Page 198 of Stay Scared

Ash steps farther away from the doorway and leaves the path open.

Rook notices. “You would let her pass you.”

“She hasn’t asked me to stop her.”

“She’s running from you.”

“She’s moving.”

Rook raises Ash’s original mask. “You wrote her an ending.”

“I did.”

“She destroyed it.”

“She did.”

“You still follow her.”

Ash looks at me. “I do.”

Rook throws the mask.

Ash lets it fall.

The black shell strikes the floor and slides beneath the bolted chair.

Rook faces me again. “You think this proves anything.”

“It proves I can see where you’re going.”

He reaches for me.

I move toward the operator exit, but Ash keeps it shut.

Rook still has to cross the center mark.

I need him deeper.

I change direction and move toward the chair instead. Rook follows, catching the back of my jacket and jerking me hard enough that the fabric bites across my shoulders.

Cade holds outside while Owen keeps broadcasting and Ash waits at the lock.

Rook turns me toward him until the scratched beak fills my vision.

“You’re out of corridors.”

“I only needed one.”

His knife rises between us.

I put my palm against his chest, and Rook pauses beneath my hand.

“You wanted the last scene.”

“You kept changing it.”

“I’m done running.”