if the end of the world was near | C. Berman.

red moss

Alice had been leading the way. Every little noise caused Cindy to jump and clutch onto Y/n's hand. Who didn't mind one bit.

It may have only been a couple hours but Y/n had a crush on Cindy Berman. "Why don't you just hold it?" Y/n whispered. Cindy looked at her confused. "My hand. Just hold it. You don't have to keep letting go, yano?" Cindy bit her lip to contain her smile and looked at the ground. "Earth to Cindy."

"Yeah. Yeah... I'm sorry. I'll just hold it." She grabbed her hand and laced their fingers together. "Thank you," she whispered. Y/n shook her head with a smile. "What?"

"Don't thank me, it's alright."

"Right," she whispered. Her smile kept growing.

"Cindy, I need help," Alice said. Cindy dropped her hand, making both of them miss the warmth.

"Alright, it branches off again here. Just stay left." She took the book and returned at Y/n's side.

"I cannot believe this is working," Alice mumbled.

"It's taking too long. He could be back at camp already." Y/n rubbed her hand down Cindy's back to make her stop worrying. She shivered even having Y/n's jacket still on her. Which she noted smelled just like her and she wanted more.

Alice stopped. "If you had to kill him...Would you?" Cindy froze for a second.

"Earlier, when Mary attacked, I just...I froze. I couldn't do anything. So, no, I...I couldn't kill anyone, much less Tommy."

"Well, good news. I would happily kill him."

"God, even now, after everything, you're...you're still a jerk," Cindy scoffed.

"Ok. I'm sorry, I just...I never got what you saw in him. And that was before the witch possessed him."

Cindy turned around stopping Y/n and Alice. "Tommy... Tommy was sweet. He made me feel like everything was going to be okay. I loved him. I really did."

"I loved Arnie, too. I love that gross, high little shit." Cindy froze.

"Do you hear that?" She pointed her flashlight. "There's this space here up ahead." Y/n and Alice stared at the book."All roads lead here."

"Is there any other way around?" Alice asked, looking around. Cindy shook her head. She handed the book to Alice.

She fell back with Y/n again. Cindy put her hand back. Y/n's warm ones warming up her cold frozen ones. Like they were made for one another.

They walked down the path, staring at the walls that had black goo coming from them and flies buzzing everywhere.

"What the hell. Flies? What is this stuff?" Alice asked, going to touch. With Y/n's free hand she grabbed her wrist.

"Maybe not. I don't want to find the side effects of touching this black gooey stuff."

"It's everywhere," Cindy muttered, cringing at the site of all the flies.

"Cindy? Y/n?" She paused, putting her flashlight onto a pulsing clump of goo. "What is that?"

"Let's get out of here," Cindy said. Y/n led the way. Alice reached down and touch it. "Alice?" Cindy asked. Alice pushed Y/n and Cindy apart running. They chased after her but she just kept running through the tunnels. She tripped and fell her ankle bone coming through the skin.

Y/n stopped and threw up off to the side. Cindy rested one hand on her back, but turned her attention towards Alice. "I'm sorry," Y/n mumbled, wiping her mouth. "Bad with blood."

Cindy kneeled down beside Alice hesitating to touch her at all. "I was there. I was in the past. I saw the...the killers."

"You're okay."

"They killed so many and you're next. You're fucking next."

"No, no, no, no. That's not true. I'm right here. Right, Y/n," Cindy said, looking over to her. Y/n nodded.

"Yes. Yes, you're alive."

"The witch did this." Cindy rested back against a rock. She held out her hand to bring Y/n beside her. "She did all of this. She put a curse on Shadyside. Mary was right."

"--I know," Cindy admitted. "The cave is alive, Alice. Tylenol can't do that." Alice laughed and then groaned in pain. Cindy reached over and grabbed her bag dumping it out on the floor. "You're right. I am a snitch. The day after we stole Mr. Evan's JVC player, Harold Hines saw me with it."

"Fucking Harold Hines." Cindy pushed the bone back in causing Y/n to look away and Alice to scream out in pain.

"Next thing I know, I'm in the Principal's office, and my dad can't come in because he just ran off with some girl not much older than I am now. And my mom, well, she was having a few drinks at O'Connell's. And I knew then...I wasn't different from the other Shadysiders." Alice watched as Y/n listened intently.

"I was cursed. I told myself if I was perfect, if I did everything right, I could beat it. I snitched on you. I got new friends. I started dressing like this." She continued wrapping. "I dated sweet Tom. I avoiding you, but I couldn't avoid Ziggy. Because she was always there reminding me of the truth. That this town, this place...was cursed. And so are we. Now I know. She was right, all this time." Alice screamed as she tied it tighter. "I've been a bad sister. I've been a bad friend. I should've just... skipped class, partied, had sex, had fun."

"I hate to break it to you, but the fun... it's not any more real than your polo shirt. The reason that I wear these," she said, taking off her bracelets. "It's not because their awesome..." she flipped her wrists over. She sided-eyed Y/n, she wasn't sure if she was going to judge her or not, yet. "We all have our ways to deal with Shadyside." Cindy stared off. "What is it?"

"This." She reached over and grabbed a piece of moss. "This moss, it stained my shirt. The outhouse!" All three of them quickly stood up. "It means we're close!"