Ember Heights

Chapter Ten 💠 This is Insanity

    We returned to the library to find that Asher and Victoria had fallen asleep halfway through their research session, only to wake up at closing time. They found nothing, but we already knew that the answer to the question they were working so strenuously to find would not be easy to spot. It was surely hidden somewhere that only the most desperate person would search in or it was tucked away in some old and long-forgotten document. There was an answer for everything, I told myself. But what if whatever was in the forest was purposefully leading us in the wrong direction? What if it was all a trap? Even worse, what if it wasn't even paranormal?

The chances that a crazy person was squatting somewhere in the forest couldn't be low given its isolation and lack of any living thing, but the evidence to support anything out of the ordinary was quite convincing as well. There was a time loop in the forest, a destroyed and previously undiscovered two-hundred year old cabin in the clearing, and initials burned mysteriously into the back of a Bible. This could've all been an elaborate scheme, if it weren't for one thing- proof.

It was nearly ten o'clock when I found it, tucked in a newspaper as the last article. Eleven People Sent to Psychiatric Hospital This Year, it read- published June eighth, nineteen-fifty. My eyes drifted down the page quickly, absorbing every word until I felt as though it was practically something that could be read from memory:

     Mental illness has plagued the town of Ember Heights as they send eleven of their inhabitants to a hospital for the mentally challenged. On June 6, 1950, people watched as the last person was hauled out today and put into a van. Researchers have yet to find a connnectuon between the sudden spike of mental illness in Ember Heights and are hard at work searching for an answer. The Sheriff claims that all of the people had visited the forest and come back "muttering things to themselves and fretting about someone following them around". Scientists working with the patients have tried to disprove this, saying, "There is no way to prove the Sherriff's claims. They are unjustifiable."

We may never know what's caused this odd anomaly, but it seems as though the problem has been taken care of.

The article ended abruptly. I felt my eyebrows raise as my mind processed the information I was reading. "Maverick," I whispered, tapping him on the arm. "I found something."

He leaned over and read the newspaper, his eyes widening with sadness. "Eleven people," he muttered, shocked. "The forest . . . So even if Thomas is alive, he's insane. He's screwed either way."

"No, Maverick, no. We went into the forest and we're fine, so I'm sure he'll be okay," I comforted, putting my hand on his arm. He stood and shrugged it off, walking out of the library before Victoria, Asher or Knox could protest. "I'll-I'll be right back."

I walked as fast as my legs would go until I found myself directly behind Maverick. "Hey!" I called, stomping my foot angrily on the ground. "Hey! Stop!" But he didn't. He continued to practically jog down the sidewalk to his truck. Before I realized what I was doing, I grabbed his shoulder and spun him around. "Listen to me."

"You don't know what it's like to lose your best friend. You don't understand."

"I lost Rena."

"But you barely knew her! The friends that you have in this town aren't missing- I know I haven't disappeared."

"Yet."

"Yet?"

"If you don't listen to me, you will go missing," I snapped. He caught my gaze for a moment and stepped toward me, his blue eyes boring into mine. Our lips almost touched for a moment, his breath warm on mine, before quickly jumping away at the sound of Victoria and Asher talking.

"Maverick," breathed Asher. "Why'd you leave us, dude?"

"I needed some fresh air. Let's go back inside," he ordered, grabbing my hand and pulling me along with him urgently. When we rounded the corner and passed the door, I realized that we weren't heading into the library at all. "We'll be right back, guys. I have to talk to her for a second."

"Sure, 'talking'," teased Asher, making air quotes with his fingers. I gave him a scolding look before following after Maverick.

"What's up?"

"Listen, do not mention Thomas to them. They don't know that he exists, so they don't know that he's missing. I don't want them to shower me with pity."

"That's it? They won't feel bad for you if you tell them not to worry about it," I reasoned.

"It's not just that. If they know that my best friend went missing and your best friend went missing, they'll freak out. It seems like the forest is taking everyone we're close to, but I swear it's just a coincidence. Unfortunately for us, Victoria and Asher don't think that way. They're very superstitious."

"You talk about them as if they're one person . . ." I trailed off, realizing what Maverick was trying to commuicate. "No way! Asher likes Victoria?"

"Shhh! You can't just go running around, screaming out who somebody likes," he silenced me with a finger to his lips, looking from side to side.

"How long has this been going on for and how have I not found out about it?" I asked excitedly.

"He's pretty good at keeping it hush, so please don't say anything. And if he asks, we never had this conversation," he warned.

"But you just told him that you were going to talk to me."

He rolled his eyes, thinking for a moment before blurting, "We were making out."

"We were what?"

"That's the best I've got, Taren. You can try to think of something else, but I don't think you're going to-"

"A surprise birthday party-we were planning a surprise birthday party," I nodded my head firmly at the idea. "Victoria's birthday is in December, right? It's almost Thanksgiving, so that could be our cover story."

"There's a problem with this, you know. Aren't surprise birthday parties supposed to be, oh, I don't know, a surprise?"

"We can just tell Asher and actually plan one, but keep it from Victoria. She'll probably assume that it has some affiliation with her- like a gift, or something."

"I hope this works," said Maverick as we headed back into the library to continue our research.

"So do I."