" Dylen winked as Jan gave him a flying kiss. 

"Ugh! You two, stop it! We are doing a serious job and you two, you are doing your lovy dovy." Ariadne said in frustration. 

"Are you jealous, Ariadne?" Jan asked. 

"Why will I be, ha?" 

"Because..." Rune cut her out. "Just stop! Let's see what is in these letters?" 

There were five letters in there. They seem to be very old. Each one of them picked a letter to read. Jan and Dylen decided to read from a single letter. 

Rune read: 

She was followed by Ariadne:

Callan, then Ivy read the letter one after the other. As they were reading, the story of Abigail was coming into light.

Jan and Dylen read the final letter kept in that box, together:

Jan stopped midway, letting Dylen continue. As Dylen was reading through the letter, her eyes were getting teared up. Dylen grabbed her wrist. Turning her towards him, he gave her a tight hug. He concluded it with a teardrop falling on it.

They all remained silent for a few minutes trying to digest what they read.

"So, what are we waiting for? Now we know that Jonathan was a friend of Abigail love interest. He only can tell us about her and way to end this, once and for all" Rune said, breaking the silence.
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Rune and others were making their way to Jonathan's house on the other side of the town when Rune's  phone started to ring: unknown number

"Hello?"

"RUNE? IT'S ME"

Hope you enjoyed the chapter.
Do vote and share your thoughts about the chapter.
• • •

Who called Rune?

Will they be able to meet Jonathan?

What do you think about Aiden and Rune?