Page 55 of He Sees You

Who kissed me like I was air and he was drowning.

I type her back:

Making progress. The mountains are definitely helping.

Within a few moments, she’s already sent me a reply:

See? I told you! BTW, have you found any cute town locals to spend some time with while you’re away?

My heart stops.

I stare at the message, trying to formulate a response that isn't a complete lie but doesn't reveal the truth:

No. I haven’t even really given it a thought. I’m focused on the book.

I close my laptop, unable to focus.

I need coffee.

Real coffee, not the burnt offering my father calls coffee.

And I need to be around normal people doing normal things, to remind myself that the regular world still exists.

The drive into town is surreal.

Everything looks different now that I know what moves in the darkness.

Every shadow could be Cain.

Every person could be prey or predator.

The world has been reorganized into a binary that makes more sense than any legal system: those who hurt and those who stop them.

Stella's is busy for a Thursday morning.

The breakfast rush has passed, but the coffee crowd lingers.

I find a corner table and order my usual oatmilk latte, settling in with my laptop.

Around me, the locals are buzzing with gossip.

"—found him this morning. Hunter stumbled across it."

"Heard it was horrific. Like something out of a movie."

"Poor Sheriff Sterling. Man's aged ten years in the last month."

"They're saying it was a ritual. Satanic maybe."

"No, I heard it was a warning. That whoever did it wanted it found."

My blood runs cold. They found Roy.

The bell chimes, and my father walks in.

He looks worse than I've ever seen him—grey-faced, hollow-eyed, moving like every step costs him.

His uniform is wrinkled, coffee stains on the sleeve.