Page 126 of Disharmony

“Not making the same mistake—”

“This way—”

“Are you sure, Tiffany?”

“Hasn’t this gone too far?”

Who is speaking? Where am I? Am I dreaming?

I’m thrown onto the sand. It’s soft, but my skin is cold and covered in goosebumps. My clothes… panic rises in my chest… where are my clothes? My stomach lurches. I turn and retch to throw up, but nothing comes. All I want to do is sleep.

“Move!”

A shriek.

I want to run… I want to fight… I want to get out of here… but… I’m so tired. Water laps around my ankles. It’s cold, but sleep is coming. I wade deeper, trying to get away from the voices who are telling me to keep going. It’s quieter here.

It reminds me ofthe incidentweeks after Mom died.

The night I tried to join her.

There were pills. So many pills. So many colors and textures. Some red and smooth; others white and grainy. I threw them down my throat. One after the other. Gulping them down like candy. When the cutting didn’t help, I wanted to forget. I wanted everything to fall away…

Mom? Is that you?

forty-eight

Ripper

I stalk through the forest. A group of campers try to speak to me, but I shoulder past them. Until I see her, I won’t stop. Zach texted to let me know they’re on their way. Mr. Cool must have had a change of heart.

I take a sharp right and pace through the row of cabins, passing the one that used to be my own. I don’t need to ask which one Cookie and Ash share from the faded graffiti. Camp bullying happens every year. Venom got the brunt of it when we attended. It’s normally harmless fun, but the fun is over.

I march over to Cookie, who is pacing the cabin porch.

“She’s not here,” Cookie says into the cell phone, presumably to the other half of their search party. “We need to split up and look for her.”

I raise my hand in a wave as I approach. Under the streetlamps dotted along the path, I see all the color drain from the already pale ginger guy’s face.

“I came to check everything is okay,” I say. “Is there a problem?”

“Ash isn’t here,” Cookie stammers. “She’s not over by the rocks either!”

“I’m sure she’ll show up soon,” I shoot them a smile that I hope looks reassuring, but it turns into a grimace. “Why don’t you wait here? I’ll get the staff out to look.”

Up ahead, a woman, still in her pajamas, races toward us. I recognize her as the young camp cook, but I can’t remember her name off the top of my head.

“Claudia!” Cookie runs into her arms. “Ash is missing.”

“She couldn’t have gone far,” Claudia says, shooting a confused look in my direction and obviously wondering why I’m getting involved in whatever drama is going down. “We’ll find her.”

“Tiffany has gone too,” Cookie says pointedly.

Claudia’s comforting smile drops. Whatever went down last year, she knows about it.

“We’ll find her,” Claudia says, then jerks her head in my direction. “Are you here to help?”

“It’s my job, isn’t it?” I snap. “Levi and Zach are on their way.”

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