Total pages in book: 139
Estimated words: 134133 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 671(@200wpm)___ 537(@250wpm)___ 447(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 134133 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 671(@200wpm)___ 537(@250wpm)___ 447(@300wpm)
Joker’s smirking by the time I’m done begging for my life, but he doesn’t say anything. He just keeps driving slowly down the path into the woods.
Oh my god oh my god oh my god.
I don’t want to die.
I haven’t even lived yet. I’ve wasted the last couple of years imprisoned by trauma. I haven’t even had a chance to fall in love.
I’m angry at myself for letting Dylan hold me back the way he did. I’ve done plenty of coping and surviving since he pushed my life off course, but damn, I wish I would have done more healing. I need more time. I want to be brave.
There’s a break in the darkness up ahead.
I see a small structure with windows lit by an orangish glow. By my standards, it’s a small house, but not by Silvan’s. I doubt he has ever stepped foot in a place like this once in his whole life.
This is a creepy cabin in the woods.
This is definitely a place for torture or murdering someone where no one can hear them scream. Not a place for romance.
“Please don’t kill me.”
“I’m not here to kill you. As far as I know, anyway. If I am here to kill you, it won’t be before you’ve seen Silvan and had a chance to plead your case. The guy’s fucking obsessed with you, so I like your chances.” He puts the car in park, then kills the engine.
“We’re getting out here? At the creepy murder cabin?”
“That’s our destination,” he confirms.
“Maybe you didn’t hear me. I don’t want to be murdered. I RSVPd for staying alive. You can take me back to the main house.”
Amusement tugs at his lips. I think it’s genuine, but he’s getting out of the car, so I can’t see his eyes to be sure.
His murdery dead eyes.
I pout. “I don’t want to get murdered by him.”
He opens my door a couple of seconds later. He doesn’t have my weekend bag which further worries me. If I’m staying in this horror movie cabin with Silvan, he should be bringing my things. Silvan told me to remember to bring my books so I could do homework, which strongly suggested I would make it home alive, but Silvan would definitely think about small details like that. If he planned to murder someone but didn’t want them to know yet, he would definitely tell them something like that to keep them from getting suspicious.
He's so smart. I really like that about him. Why didn’t I tell him that?
He probably wouldn’t have let his friend murder me if I told him that.
He’s not going to let this guy kill you, Sophie. Calm down.
But it’s hard to because the guy did imply he wasn’t 100% sure he wasn’t here to kill me, and again, he is not getting my bag out of his trunk. Is he just going to take my stuff? Is he going to put rocks in my bag and toss it in the river they’ll dump my body in later? Maybe have a nice bonfire with it so there isn’t so much evidence?
This sucks.
Once he’s freed me from the handcuffs, I grab my purse. He grabs my arm and hauls me out of the car.
I want to tell him I can get out of the car myself, but it sounds like something a “troublemaker” might say. He doesn’t let go once I’m out, anyway, so I don’t think he’d care. He still looks bored to death by me, he’s probably just afraid if he lets me go, I’ll make a mad dash into the woods, and he’ll have to hunt me down.
Yikes. That’s a terrifying enough thought that I wouldn’t do it even if I didn’t think I’d surely get lost in the forest and die of hypothermia.
Every scenario seems to end really badly for me. I hate it here.
I’m going to be so mad if I played by all his rules and still end up floating down the Merrimack, but I’m holding onto hope this cabin is lit up because Silvan is inside. If Silvan is inside, I’ll be okay. I can convince him not to hurt me even if he wants to right now. We have a system. I’m excellent at bargaining with him. I like to think he wouldn’t go to this much effort, including his scary friend in the whole thing, just to put me in a position where I have to plead for his mercy again, but it’s not outside the realm of possibility.
I’ll let him win, too. I’ll do anything he wants me to do. As long as I escape this night without being murdered, I’m calling it a win for me.
Joker hauls me up the porch steps—I should really get his name—and raps on the wood door.
Hope blossoms in my chest. He’s knocking. That means…