Gutted by Layla Fae

Author:Layla Fae [Fae, Layla]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-10-30T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 12

Harlow

I squeeze my eyes shut, holding my breath in as my entire body tightens, bracing for it. Seconds float by, sluggish and slow as the moment stretches, and something roars in my ears, the sound so loud, I can’t hear anything else. It seems to me Silas whispers something, but I don’t ask him to repeat. I won’t hear him anyway.

As the knife presses closer, a light sting cutting through my skin, I open my eyes and mouth to scream, because I can’t hold it in anymore, and…

And nothing.

I blink, shaking like a leaf, suddenly alone in the cold, dark hall. The heat and steady weight of Silas’s body behind me is gone, and for a wild moment, I think maybe it’s done already. Maybe I’m a ghost. But when I raise my fingers to my neck, I feel wetness and warmth. My neck is still whole, a tiny nick seeping blood.

“Silas?” I ask in a voice so hoarse, I don’t think anyone but me can hear it. I clear my throat just as a thud comes from the porch outside, making me jump. “Silas!” I say more loudly.

“She’s here,” a gleeful voice comes from the outside, and I whip toward the door, my heart somersaulting from shock.

That’s not Silas’s voice. Not Jack’s or Caden’s, either. I stare at the door, disbelief rooting me to the spot, because it can’t be. It fucking can’t.

Panicked thoughts flash through my mind, and I wonder if this is all just a giant prank. Or am I high? Did the pills muddle my brain? Up to this moment, everything felt real, my night spent tangled up with my three ghosts, a visceral, undeniable experience.

But now that the outside world comes crashing into this abandoned, haunted house, I question everything.

The door opens with a loud creak, revealing three male silhouettes crowding the porch. I stare, my mouth open, my throat squeezed shut as terror unveils through my chest and limbs, gripping me in a cold, vicious trap.

I can’t move. Even when the tallest of them comes inside with a crunching sound as he steps on something. I don’t so much as twitch when he stops right opposite me. His scent, familiar and nausea-inducing even as it mixes with the chill of the night air, winds around me. I can’t move, can’t speak, my body completely outside my control.

“Someone saw you coming in here,” Michael says, barely a hint of slurring in his voice. He’s drunk, but only just.

Like that night.

“And Ryan has a score to settle,” he adds with a snicker, gripping my chin in his chilly hand. “So we came to get you. Perfect end to a Halloween night if you ask me.”

His cold, slimy touch sends a jolt through me, loosening the paralysis that keeps me in place. I jerk, slapping his hand off me, and stumble back, panic flaring when he laughs.

“Don’t touch me,” I say, my voice coming out plaintive with a hint of hysteria.

I see their faces now, discolored and creepy in the ghostly light coming in from the street.

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