He reached around my back, feeding the vine to his other hand. I didn’t take my eyes off him. He worked slowly, eyes tight, jaw clenched, and it didn’t bother me as much. As stupid as it was to allow him to be my comfort, he was. We were in this together right now. He was following their orders, but I knew he was with me.
His breath blew across my neck as he leant around to wrap the vine around me. I closed my eyes and it was almost like we were back in my room, cuddled up on my bed with him kissing my neck and behind my ear.
“Don’t,” he said.
Stepping back, he turned and walked away, leaving the last knot as loose as he could get away with. He hadn’t alleviated on his ‘don’t’ but he didn’t need to. He knew I was thinking about the way things had been before all this happened, and I knew he wanted it back as much as I did.
When Noah stood back, I noticed that they’d all closed in, standing in front of me in a crowd rather than a circle. I stood my ground, lifting my chin to appear unaffected.
Fuck you all.
They can’t kill me. Yet.
“Let these vines bind her with nature, let her lead us into forever. She is the one; she is the light.” Their chant chilled me. It was repeated over and over until I wanted to scream. Even with the crazy chanting they still looked kind, like they would give you their last bloody Rolo.
I couldn’t move at all without hurting my arm more and that made me panic.
Closing my eyes, I tried to imagine I was somewhere else. I wanted to get out of the vines and be free, but I didn’t know how long they were going to keep me tied up. I had to think of something else because I was so close to struggling, and I was trying to get them to think I was coming around.
I refused to think of my parents or Jeremy because I wouldn’t be able to hold it together. Even though I missed them and just wanted to be home, I couldn’t cry over my family right now. I looked up at the bright sky and wondered how people like this could exist in such a beautiful place. They had the perfect location; everything was peaceful and pretty but they ruined it.
Evelyn’s pretty face drifted into my head. My sister. I smiled, finally being able to picture her doing something other than running with Jeremy for three seconds. I could still only see her profile but she was standing next to me, holding my hand. I felt love for her even though I didn’t remember it.
I will remember you, Evie.
I felt someone pull the vine behind me and slowly they were removed. I flexed my hands when they were free, noticing blood begin to seep through the bandage. It came as no surprise that it’d started bleeding again. I didn’t care.
“How do you feel?” Fiona asked as the last vine was removed.
I couldn’t tell her the truth but I couldn’t come right out and lie. “It was okay, I suppose. I don’t like not being able to move.” There, that wasn’t too bad but not so positive that she questioned why I was okay with the rituals so suddenly.
I honestly had no idea if she would suspect anything if I told her right now that I loved her and couldn’t wait to be the sacrifice. It wasn’t a risk I was willing to take, though.
“I can imagine that wasn’t pleasant. It is done now, and it means we are one step closer.”
I smiled tightly but didn’t reply. She could take that however she wanted.
“Let’s head back,” Donald said. “We have a communal dinner tonight so let’s make it a special one for Scarlett.”
A special dinner with all of the psychos. Daddy really knew what I wanted.
THE SKY WAS now light orange where the sun had begun to set and it was still warm out. Everyone was outside around the large dug out seating area. Two small pit fires in the middle kept us warm. I was sitting with Donald and Fiona, with Shaun and Bethan beside Fiona.
Noah was here, too, but I ignored him as much as I could. We needed everyone to believe that he was just with me to get me here and I was still half angry with him. I had to thaw with everyone else the longer I stayed, but I wasn’t sure if forgiving Noah would be realistic, so I’d opted for pretending he didn’t exist.
Dinner was large stone baked pizzas with vegetarian toppings. I hated to like anything about this place and these people but they could cook. Living a life the way they do could be amazing if it weren’t for the added insanity.
No one spoke about the fact that they’d tied me up just a few short hours ago, but I did prefer it that way. I couldn’t pretend that I didn’t hate them if they spoke about one of the most terrifying things I’d been through.
Noah avoided me just enough but not too much that it looked wrong. He made the effort to speak to me a couple times. I’d overheard him telling his mum that he didn’t try too much because he wanted to give me space to realise what Eternal Light were about before we had the inevitable conversation about what he’d done. He was almost too good at lying that it made me question who his allegiance was to – again.
“Scarlett, would you like pepper and mushroom or spring onion and sweetcorn?” Fiona asked. “Or a little of both.”
“Onion and corn, please. I don’t like mushrooms.”
“Really? You used to like it.”
Did I? “Well, I don’t now.”