THE sedan snaked through the streets of Loutham at breakneck speed.

Ríone's hands grew sweaty. She clenched onto the steering wheel so hard that her knuckles had turned white. Her foot thumped repeatedly on the brake as she swerved past pedestrians, bicycles and other cars. Their disgruntled grunts rang in her ear. Yet she paid them no heed.

Not that she did not care. Or that she did not realise what she was doing. Ríone was fully aware she was breaking at least hundred different traffic rules. But what could be done? She knew no other way to reach Jake on time.

"Ríone, you cannot leave now. Not until you have listened to what I have to say."

He asked for her to come. He sounded so desperate, so darn frantic. Something was wrong. Why else would he call her so many times? She had to help him. She had to. 

The image of Sean swam in front of her eyes. Loutham's roads transformed into the yawning pit that was its sea. Those eyes widened with utter horror. The pallidness of his features as he understood his fate. Arms of the beast that tore through his eye sockets and lodged its nefarious arms into his brain. His screams rang in her ears.

Crunch of his skull being shattered echoed in her mind. The squeak of the brain tissue as it made space for the fiend to tighten its grip on the poor child. Blood dribbled down his cheeks. Blood and ocular fluids. Thick streams that danced down the front of the yellow Scooby-Doo shirt, before it pulled him into the bowels of the sea.

Bile rose in her throat.

Ríone pulled the brake at the last moment before the car was about to crash against a tree. Her body and the vehicle shook at the sudden halt. She was slick with sweat, as was the gauze upon her forehead, damp with blood. One suture had come loose. That was why the capillaries beneath pulsated with such wanton ferocity. She grimaced.

She opened the door and landed on the forest floor. Dried leaves crunched beneath her weight. Holding onto her stomach, she retched. A rancid liquid, green in shade, came out of her mouth and wetted the ground. The sharp acidic smell of the excreted bile made her gag. She heaved two more times, the first time letting out more of the green liquid and the next time nothing.

Cramps creeped into her limbs. She fell backwards, a tired sigh escaping her lips. It was not a very comfortable place to lie on, but it would do. There was no way she was going to walk at that moment. Ríone's muscles gnawed, shooting jolts of electric pain throughout her body. Her mouth smelt like rotten tomatoes mixed with cabbages that had been left underneath the sun for two days straight.

Ríone leaned against her car and closed her eyes for the moment. The breeze caressed her face, her breaths slowly returning to normal. She would rest for a little and then continue her journey. Yes, that would be a good decision.

All she hoped, sitting on the leaf littered forest floor accompanied by the smell of her retch, was that Jake's problem could wait a bit more.

***

The rest of the course to Jake's house, Ríone undertook by foot.

Her head was a spinning top of an angry child. Floaters occluded her vision. Silence pervaded her surroundings. No bird chirped. And it suited her well. She was certain that if she heard anything louder than her breath or the crunch of the leaves, her head would burst. The slickness beneath the gauze was no reassurance at all.

"At least Derek's not there with me."

She chuckled. Her eyes shone with coerced tears. Everything had taken such a turn — she was doing things she had not even thought about doing ever in her life. It was sort of a relief that the woods of Loutham were not that dense. Even if she ran around in circles, she would still not get lost.

Given that how bad the pain in her head was, it would not be a surprise if she ended up doing it.

Holding a stitch in her chest, stopped. Ríone closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Just one more moment, she told herself. One more moment of her rest before she will continue. Her belly still hurt from the cramps.

The silence suddenly severed. Something shuffled past her. With a jerk, Ríone opened her eyes. She turned around but no, there was no one in sight! Her brows creased. Was she seeing things? Was the wound that bad that it was messing with her perception? But the doctor said it was a mere cut — one that needed to be stitched up, but not that bad.

She knew little about human neurology, come to think of it. Never had been interested in biology. It all felt so methodical, so mechanic, and so full of rules. Everyone tried to find meaning in every single thing. Always felt forceful to her. Sometimes downright laughable. The lengths people will go to know the things they weren't aware of. As if some inner—

Another shuffle. This time she moved backward, her face a mask of grimacing agony. That sounded closer. Was this only her mind playing tricks on her? Or was someone really there with her? In the middle of the forest?

A twig snapped. Ríone bit on her lower lip to suppress a scream. She tried to run deeper into the woods, only to bang her head against the bark of a birch. The skin on her forehead burnt like the sting of a fire ant. Pressing a hand on her forehead, she leaned against the tree. Darkness replaced the virescent vista.

A chill ran down her limbs. Something cold pressed against her forehead. It had not been there before. Slowly, she raised her eyes. Although her vision was still blurry, not unlike the faded black and white photographs, she was sure of the identity of the person standing in front of her. At that instead, she believed she would never forget that face as long as she lived.

Standing in front of her was Jake, with the nuzzle of his rifle pressed against her forehead.