The Wicked of Wicker Woods

Stitches

Introducing Nicholas Wicker

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"𝙱𝚎𝚕𝚒𝚎𝚟𝚎 𝚗𝚘𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚛, 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚘𝚗𝚕𝚢 𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚑𝚊𝚕𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚜𝚎𝚎."

It was strange, the way the air of the school felt different with each step Anna took into it. The day had passed by in a series of dull moments that made her look forward to going home. Though, she only had her room and the stillness of her thoughts as her father gave her the same punishment he had given to Grace.

Three weeks of no cell phones, no after school or weekend plans and no friends.

To Anna, that last condition was something she wasn't too sure she had to worry about. Friends seemed like a concept she didn't recognize at the moment and it was a possibility that she no longer had after Reese's unfortunate party. 

"So, is it true they cut off her fingers and fed them to her," Eric McAdams blurted, startling Anna as he threw his arm around her shoulder. 

She frowned at the gesture as they neared the cafeteria for the lunch hour. Eric was the class clown who only said and did things to gain reactions out of people. Usually, his tactics worked, but today Anna wasn't willing to deal with his shit. 

Peeling his heavy arm off of her, she pushed him away as they strolled along the hallway. He chuckled at her annoyance and she rolled her eyes, realizing that although she didn't answer his sick question, he had already gotten to her just by asking it.

"Come on Anna," he cooed, straightening his flannel. The red color almost matched his strawberry blonde hair, "Everyone knows your pops has the dirty details on what actually went down that night. That case is the talk of the town."

It was true.

Though most of the community had moved on, the student body was quite the opposite and rumors swirled of the gory details surrounding Molly's demise. No one truly knew what happened. 

But Anna did, or at least she knew the some of the torture Molly was subjected to, thanks to her father. 

However, it gave her an advantage. Enabling her to weed through the rumors and queasy suggestions that people around her were making. 

"Don't you have more important things to worry about, other than some tragic news story and the hearsay surrounding it?" Anna asked with an annoyed tone as she stopped at the cafeteria doors. She could hear the mass crowd booming exaggerated laughs and jokes into the air. 

For the first time since her very first day, she was nervous about entering. 

Suddenly, she could hear the rumble in Eric's chest. Turning her head towards him, her eyes were making it clear that she wasn't sure why he was still there.

"You know what isn't hearsay?" He asked, his tongue playing at his lips like a reptile. It was fitting for someone who was the human form of a snake, "The fact that you've been dethroned after that stunt Friday night," Eric smiled as he pushed through the doors, but not before turning his head back to Anna, "Who's the tragic news story now?"

Scoffing slightly to herself as the glass doors closed in her face, Anna peered down at her feet. What she feared was coming true, her friends hated her and now the entire school knew it. She was the outcast all over again. 

Removing her hands from the handle of the door, she backed away from the entrance of the large gathering ground. Perhaps, for the time being, it was best to lay low and allow Claire to cool off before she approached her and attempted to apologize for her actions.