Page 117 of Mortala
We pull up to the abandoned theater and my heart starts to race. I don’t think I can do this. I don’t think I can face him.
I try my best to continue to control my breathing as Nate and Morgan sit in silence.
“You ready?” Nate asks, and I nod my head, unbuckling my seatbelt and taking one last deep breath. It’s for him.
“Maddie, you’re not alone. Remember that.”
I don’t know what he means, but I nod my head at him anyway and step out of the car. My palms are sweaty and I rub them against my leggings to try and dry them. I can feel theweight of Nate’s pocket knife at my hip and I pull it out, deciding to stuff it into my bra instead.
I walk up to the front entrance to see the doors have chains on them, preventing me or anyone else from entering. All the windows are broken from where people have thrown things into them, but not enough to where you can step into them without cutting yourself.
How the fuck am I supposed to get inside?
I continue to look around to find one of the door chains hanging loose. I pull on the handle and the door creaks, opening with ease. I can feel the pounding in my chest as I step inside the front entrance of the theater.
The air inside is stale and filled with dust. You can tell this place has been abandoned for years. I exhale, slowly letting out the breath I was holding and see particles floating in the air from the beam of light that shines through the glass doors.
The ticketing box is boarded up with plywood, graffiti painted all over it and the surrounding walls. I hear a bloodcurdling scream and I snap my head in that direction.
It’s Miles.
I run through the double doors into the large abandoned theater room and see nothing. There’s a large velvet red curtain covering the stage and all the seats are covered in dust and debris. I look around the room frantically, and my chest feels like it’s going to cave in if I don’t get to Miles soon.
“Hello?!” I yell out into the empty room, hoping whoever is in here will just show themselves. Before I can yell again, the curtain moves and the horror that's on the stage almost makes me fall to my knees.
Miles is sitting on a wooden chair in the center of the stage. His hands are tied behind his back and each of his legs are tied to either side of the chair. His head is hung low, his hair covering his face to where I can’t see it. He’s shirtless and barefoot, bloodcovering his feet, chest and arms, along with the stage beneath him.
Oh, my god. What did he do to him?
“Miles!” I scream and begin to run towards the stage but stop dead in my tracks when my stalker walks out from around the corner of the stage, making himself known.
For a moment, I think my heart stops beating. My entire body goes rigid in fear and confusion. How could it be? There’s no way this is really happening.
“Austin?”
He smiles at me, but it's nothing like the smile I grew up with. Nothing like the one that used to make me feel safe. This smile is wrong. Twisted. It stretches too wide, devoid of warmth, filled with something cold and vicious that makes my stomach turn.
“Hello, Maddie.” His voice is almost gentle, “Did you miss me?”
The world tilts beneath my feet. No. No, no, no.
My mind refuses to accept what my eyes are seeing. This can't be Austin. NotmyAustin. The boy who patched my scraped knees and walked me home after school. The one who sat with me for hours just so I wouldn't have to be alone. The one who promised he'd always protect me.
The man standing in front of me? The one covered in blood with that horrifying smile carved across his face? He's a stranger wearing Austin's skin.
Kaitlin walks onto the stage and comes to stand beside Austin like she's always belonged there. My heart plummets.
How? How do they even know each other?
My mind scrambles to make sense of it, but every answer only leads to more questions. She was supposed to be my friend. The person I trusted and the one who held me while I cried and promised she had my back.
Then, one by one, the pieces begin to lock into place. The dirt from the flowerpot and the footprint Miles found. The way Kaitlin hated him from the very beginning, before she'd ever given him a chance. How desperately she tried to keep me away from him. The constant texts. The panic whenever I wasn't answering. Her insistence on knowing where I was.
Austin couldn't find me until after Kaitlin came to the house. My blood turns to ice. She didn't stumble into my life by chance and she sure as fuck wasn't protecting me. She was watching me so she could feed Austin information on me.
Every warning Miles gave me and every uneasy feeling he couldn't explain. Every time I defended her… Oh, god he was right. He was right about all of it.
This is all my fault.
