Page 33 of Haunting Goats

Big girls do big things.

I just didn’t think my big thing would be to get rid of my own body.

A noise startles me, and I stop dead in my tracks.

Ironic, considering.

A fuzzy raccoon bolts across my vision, and Attie nudges me to keep moving. It takes me a minute to pick my pace back up, but once I get moving, I’m cruising. We approach the well, and a door crashes open behind us.

I squint my eyes as I peer across the way.

“You’re a slut, Jeaneane!”

A small man with a Napoleon complex jets to his car as he belts curses at whoever the female is. I panic and drop the garbage bag on the ground. The man notices the bag as he goes to climb into his dingy white pickup truck.

“What the⁠—”

A woman, who I presume to be Jeaneane, comes running out of the motel room with a shoe in her hand, screeching like DoodleBob from one of my favorite TV shows growing up, Spongebob Squarepants. The commotion has the man looking in her direction, and he quickly hops into the driver’s side before burning rubber as he tears out of the lot. The woman chases crazily after him.

Eventually, the woman retreats to her room, and Atticus boosts me off the cracked cement. Holy shit. I can’t believe how close we were to getting caught. My spirit trembles at the realization.

Atticus lifts the bag hurriedly off the ground and places it on the edge of the well. My eyes sting as the realization hits me that these are the last pieces of me and it’s time to say goodbye. Atticus places a hand on my shoulder and gives it a gentle squeeze.

Him being here with me, in this moment, means more to me than words could ever convey. I’m not alone—I’m with him. And I’m safe.

I’ve never had that before. No one has ever loved me enough to treat me as something precious and worthy.

Is that what this is? Love?

Does Attie love me?

He turns to me and cups my chin, one hand still gripping my shoulder. He studies me, and for the first time, it doesn’t feel like he’s looking through me anymore. Something connects in our gaze, something that binds us in time and space, and Attie leans down and captures my mouth with his. The kiss is soft, hungry, intimate, and I feel like I’m short-circuiting. This man is everything.

Before he steps away, he whispers in my ear, “I’ll be right behind you. Take your time.”

I nod and look down at my bag of bones. To think that my skin once clothed these porous puzzle pieces and housed something as sacred as my heart makes me weep and whimper. Sniffling as I try to control the sorrowful trail of liquid streaming down my face, I don’t move to wipe them away like all the times before. I know I’ll never see the evidence of my emotions ever again.

It’s devastating—death. We all die eventually. It’s inevitable, but not like this. People don’t have to say goodbye like this.

I use what’s left of my adrenaline to shove the trash bag over the side of the well.

I do as Attie suggested earlier and make a wish as I watch myself tumble into the darkness that awaits.

CHAPTER 20

ATTICUS

I’ve said goodbye to myself before, but not like this. I’d do it another hundred times over if it meant she’d never have to experience this. Lyric’s bag of bones topples over the edge of the well and plummets into the black hole, and I rush to her before she has the opportunity to collapse to the ground.

She doesn’t make a sound. A few minutes ago, her snivels joined the evening sounds of fireflies and crickets. I can hear the waves over the late night traffic, and it reminds me how close we are to the lake. I wish I could have gotten her body there. Lyric’s remains shouldn’t be keeping company with loose change and ungranted desires.

I scoop my Strawberry Girl off the ground and hoist her into the air. When a small grunt escapes my lips, Lyric attempts to wiggle herself from my hold.

I hold her tighter, “Knock it off. I’ve got you, princess.”

She huffs and nuzzles her face into my neck, and I head for our room.

When I hear the clanking of glass and deep male voices, I turn to face the noise and notice Jake, and who I’m guessing is Cash, approaching the room we just left. Deciding to follow them, I can’t wait to see the reaction on their faces. I nudge Lyr’s head with my chin and nod in the direction I want her to look.