Page 110 of The Memory Wood

‘I’m pleased. Because we like you, girl. We want to invest in you.’ She leans closer. ‘What did he say? When you took him the food?’

‘He asked if I was real.’

Annie grunts. From a wall cupboard, she grabs a packet of pills, popping two from the plastic packaging. ‘Here,’ she says. ‘Take these. They’ll help with your arm.’

The witch watches her swallow them, before adding, ‘He visited you, didn’t he? Down in the cellar. Came there on the pretext of befriending you.’ She pauses and her face crinkles. ‘It’s OK, you don’t have to say anything. There’ll never be anything, ever in this life, that you can conceal from me.’

Elissa stiffens. The last time she heard those words they came from the ghoul. He’s watching her from across the room, smoke drifting from his nostrils.

‘Elijah didn’t want to be your friend,’ Annie says, lowering herself into a rickety chair. ‘He was just checking out the competition. He ever tell you that’s not his real name? Elijah was his little brother. I’m guessing he didn’t share what he did to the poor boy.’

Every time the witch speaks Elissa’s grasp on the situation feels like it’s collapsing. Facts she’d thought irrefutable suddenly seem in doubt.

‘We can’t stay here long,’ Annie says. ‘And we can’t leave you behind. I’d like to take you with us, but we don’t have room for two. It’s you or him.’

Hearing that, Elissa thinks of the promise she made when she first woke beneath the Memory Wood: to survive this horror, whatever the cost.

‘That boy,’ Annie continues. ‘He’s a survivor. He values his life above all else. He’ll do whatever it takes to keep it.’

‘So do I,’ Elissa whispers. ‘SowillI.’

She means it, too. Right now, she can think of nothing she wouldn’t do to see her family again.

‘Those times he visited you, down in the cellar,’ the witch says. ‘He ever tell you about the others?’

‘He told me about Bryony.’

‘He tell you what happened to her? How she died?’

Elissa’s throat closes up. She shakes her head.

That boy. He’s a survivor. He values his life above all else. He’ll do whatever it takes to keep it.

‘Those pills will make you drowsy,’ Annie says, getting up. ‘If you stretch out on the floor, you might catch a few hours’ sleep. Later, I want you to take him another meal.’ Returning to the cupboard, she opens a drawer and removes a knife. The blade is six inches of sharp steel.

‘If I were you,’ she adds, her turquoise eyes glimmering, ‘I’d take this along. Because, believe me, if he gets the chance to improve his situation, he won’t hesitate.’

That tongue pops out, probing yellow teeth. ‘Like I said, we can only take one.’

Kyle

Later, Papa visits. He stands in the doorway for a bit, smoking his cigarette. When he steps inside and notices the overturned food bowl, his forehead creases.

‘It wasn’t me,’ I tell him. ‘I’m not being difficult. She dropped it.’

‘Huh,’ he replies. ‘What a bitch.’

‘It wasn’t on purpose.’

‘You don’t think?’

A silence grows between us. ‘She was real,’ I say. ‘I saw the flames and … I thought I’d killed her.’

‘You didn’t,’ Papa says. ‘Not yet.’

I raise my head fully. ‘Not yet?’

‘Annie’s in there right now, explaining how things are. She’s clever, that Elissa. Ruthless, too. Some of the things she’s been saying …’

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