Looking back over my shoulder and purposefully avoiding Noah’s eyes, I took a step closer to the centre. The water stung for a second before I became accustomed to the temperature. Fiona was right about one thing; it wasn’t too cold.
I shook with fear as I reached the middle, flattening the dress to my side, so it didn’t puff up and float to the surface. Turning around, I saw them all standing much further back, watching me. They were in one single row and although I couldn’t hear them I knew they were speaking. Their mouths moved in perfect synchrony.
Leaves rustled in the light wind, making it even harder to hear. I managed to lip read The Light a few times. The dress, now plastered to my legs, felt like it weighed a ton. I might as well be wearing an anchor.
I could run now. They were far enough away that I could get a head start, but it would probably just be a few seconds. And I had no idea where I would go.
Gulping, I closed my eyes as I couldn’t hold in the fear and uncertainty anymore. I cried in the middle of the lake while thirty-nine people watched.
I HOPED RITUAL day two was going to be better. Yesterday was horrendous. Ten minutes after I was sent into the water, I was taken out, carried back to Fiona and Donald’s and put in a bath. I tried to be strong, but I was exhausted in every sense. I curled up in bed, refusing to talk to anyone or eat anything and cried until I fell asleep.
That was the one weak moment I’d allowed myself, and I put it down to the shock of it all actually happening. From now on I would hide my feelings. I would be strong. Whatever they had in store for me over the next few days, I would be ready, and I would deal with it.
All forty of us sat around the communal outdoors dining table eating dinner. I knew the second ritual was coming this evening, but I didn’t know exactly when and that had me on edge. I didn’t want to ask because then I’d be able to count down the minutes and stress.
At the end of the table was Noah. I could feel his gaze burning a hole in the side of my head. Hell would freeze over before I acknowledged him.
I picked at, annoyingly, one of the most delicious homemade bread rolls I had ever eaten. We had vegetable soup, bread and salad for dinner. I was starving but I knew something was happening to me again soon, and that made my stomach churn too much to accept food. It looked like I was missing another meal.
If I weren’t careful, I wouldn’t have enough energy to bloody escape.
“Are we all ready?” Donald asked once Judith and her sister, Mary-Elizabeth, had cleared the table.
Everyone stood and walked off without answering. Noah too. He was ready. I wasn’t but then I didn’t get a choice.
Where were they going? I craned my neck to try and see, but they disappeared around the houses, lost to the night. My eyes darted towards the people that gave me life. What was going on?
“It is time,” Fiona said, after five minutes of nail biting silence.
Like with the last ritual, they led me to what felt like my death already. I hated having no idea what they were going to do to me, almost as much as I would hate knowing what was coming. This time we went to their community hall. I bit my lip, heart hammering. It was eerily quiet tonight, and the sky was a moody grey. I walked slower, placing my gladiator sandal-clad feet hard on the grass as if I could make them stick.
As we approached the barn, I started to feel cold and wanted to bolt in the opposite direction. Whatever was waiting for me in there, I knew I didn’t want it. Every step I made took every ounce of courage I had.
“Do not be afraid, Scarlett,” Fiona said.
I wanted to ask her why I shouldn’t be afraid. I pursed my lips and stared ahead at the closed double doors. It didn’t really matter what was going on, they could have me cuddle a puppy for an hour, and I’d still be scared.
“Okay,” Donald said, stopping to grab a handle. “I can’t tell you how elated I am that we have been reunited, Scarlett.” He already had.
He opened one of the doors, and I stopped breathing altogether. Everyone was in the hall, dressed only in white, standing in a circle.
Candles were alight everywhere. They’d done all that in five minutes? I closed my eyes as my mind forced a few missing puzzle pieces together. I remembered this before, a few times it’d happened.
My head throbbed. I saw a sea of white, smiles on everyone’s face, and blood. Why blood? Shit, why blood? My mind felt like it was cracking, fizzing, bursting. It hurt.
“Are you okay?” Fiona asked.
There was no point in telling her that I was remembering before. She wouldn’t care anyway. “Fine,” I whispered, balling my hands into fists as the throbbing escalated so quickly I felt a sharp pain behind my eyes.
“Good evening,” Donald said. “I know how exciting tonight is, believe me, but Scarlett is still new to this, so I ask again that we try to keep things as calm as possible.” He was met with a sea of nods. “Thank you. Scarlett, please step into the circle.”
I looked down and on the floor was a ring of wildflowers and sticks. “Are you bloody kidding?”