"I swear, if I'm dying tonight because of you, I'm gonna haunt your ass so hard, Harrington!"
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah! I'm gonna go full Poltergeist and shit!"
"Then bring it, Graveswood."
"Challenge accepted."
***
In which after years of suppressing their...
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Chapter Twenty-Three: Close Call
(The Monster)
***
Rowan's heart pounded in her ears as she ran, her lungs aching from both exertion and the rotting air of this twisted version of the woods, her mind screaming at her to keep running, to get through that portal-thing in the tree—for what else could that tunnel be?—and escape, to not look back.
Beside her, Nancy was also running, her face white from terror. And behind them, Rowan could hear the monster shrieking, its shrieks making her run faster, while also filling her with a sick sense of dread that this was what the monster wanted.
Prey running, to give the predator the chase it needed, the thrill of the hunt, before it caught them and tore their throats out.
However, in their running, Rowan realised with a growing horror that all the twisted, decaying trees looked similar, that none of their vine-wrapped trunks had the portal to safety in them.
Nancy seemed to realise this too, for she stopped and looked at Rowan with horrified eyes, her body shaking with fear. When she saw her own fear, of being lost and unable to escape the predator chasing them, she began spinning in circles as she screamed, "JONATHAN! JONATHAN WHERE ARE YOU?! JONATHAN I'M RIGHT HERE! WE'RE RIGHT HERE! JONATHAN!"
Rowan wanted to scream as well, but then she heard the snarling and chittering, and began pushing Nancy, shouting, "RUN NANCY!"
Nancy did so and they ran again, screaming Jonathan's name, but stopped when, faintly, they heard a voice shouting their names.
Nancy was staring, wide-eyed, and shouted, "Jonathan!"
"Nancy? Rowan?" came again, and there was no denying it.
It was Jonathan.
"Jonathan, we're right... we're right here!" Nancy screamed, at the same time Rowan shouted, "BYERS! We're here! WE'RE HERE!"
"Nancy! Rowan!"
"We're right here!"
"NANCY! ROWAN! Just follow my voice! I'm right here! Follow my voice!"
Rowan didn't even think to question it, and she and Nancy ran, following Jonathan's voice, their only hope of escape.
When they saw the portal-tree, Rowan sobbed in relief, but her tears froze in her throat when she saw the monster.
