Page 112 of Hide And Seek

“Grace, don’t—” Jesse started.

But she was already moving. She turned and bolted for the doors, shoving them open so hard they slammed against the wall.

“Grace!” Sutton shouted, running after her.

Maren followed her, and they stopped at the threshold. Grace didn’t. She kept going, running right into the clearing outside.

“Get back inside, you fucking idiot!” Sutton shouted at her. “Now!”

But she was already out in the open clearing, spinning in a tight, frantic circle, arms thrown wide.

“Come on! Just fucking do it already!” she screamed. She spun again, faster this time. “Put me out of my fucking misery!”

The rest of the group surged toward the doors, stopping just short of the threshold like they’d hit an invisible wall.

“Grace, come back inside!” Jesse shouted.

“What the fuck are you doing?” Garrett yelled. “Get in here!”

“Grace!” Maren’s voice cracked. “Please!”

But no one stepped past the doorway. No one crossed into the dark.

Grace either didn’t hear or didn’t care. She staggered a few steps, then let out another broken, hysterical laugh, turning in a slow circle.

“Where are you?” she screamed. “Isn’t this what you want? Come on! I’m right here!”

“Stop it!” Tamsin cried from behind me. “You’re going to get yourself killed!”

Grace froze for half a second. Then she laughed again. Loudly.

“Good!” she shouted back. “That’s the point.”

Before anyone could react to that, she turned and bolted, sprinting out of the clearing and onto the path that led toward the cabins, her voice carrying back to us in ragged, echoing bursts.

“Come on! Do it! Just fuckingdo it!”

“Fuck,” Jesse muttered.

“We have to get her back inside,” I said, stepping forward.

A hand shot out and caught my arm. “No,” Jasmine said sharply. “Going outside at night is a suicide mission.”

“But we can’t just leave her out there!” I said, trying to pull free. “She’s not thinking straight!”

“And you are?” Simon cut in. “You run out there right now, you’re dead too.”

“We tried to stop her,” Garrett said, jaw tight. “She made her choice.”

I shook my head. “If we’re fast enough, we can get her back inside before anything happens to her.”

“So what exactly do you want us to do?” Noura demanded. “Chase her out into the woods in the dark? Split up? That’s literally what the killer wants!”

“She didn’t go into the woods. She just went down to the cabins,” I said. “It’s not that far. We can make it before anything happens.”

Maren was standing just inside the doorway, staring out at the path Grace had disappeared down. Her face was completely drained of color.

“Maren,” I said, turning to her. “We have to go.”