Page 70
Story: Rules for Vanishing
ZACH: I don’t care.
GRACE: Of course you do. And you should.
ZACH: If Becca doesn’t want to be with me... I’m not going to leave her to die just because she might break up with me. How psycho would I have to be to—
Zach grunts. Surprise and pain mingle. Judging by the location of the wound on the corpse, it is likely the blade has struck his lung, which explains why he makes little other sound. The edges of the wound are sloppy. One imagines the hand holding the knife working it up and down, sawing at thevulnerable cavity below the ribs, inexpertly wreaking damage. The whispers do not capture this, their silence merciful. They offer instead the sound of a body striking the floor, and the panting breath of the killer.
GRACE: Lost him. I don’t know what happened. He was right next to me. He was right next to me. I don’t know what happened. I don’t know where Zach is. He was right next to me. No—she’ll want to look for him. The spider. The spider took him. I don’t know what happened. One minute he was right next to me, and the next second the spider was there.
The rehearsal grows more precise with repetition. Grace takes a long breath.
GRACE: There. It’s better this way. Two of us now. No reason not to go.
The whispers fade.
VIDEO EVIDENCE
Retrieved from the cell phone of Melanie Whittaker
Recorded April 19, 2017, 12:52 a.m.
The camera trains on Grace, moving purposefully down the dim hallway. She mutters to herself as she moves, counting turns. Anthony and Mel walk in the back of the group, the others shuffling along ahead.
MEL: I feel like she’s leading us in circles.
ANTHONY: How would we know if she was? We can’t even tell what hall we’re in. There’s no guarantee a hall is the same every time you look at it. [Pause] Is it just me, or is she...
MEL: Kind of nuts? Sure, but after God knows how long in a place like this, you’d have to be. Why, you don’t trust her?
ANTHONY: I didn’t say that.
MEL: Because I sure as shit don’t.
ANTHONY: So it’s not just me.
MEL: No, and I... Hold on. I know things keep shifting—okay, this sounds weird, but I’m really good with spatial stuff, right? And I think we’re not just following a route, we’re making it by making certain turns. I think the changes are predictable. And I think she knows it, too.
ANTHONY: Meaning what, exactly?
MEL: I can’t be sure. But I think the way we’ve been turning, it’s making the house into almost a loop. If she turns up there... Yeah. If she turns right, we’ll walk right up behind ourselves.
ANTHONY: Is that possible?
MEL: Here?
ANTHONY: Good point. What does that mean?
MEL: I don’t know. Except—
Grace halts. The others follow suit, confusion and alarm evident. Grace stands just past a dark hallway—deeply dark, a dark immune to light. Kyle stands right behind her, a frown creasing his features.
Grace stomps on the ground twice.
It’s like knocking on a door, and the answer comes quickly. The spider erupts from the dark: milk-pale, legs like blades. Eyeless face twisting, jaw working side to side as the tongue lashes. It dives for Grace and Kyle, but she grabs hold of Kyle and freezes, and Jeremy doesn’t, the others don’t, stumbling back on instinct.
The spider moves in stutter-step, joints clicking, clattering into the hall and dividing Grace and Kyle from the others. It turns on the older teens. They do the only thing they can—they run.
20
Table of Contents
- Page 1
- Page 2
- Page 3
- Page 4
- Page 5
- Page 6
- Page 7
- Page 8
- Page 9
- Page 10
- Page 11
- Page 12
- Page 13
- Page 14
- Page 15
- Page 16
- Page 17
- Page 18
- Page 19
- Page 20
- Page 21
- Page 22
- Page 23
- Page 24
- Page 25
- Page 26
- Page 27
- Page 28
- Page 29
- Page 30
- Page 31
- Page 32
- Page 33
- Page 34
- Page 35
- Page 36
- Page 37
- Page 38
- Page 39
- Page 40
- Page 41
- Page 42
- Page 43
- Page 44
- Page 45
- Page 46
- Page 47
- Page 48
- Page 49
- Page 50
- Page 51
- Page 52
- Page 53
- Page 54
- Page 55
- Page 56
- Page 57
- Page 58
- Page 59
- Page 60
- Page 61
- Page 62
- Page 63
- Page 64
- Page 65
- Page 66
- Page 67
- Page 68
- Page 69
- Page 70 (Reading here)
- Page 71
- Page 72
- Page 73
- Page 74
- Page 75
- Page 76
- Page 77
- Page 78
- Page 79
- Page 80
- Page 81
- Page 82
- Page 83
- Page 84
- Page 85
- Page 86
- Page 87
- Page 88
- Page 89
- Page 90
- Page 91
- Page 92
- Page 93
- Page 94
- Page 95
- Page 96
- Page 97
- Page 98
- Page 99
- Page 100
- Page 101
- Page 102
- Page 103
- Page 104
- Page 105
- Page 106
- Page 107
- Page 108
- Page 109
- Page 110
- Page 111
- Page 112
- Page 113
- Page 114
- Page 115
- Page 116
- Page 117
- Page 118
- Page 119
- Page 120
- Page 121
- Page 122
- Page 123
- Page 124
- Page 125