Page 60 of Monsters Like Us

Epilogue

During our stop for supplies,we pull into a small-town library so Katana can check out some books. While she browses, I sit at a table in front of a computer, curious about the basement lab we escaped.

My fingers fly over the keys. I click on the first link.

Black Hollow Gazette

November 15

Two Dead in Isolated Estate – Patients Missing

Authorities discovered the bodies of Dr. Vale Halloway and his wife, Corinne Halloway, in the basement of their Black Hollow estate late last night. The scene was described as “gruesome,” though officials have not released details.

Two patients from Holloway Psychiatric Institute—Micah Morrow and Katana Morgan—are unaccounted for. Both had been admitted for violent crimes as minors. Morrow, nicknamed “the Ice Monster,” had remained silent duringhis years of confinement. Morgan, admitted for the killing of her mother’s boyfriend, was reported to have a history of aggression and emotional instability.

Officials declined to confirm whether Morrow and Morgan escaped or perished in the chaos. The estate’s condition has fueled speculation.

I exit the article.

A blog below piques my curiosity, so I click on the link.

Rumors & Whispers

Some whisper the couple never left the basement—that they died strapped to one of Vale’s machines, their bodies hidden in the crematorium rumored to exist below the house.

Others claim Morrow and Morgan turned on their captors, killing them before fleeing into the woods.

And a few insist it wasn’t Morrow and Morgan at all—that Vale and Corinne destroyed each other, driven mad by the horrors they created.

No bodies of the missing patients have been recovered.

For now, Black Hollow sleeps uneasily, its forests holding secrets the daylight can’t touch.

The old wooden floor creaks. I look up as Katana approaches, hugging an armful of books to her chest. She leans down, her long, dark locks brushing my shoulder as her eyes skim the glowing screen.

“What is it?” she asks, her voice softbut steady.

I tilt the monitor so she can see the headline. Her lips press together, unreadable, before she finally looks at me.

“They’ll never know the truth,” she whispers. “If anyone ever found out, they’d never believe it anyway.”

“Good,” I murmur, closing the laptop. “The truth belongs to us.”

She sets the books down, and our fingers entwine in the quiet hush of the library.

Two monsters hiding in plain sight.

Alive, together, and free.

The way it should be.