Unfair | Cindy Berman

ᴘʀᴏʟᴏɢᴜᴇ

"And for most days. I wish I'd stayed dead." Ziggy says, finishing her story.

"Wait.." Josh interrupts. "Wait, you're Ziggy? And you're Cassie?" He asks and we both look at each other, staying silent.

"Cindy..My sister. She sacrificed herself for nothing." She says and I swallow hard, trying not to cry.

"I told everyone the story of how she died. The story we just told you. And no one believed us." I say and look at them, Deena was pretty shaken up.

"And Nick?" Deena asks.

"I thought he was different." Ziggy responds. "I thought he would believe me. But Nick had a destiny in this town and you don't become sheriff by telling ghost stories." She pauses for a moment. "I couldn't see him again. Not after that."

"The witch...The town curse..For one night, Cindy believed that there was a way to end it." I say. "So we thought there was too." I continue. "But now we know...There is no end." Suddenly one of Ziggy's clocks rings.

"Like I said, your best chance is to run from this place. Go as far as you can and hope a bus doesn't hit you on the way out." Ziggy says.

"We found the body.." She says and I look at her. "Off Highway 5 in the woods between Shadyside and Sunnyvale."

"It's not possible." I deny.

"No, it's there. Trust us." Josh says. "The chains, the bones, the whole thing."

"That could be anyone." I deny it again.

"Why do you think our friends died? For the same reason they killed Alice and Cindy." She says and then looks at me. "I've read your book, 𝗨𝗻𝗳𝗮𝗶𝗿, me and Sam have read together." She says and I look at the book in my hand. In memory of Cindy Berman, my hope from Shadyside, I mentally read. "Look, I know what you've been through and never in a million years I would survive by going through the same thing as you did. My girlfriend..Sam, I love her...I can't let her die. And I need your help, the killers came after us because we found something they didn't want us to find. And I wish to God it never happened, but we found it. We found what you were looking for in '78." Me and Ziggy both look at each other, uneasy. "Look, please, we...Nurse Lane was right. We can end the curse by reuniting the hand with the body. And we know where the body is, so all we need is the hand." She explains. "What happened to Camp Nightwing? Is the hand still there? Is it still buried underneath the Hanging Tree?" She asks, I get up and sigh.

"Yes." I answer. "I will help you guys." I look at Ziggy and she looks at me uncertain. "There's still chance we can end the curse that killed her, so fuck it. I'm in." I say and both of them smile at me, I smile back. I look at Ziggy, waiting for her to answer.

"Fuck this. I'm in too." She says and I smile at her.

I guess there's a sequel afterwards.