Journey to the Passed by Gardner Claire

Author:Gardner, Claire
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: anonymous
Published: 2023-10-17T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter twelve

Trapped and Terrified

Seymour couldn’t believe what he was witnessing.

Lila’s voice rose from the other side of the door as the knob rattled uselessly, shaky with anxiety but clearly trying to hide her panic. “That was really funny, guys, but I think this door is stuck. Do you think you guys could help me out?”

But the teens’ laughter only grew louder at her request. After a moment, the one Seymour thought was called Nonah called out mockingly. “Gee, that’s a tough one. Maybe you should try the window?”

As it happened, the windows all around were boarded up tight, with only a few minuscule gaps that even Ethan wouldn’t have been able to squeeze through.

Lila began to bang on the door, gently at first, then harder, as she was clearly growing more panicked. “You know I wouldn’t fit. Come on, guys, please just let me out. It—it’s really dark in here.” Her voice cracked a bit on the last syllable, causing Seymour’s heart to clench.

“Aw, is the little baby scared?” jeered one of the boys. “Wow, Molly, when you said you were bringing your little cousin along, we really thought she’d be able to keep up with us.”

Molly, for her part, at least had the decency to look a bit uncertain, chewing her lip as she replied. “Yeah, yeah, that’s a laugh riot. Look, why don’t we just let her out already? I think she’s really freaking out . . .”

Keely shrugged impassively as the others continued to laugh and jeer. “Eh, I don’t know Molly. I think the little scaredy-cat could benefit from some—what do they call it? Oh yeah: exposure therapy.”

“Yeah, Molly,’’ echoed one of the boys. “The little twerp’s gotta face her fears sometimes, right?”

Lila, clearly terrified and pounding furiously at the door by this point, said in a high-pitched voice, “Seriously, please, let me out! Molly? Anybody?”

The group was beginning to walk away by this point, and while Molly spent a few moments nervously looking alternately at the house and her friends, in the end, she followed after them, heading deeper into the wooded thicket that surrounded the house.

Something about the house felt off to Seymour, in a way that he couldn’t quite place but that nonetheless made him increasingly tense the longer he was near it. Something deep within him desperately wanted to get away from this place, far away, and to never come back.

Still, from the sound of it, Lila was only growing more panicked by the second, her high-pitched cries for help developing a hint of a wheeze to them as they continued. This wasn’t good. Seymour couldn’t be sure whether she’d remembered her inhaler, or whether she’d think to use it in her agitated state.

And so, despite every fiber of his being screaming at him to flee, he flew closer, settling by a gap in one of the boarded windows, and called out, “Lila? Lila, honey, it’s okay, I’m right here.”

The pounding slowed a bit, and he heard a small sniffle as she replied.

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