Page 90 of False Idols

It’s the body I see.

Simon’s body is strung up in front of the house. The light from inside shines out onto the front porch and shows us everything when the wind turns Simon’s body to the side. I scream when I see the gash in their chest that goes down to their belly. They’ve been torn open, their insides trailing out of them and onto the ground below. Their blood doesn’t stain the ground because the rain is coming too fast and washes it all away.

34

BEAU

This is a fucking trap. I knew it was the second I saw Nevaeh’s mom’s car sitting out there on the trail. Getting a car out on the trail that looped to the lake isn’t impossible, but it wouldn’t have been easy for anyone that doesn’t know the trail exists. It’s a narrow path meant for horses and I see why the car got stuck the way it did with its front wheel wedged between a rock and the groove of the trail. I looked for keys when I searched the car but there was nothing, so I couldn’t see if it would start. But with the storm there was zero chance of me getting the car to drive out of where it was. From the look of it, the car hadn’t been there for very long. Nevaeh didn’t think to check, but I pressed a hand to the hood and felt the still warm steel.

The car had been driven and dumped while we were on the trail. Whoever had brought it was still here and now a fucking cop was hanging with their guts out in front of the house. Beside me, Nevaeh screams, but she muffles the sound with her hands a second later. I grab her and turn her away from the body swaying in the rain. Fuck. Where the hell is Marcus?

I scan the area for anyone else but there’s no one. Even if there was, I wouldn’t be able to see much. Aside from the house that’s got every light turned on now, it’s dark from the storm and the rain is too fast to see more than a few feet in front of us. If Marcus isn’t here there’s a chance he’s still alive, but seeing the way The Reaper split Simon open, I’m willing to bet Marcus is dead too. I’m sure the killer has the same in mind for us, with the way they’re inviting us inside.

“Don’t look at him,” I tell Nevaeh and she hides her face in my chest. Whoever killed the cop drove the car on the trail. They’re still here, and they’re probably watching us right now. “Get in the car, we’re driving to town now.”

“Where’s the keys?”

“Here,” I tell her and hold up the keys that I locked the house with. Not that it mattered, because I can see the door open behind Simon’s body. That open door is an invitation for me from The Reaper. That’s the only one fucked up enough to do this, but who the fuck is it? I guide Nevaeh towards my car, but my thoughts are on the house. I want to go inside. I need to fucking know who has been doing this. It’s not just Nevaeh they’re after right now, it’s the both of us that have been tormented by this sick fuck for years.

It wasn’t Nevaeh’s fault that I was in prison for so long. She was just a kid, but The Reaper? He took his sweet time sending that knife in to the cops. He stole those years from me, he took Carrie. Nevaeh squeezes my hand when she almost slips in the rain and I hold her up. Now he wants Nevaeh too. He’s going to have to kill me first before he gets to her. I’m not some scared college girl. I’m as much of a killer as The Reaper is and it’s his turn to fucking bleed.

I open the driver’s door and scan the back seat, I’m not getting taken out like an extra in a B-List Horror movie. When I see there’s no one there, I go to start the car, but nothing happens when I crank the engine.

I try one more time for good measure before I get out. “It’s dead,” I tell Nevaeh. Her face drops and she looks like she’s about to start crying. “Hey, hey,” I cup her face and stroke the side of it, “it’s okay. We are going to be okay. I’m not going to let anything happen to you, remember? I promised.”

“I know, I know. I know you won’t.” Nevaeh nods and grabs my hands in hers and forces a smile on her face. She’s being brave and once again, I’m proud of her. I’ve seen Nevaeh hot with rage and felt her anger when she fights back. She’s been beautiful in every fucking instance that she’s refused to let herself be crushed, but seeing her fearful and willing to go on is even more beautiful.

I’m so fucking proud of Nevaeh.

“What do we do now?” she asks me and glances back at the house. She’s thinking what I’m thinking. We have to go inside and whoever is in there is waiting for us.

“We go down the hill to the gate where their car was. Take that and get to town.” My plan sounds reasonable but I know it’s a pipe dream. Whoever disabled my car probably did the same to their car.

“Is your reception still out?” she asks and I pull my phone out. Just like before, the reception bars are nonexistent. She hands me back my phone. “Where’s Marcus? H-he’s not there, do you think he’s okay?”

“I’m sure he’s fine. Maybe he got away,” I lie to her.

“He could have called for help,” Nevaeh says and I hear the hope in her voice. She’s not giving up yet, even if it’s just to hope for the impossible. Good. I don’t want her to lose that. Not when death has taken so much from us.

“Maybe he did,” I say. “If we get to the car then we can use their radio too. Make sure help is on the way,” I add to try and reassure Nevaeh. If I was the killer, I would have taken out the radio at the same time I ended Marcus and Simon, but I can’t think like that right now. I have to get inside. That’s where the Reaper is waiting for us. If I’m the one to take his head off then he can’t get to Nevaeh. I have to find him and I have to fucking kill him. “There’s a phone inside and keys to the car my dad keeps here. If we’re lucky, they didn’t fuck with that one yet.” The garage is on the left side of the house, the door is by the stairs to the second floor. I’ll have to walk past the living room and the kitchen, plus the door to the basement where the wine cellar is. It’s a lot of ground to cover for a car I’m not even sure works, with a killer breathing down my neck, but it’s quicker than going down the hill to the gate where I’m sure the only thing waiting for us will be Marcus’ body.

Nevaeh nods and squeezes her eyes shut before she grabs my hand and looks towards the house. “Let’s go.” I go to tell her no fucking way. That it’s too dangerous and I’ll go on my own, but Nevaeh reads me like a fucking book the second I open my mouth. “I can’t stay here. They could be out here and if they are, I’m fucked. We have to stick together like in the movies.”

This isn’t a fucking movie, but she has a point.

“All right, but stay the fuck behind me. I’m going to check Simon for his keys or a weapon. If I find anything, we are going straight for the gate.” It’s the smartest play I can make to keep Nevaeh out of the house. That’s where The Reaper wants her. Why else would he have put Simon here like a neon sign and left the door open for us?

Whatever he’s going to do to Nevaeh will happen in the four walls of this house.

Nevaeh nods in agreement. “That makes sense, okay.”

“Don’t fucking look at the body.”

“I won’t.”

When we get close enough to the body, I drop Nevaeh’s hand and go forward on my own. I take in The Reaper’s handiwork. He’s used ropes around his neck to hold Simon up and he’s stripped his gun belt from him. I keep an eye on the door while I go through his pockets, but there’s nothing. Of course there’s nothing. Leaving a weapon for us would be too sloppy.

The Reaper has been one step ahead of us the entire time, why would shit change now when they have us exactly where they want us.

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