Whisper in the Rain

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Seventeen

GRACE

Running.

I was running.

Through the woods.

Screams sounded in my ears, but they weren't my own. I couldn't identify the source, but after a while, I caught sight of someone ahead of me.

I stopped cold.

I wasn't running from anything.

I was chasing someone.

Without ordering my feet to move, they took off, moving on their own. I ran hard and fast, closing the distance. The person in front of me, a woman, kept glancing over her shoulder, kept pumping her fists, kept running as fast as her legs would carry her.

But she wasn't fast enough.

I watched as both my hands snaked out and grabbed her, throwing her to the ground. Then, my body was on top of hers. She was flailing. Screaming. Pleading for me to spare her life. And then, my hand came down.

Moonlight glinted off the blade, catching me off guard. I could only watch as the knife plunged into her neck. Over and over again. A gurgling scream streaked through the air, but I didn't stop. Blood poured from the wound, and even after the light left her eyes, her screams remained.

The echos of her dying sounds were joined by others, and soon the darkness was filled with disembodied wails. They were everywhere, coming at me from all sides. I slammed my bloody hands over my ears and scrambled backward, dropping the knife.

I ran.

The haunting cries chased me, growing louder and louder with every step, yet every time my chin jerked over my shoulder, I was alone. Finally, after dodging through trees, brush, and fallen logs, I stopped. The air fell silent.

No crickets chirped. No wind howled through the leaves. There was just me, alone in the moonlight. My heavy breathing dulled, and I was able to calm my pounding heart. Until a trickle of liquid caused me to bring my hand to my face.

Blood.

The gooey substance pooled in my open hands. My fingers scrambled along my face, searching for an open wound, but there wasn't one. I didn't know where the blood was coming from. Frantic, I took off running again, searching for signs of life, my feet moving on my own authority.

Up ahead, I spied an opening in the trees, and beyond that, the road. I picked up the pace, hoping to make my way back to civilization, back to answers. But the harder I ran, the farther away the highway retreated. And as my heart pumped harder with exertion, the screams slowly returned. They grew in intensity. They crept up on me with swift, precise speed. They were right at my ear. But still, when I turned to watch them approach, the darkness was empty.

I was still alone.

I jerked up in bed, sopping wet with sweat, heart screaming in my chest.

"Are you okay?"

I looked up to find Tammy, eyes wide and frantic as she shuffled along the wall, reaching for the light switch.

"I... I don't know."

Her eyes went wide as light flooded the room.

"Oh, shit."

I looked down, a piece of me already knowing what I would find, and my breathing stalled.

Blood. Lots of blood.