Page 20 of Starve
The…thing is human-like, standing on two legs instead of four. It tilts its head one way in a jerky, strange motion and stares up at me with round eyes reflecting the dim lights.
“What…” My word seems to break the strange moment, and the thing lurches backward into the trees, disappearing from sight. My breath huffs out against the window, fogging it up, and when I step back just a little, something there catches my attention as well.
Hello.
The word is just under where I wrote myhi,and I go cold at the sight. But even as I look at it, the word fades as the foggy surface turns clear again, leaving me standing there confused, with my heart racing, and more than a little confused.
“What is going on?” I whisper to no one at all, reaching out with two fingers to the window. I breathe against it, making the word visible again, and streak my fingers across thehello,just to be sure.
And as I expect, there’s a fresh line through the foggy glass, showing that this was written on theinsideof the window, not outside.
It doesn’t make me feel any better. If anything, it makes my stomach twist and sets my mind racing. I have no idea who could’ve written this, though the longer I think about it, the clearer the answer is.Hattie.She was the one to bring it up, after all. But she also said something else along with it that made it seem like she hadn’t been the one in my room at all.
They’ve never had someone say hi to them before. They liked the message on your window.
Her words play in my head, and I twist my fingers together, pressing against my injured, still-stitched palm. This is ridiculous. It has to have been her, right?
And yet…
I walk back to the window once more, looking outside in the darkness. It’s so quiet right now, with most everyone else asleep and no one causing a disturbance on this side of the sanitarium, at least.
I don’t see anything, even though I stand there until the word with my mark through it fades again. The woods are just as silent as they had been before, and just as still. It’s hard not to wonder if I imagined it, or blame whatever I saw on the fact I’m still half asleep. That’s probably a better explanation.
A more rational one.
Taking a breath, then another, I force myself to settle down. A shiver goes through me, from the chilly air and the memory of what I saw, but again I tell myself that there was nothing there.
Everything is fine.
Right?
Before I can convince myself to go back to bed, I hear a shattering noise, like glass, from so far away that it would’ve been easy to miss if I were still asleep. I doubt it would’ve woken me, but since I’m already up, it’s impossible to ignore.
I only hesitate for a moment, then I turn and head for the unlocked door that will take me out into the hallway. It’s probably none of my business, sure, but?—
Someone screams.
Then someone else follows suit, setting the hair on the back of my neck on end just as I reach the door. My movements become more urgent, and I reach out for the handle just as the door slams open, causing me to stagger backward into my room with a gasp.
And admittingHattie.
“Hattie?!” I gasp, eyes wide as I catch myself on the end of the bed. “Hattie, what are you doing? Did you hear that? What—” As I step forward, she closes the door hard. She moves so quickly that she does that and has time to turn around and grab me by my sleeves, forcing me back until my back hits the window hard before I can even try to finish my question.
“You can’t leave!” she hisses, eyes wide and panicked. “We can’tleave,Fern.”
“Why can’t we?—”
“Because they’re here.” She leans forward, her forehead pressed to mine.“And they’re starving.”
Another scream cuts through the air, making me jump, but Hattie seems unbothered and unsurprised. She just holds me here, forehead against mine, with her hands digging into my shoulders. Another scream, then another, and I can’t help gasping as my hands come up to grip her wrists.
“What is going on?!” I demand, my words a cross between a shriek and a snarl. “And let go of me!” In my panic, I push her away gently, trying not to hurt her, and Hattie steps back without much of a struggle. There’s confusion on her face as she watches me go to the door, but when I grab the handle and turn it…nothing happens.
“How—What—?” When I try the door again, I realize it really is jammed shut somehow. I whirl around to face Hattie, seeing her standing by the window with her face pressed almost against it. “Hattie!” I snap, managing to get her to look at me over her shoulder. “What happened to the door? And what the hell is going on here?”
She doesn’t answer right away. I stare at her as she goes back to surveying the grounds outside, looking interested and curious rather than panicking like I am.“Hattie!”I finally shriek. My whole body is vibrating with tension, and I feel like a trapped rat.
“I told you.” She turns to look at me, and for the first time I notice blood spattered across the front of her powder blue shirt. Unlike most of us, she’s not wearing a long-sleeved shirt under it, and doesn’t seem the least bit cold. “They’re?—”
