The Whistler In The Night

Chapter 24

I sat in the small kitchen of the hut, staring at the dim light flickering from the single bulb hanging above. My mind was swirling with thoughts I couldn't seem to organize—confusion, guilt, and disbelief. We had killed a man. It wasn't something I had ever imagined myself doing, yet it had happened. I still couldn't fully process the gravity of it. The world felt different now, darker, more complicated. The weight of the man's death pressed down on me, and I wasn't sure how to carry it.

Scarlet and I had made a plan: in the morning, we would leave this godforsaken place and try to find a way back to town. We couldn't stay here any longer. Everything felt tainted by what we had done.

I was lost in my thoughts when suddenly I heard Scarlet shouting from the other room, her voice filled with excitement. "Babe! Babe! Guess what I found!"

I jumped up, my heart racing. I rushed toward her voice, unsure of what to expect. When I reached her, she was standing there, holding something in her hand. My heart nearly stopped when I saw what it was.

A cellphone.

Scarlet's face lit up with hope as she turned the phone on, the screen glowing in the dim room. "It works," she said, almost laughing with relief. "I can't believe it—there's service here!"

She quickly unlocked the phone, her fingers trembling with excitement. She opened the phone app and dialed a number. I figured it was her mom. After a few rings, I heard her mother's voice on the other end of the line.

"Mom, it's Scarlet," she said, her voice cracking slightly. "Can you help me? We're stuck out here."

I couldn't hear what her mother was saying, but Scarlet's expression softened as she listened. Relief washed over her, and for the first time in days, I saw her smile genuinely. After a few moments, Scarlet's face twisted in confusion. "Now?" she asked. "In the middle of the night? Wait until tomorrow—it's too dangerous."

But her mother insisted, and Scarlet finally agreed. "Okay, fine. Just be careful."

Scarlet hung up the phone and immediately hugged me, her arms tight around my neck. "She's coming to get us," she whispered, her voice filled with a sense of finality and hope. "We're getting out of here tonight."

I felt a surge of relief, but I couldn't shake the tension still twisting inside me. We were finally going to leave, but it felt like something was lurking just beneath the surface, waiting to drag us back into the nightmare.

Two hours passed. We sat near the window, watching the darkness, our hearts beating in anticipation. The cold pressed in around the hut, the wind howling outside like a distant scream. Then, finally, we heard it—a car beeping outside.

Scarlet and I jumped to our feet, rushing to the door. As we stepped outside, the cold hit us like a wall, but we didn't care. We saw the headlights of a car cutting through the dark, and then we spotted her mother stepping out of the driver's seat. She waved to us, a relieved smile on her face.

Scarlet ran to her, and they hugged tightly. It was a moment I'd been longing for—an escape from the madness. "Let's go now, quickly," Scarlet urged. "We don't have time."

We all piled into the car, the warmth inside a stark contrast to the freezing night. Scarlet's mother pulled away from the hut, the car bouncing slightly as we sped down the snow-covered road. For the first time in what felt like an eternity, I started to relax. We were leaving everything behind. We were finally going home.

As we drove, the relief of escape began to settle in. The adrenaline that had kept me on edge was starting to wear off, and exhaustion crept in. But as we got further from the nightmare, something began to gnaw at me—something that had been bothering me for days.

I looked at Scarlet's mother in the driver's seat. "I tried calling my mom," I said quietly, my voice tight. "I called her ten times. She's not answering. Do you know why?"

The car went silent. Scarlet's mother's hands tightened around the steering wheel, and I saw her face shift, a look of deep sadness passing over her features. She didn't answer right away, and I felt my stomach drop. I could already sense something terrible.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, she spoke, her voice breaking. "Evan... I'm so sorry."

I blinked, my chest tightening. "What... what do you mean?"

She looked at me in the rearview mirror, tears filling her eyes. "Your mom... your whole family... they died in a fire. Your house burned down."

I stared at her, my mind refusing to process the words. "No..." I whispered, shaking my head. "That can't be true. That doesn't make any sense."

But as I said the words, the reality began to sink in. My family—my mom, my dad, everyone—they were gone. Just like Kayla. Just like so many others. And I hadn't even known. I'd been out here in this nightmare, oblivious to what had happened.

Scarlet leaned over, pulling me into her arms as the tears began to fall. "No..." I sobbed, my voice breaking. "Why? Why is this happening?"

Scarlet's mother was crying too, quietly as she drove, her own heart breaking for me. "You can stay with us," she said softly. "You don't have to go through this alone. We're here for you, Evan."

But her words couldn't reach me. I was drowning in the weight of it all—Kayla's death, the man we had killed, the loss of my family. Everything felt like it was crashing down around me. My heart shattered into pieces, and all I could do was hold on to Scarlet, sobbing into her shoulder as we drove through the cold night.

Scarlet held me tight, her own tears mixing with mine. "We'll get through this," she whispered, though I could hear the pain in her voice too. "I promise, Evan, we'll get through this. Together."

But at that moment, I couldn't see how. Everything I loved had been taken from me. And all I was left with was the overwhelming sense that no matter how far we ran, no matter how hard we tried to escape, the darkness would always find us.