• Blood Bound •||• Simon Kalivoda X Female Reader •

17 - Body And Hand Unite

"That was July 19th, 1978. Five-thousand nine-hundred and thrity-seven days ago. My sister was dead... and so was I. And most days... I wish I'd stayed dead," Ziggy says as she stares at us gravely.

"Cindy... my sister. She sacrificed herself for nothing," she tells us, furrowing her eyebrows in frustration and looks down at the book in her hands. "I told everyone the story of how she died. The story I just told you. And no one believed me."
"But what about Nick?" I question. "I thought he was different. I thought he would believe me. But Nick had a destiny in this town. And you don't become sheriff talking about ghost stories."

"I couldn't see him again. Not after that." Her voice breaks as she speaks. "The witch... the town curse. For one night, Cindy believed there was a way to end it. So I thought there was, too."

"But now I know... there is no end."

Deena, Josh, Kate, and I look up at Ziggy, who frowns as she closes the book. An alarm goes off, starting all of us. She stands up and presses the button to turn it off.
"Like I said, your best chance is to run from this place. Go as far as you can and hope a bus doesn't hit you on your way out," she says.

"We know where the witch's body is, though," I speak up. "Yeah. Off of Highway 5 in the woods between Shadyside and Sunnyvale," Deena adds. Ziggy softly gasps. "It's not possible," she denies. "Oh, it's there, alright," Kate nods. "Trust us," Josh adds. "The chains, the bones, the whole thing." "That could be anyone," Ziggy says.
"All of those people died because we found something that the witch didn't want us to find," I declare. "The killers chased after us and killed innocent people that had nothing to do with this, and I wish to God that it never happened, but we found it," Deena says. "We found what you were looking for in '78."

"We found Sarah Fier."

"Mrs. Lane was right. We could end the curse by reuniting the hand with the body. We know where the body is, so we just need to dig up the hand so we can end the curse, go home, and pretend none of this ever happend," Kate says. "What happened to Camp Nightwing? Is the hand bone still there? Is it still buried underneath the Hanging Tree?" Deena asks her.

Ziggy stares at us for a moment before giving us an answer. "Camp Nightwing was closed down after the massacre. They demolished all of the buildings and built the Shadyside Mall a few years later." "Then that's where we're going," Deena says to Josh, Kate, and I. "To Shadyside Mall."

"What am I gonna do about them?" Ziggy asks, motioning towards the bathroom where Sam and Simon reside. "Watch over them. Make sure they don't escape," I order.

----

We get to the empty Shadyside Mall. We all discussed a plan on how we we're going to break in, but we were able to get inside by just opening the door. Shitty security they have here...
The Hanging Tree is still here. I never would've thought that the Hanging Tree would be in the middle of the mall. "Dig around. If you feel your nose running, wipe it on your sleeve, not on your hand," Deena tells everyone.

Immediately, my hands go deep into the dirt and moss, searching for anything that feels bone-like. After about five minutes of Kate, Josh, Deena, and I digging all around the tree, Deena and Josh give each other a look. A look that shows Kate and I that we found what we were looking for.

The hand of Sarah Fier.

"Wrap it up. We're breaking this curse," Deena orders us. Kate takes off her cheerleader jacket and uses it to grab the hand and quickly wrap it up like a fussy baby.

----

Everything seems to be happening so fast. It must be shock because the next thing I know, we're back at the spot where we found Sarah Fier's body. "Lock the doors," Deena tells Kate and Josh. "No, we're coming with you-" Josh argues. "No, you're not," Deena tells him. "Deena..." Kate says. "Your nose is bleeding." Sure enough, blood is pouring out of her nostrils just like the night of the memorial.

"We'll be back," Deena says, gravely. "Wait! Deena! Y/N!" Josh protests. Deena closes the car door and turns away from her brother's pleads. I take a deep breath before following her.
I hold the witch's hand with the grip of my life and march down the hill. We can't use anything to light up our path. We can only hear the cruching of leave with every step we take in the dark.

The bright red car is the only thing guiding us in these woods. Other than that, we are completely alone. Completely vulnerable. "I think they're here," I say, pointing at the ground ahead of me with my foot. Deena gets down on all fours and tears away every piece of moss burying Sarah Fier's bones. I kneel down and help her out, carrying the witch's hand with my other hand.

My hands brush across the texture of fabric.

We both lift it up.

It's the Sunnyvale jacket we used to wrap her bones...

"We got you... you witch."

I unwrap Kate's jacket from the hand bone.

"Your nose is bleeding now, too," Deena says. I move my hand to touch my nose, but I wipe it on my sleeve instead. "Ready?" "Yes. I want everything to go back to normal," I say, holding back tears. "Okay. On three," Deena declares, handing me the other end of the witch's hand. "One..." I take a deep breath in. "Two..." I let it out and pray to myself that this will work. "Three!" Me and Deena place the hand to the body.

A wave of pure adrenaline washes over me, making me gasp. I see flashes of what I can only assume is Sarah Fier screaming. Angry that Deena and I disturbed her grave.

My vision goes completely white until I'm not in the woods anymore. I'm not with Deena anymore.

Where am I?

I look down at myself. I'm sitting in an old rocking chair, holding a needle and an embroidery hoop. I'm not myself. I'm... in a different person's body.