𝐃𝐄𝐕𝐈𝐋 𝐓𝐎𝐖𝐍 ★ fear street

THIRTY NINE. fully healed

When they reached her, Alice was barely coherent. "I was there," she insisted breathlessly. "I was in the past. I saw... the killers."

Cindy and Evie were desperately trying to calm her. Well, Cindy was trying to calm her; Evie was trying not to barf.

"They killed so many," Alice had tears rolling down her face which was honestly scarier than the bone sticking out of her leg. "They killed so many and you're next. You're fucking next."

Cindy shook her head. "No, no, no, no. Th- that's not true. I'm right here."

Evie watched her breathe shallowly.

"The witch did this," Alice insisted.

Evie turned away, not being able to stomach the idea of any part of Alice's body being outside of her skin. They had to do something or she'd bleed out or get an infection or die. But with Danny up there, they couldn't just carry her up to the surface.

"She did all of this," Alice pressed. "She put a curse on Shadyside. Mary was right."

"I know!" Cindy forced the words out, filling the cave. The three of them sat there for a moment. "The cave was alive, Alice. Tylenol can't do that." She sounded so broken that Evie ignored her squeamishness to look back up at her, taking her hand.

Alice tried to laugh, but it turned into a scream of pain. Evie reached over and dumped out the bag, Cindy started to rifle through it.

"You were right, by the way," she said begrudgingly. "I am a snitch. The day after we stole Mr Evans's JVC player, Harold Hines saw me with it."

Alice let out a growl through tears. "Fucking Harols Hines."

Evie had never heard this story before. She'd vaguely known that Alice and Cindy had history that she wasn't privy to, but she liked to stay out of Cindy's business as much as possible.

Or, maybe it wasn't that she didn't want to pry into Cindy's life. Maybe she was worried who she would find there.

Evie felt bile rising up her throat as Cindy took Alice's calf in her hands and pushed down, the bone sinking beneath the skin. Alice wailed.

"Next thing I know, I'm in the Principal's office," Cindy continued firmly, "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." Cindy laughed mirthlessly. "And I knew then... I wasn't different from the other Shadysiders. I was cursed. I told myself if I was perfect," she sniffled angrily, wrapping Alice's leg up with bandages she'd taken from Mary's office. "If I did everything right, I could beat it. I snitched on you, I got new friends," she very concretely did not look at Evie sitting on her right. "I... I started dressing like this." Cindy gestured to her polo shirt before reaching down and tearing a strip off to tie around Alice's leg. Cindy was fully crying by that point.

"So your little boyfriend...?" Alice struggled to sound smug while in so much pain.

Cindy tightened the fabric. "I loved Danny, he was one of my best friends."

Evie felt her chest tighten. She didn't quite know how to feel about Cindy practically admitting that she had only befriended her because she wanted to feel better about herself.

It probably wasn't the best time to be worrying about things like that, not when Alice was about to get some sort of infection and there was a literal axe murderer above ground.

"We weren't together. I couldn't..." she swallowed a sob. "I couldn't make myself like him like that."

She looked up at Evie, eyes glistening.

"Like..." she said uncertainly. "It felt... wrong." She looked right at Evie. "A lot of things felt wrong. Not you," she sniffed. "You were one of the only things that felt okay. I could run from a lot of things. I avoided you," she turned back to Alice. "But I couldn't avoid Ziggy. Because she was always there, reminding me of the truth. That this town, this place," there was snot and tears mixing with the dirt on her face, "... was cursed. And so were we. Now I know, she was right. All this time. I've been a bad sister. I've been a bad friend." She let go of Alice and finally reached back for Evie's hand.

"I should've just... skipped class, partied, had sex, had fun." She sounded like she was letting out half a decade of pain."

Alice interjected. "I hate to break it to you, but the fun..." she shook her head. "It's not any more real than your polo shirt." She gestured down to her thick studded bracelets. "There's a reason I wear these, and it's not just because they're awesome." She loosened them, revealing a thick array of scars around her wrist. "We all have our ways to deal with Shadyside."

Evie sat back on her heels. There was so much going on in her head that she could barely comprehend any of it. "Sometimes I can't feel things anymore," she admitted quietly. "I fucking... my sister. She died last year and it's my fault. She went off to college and I... I was so fucking needy and I kept calling her. I had so much in my head, I was feeling so much," she looked over at Cindy, still gripping her hand.

"I needed to talk to her. I couldn't figure it all out on my own. I had just... Cindy, you're my best friend. But," the words were coming out jumbled. "It was different and I didn't know how to make sense of it."

A moment of understanding passed between them. Cindy knew all too well what that feeling was like, she felt it every time she looked at Evie.

"I called her, told her I needed to talk to her and she told me she'd drive home. Her..." Evie's words were coming out through such heavy sobs they were almost unintelligible. "Her car got hit and she died, and it was because there's something wrong with me and I just..." She gasped, struggling for air. "I can't feel things anymore."

Cindy gripped her hand and the two of them sat in silence just for a second to soak it all in. They'd both really struggled with their emotions surrounding one another for so long, but sitting there in the cave, they maybe felt like it was okay.

Evie squeezed her hand. Cindy squeezed back.

────────── ⋆˚✿˖° author's note

hiii lovelies!!! how are we all doing??? writing has taken a bit of a seat on the backburner right now because i've been finishing up my last year of college (i graduate in november!!!!!!!) and i've been working a lot as well (i have a shift in one hour lmaoo let's hope i finished this before i have to leave)

i hope we're all doing well!!! i've missed writing for this book but i simply. have not had the time. school is hard y'all!!! or at least, it's harder than i would like it to be. i have not had the time or the energy for my horror gays (who have finally admitted they're gay??????? omg), i'm currently in a public library killing time before i have to start my shift.

i hope you enjoyed this chapter, i had a lot of fun writing it actually!! but my laptop is on 9%, so i do have to leave it off here and seriously, thank you for your patience, i'm so sorry for the wait. ily ily ily ily. <3333