Hysteria by Megan Miranda Read Free Book Online Page B

up.”
    Reid’s eyes skimmed the trees as they rustled, like the wind was a thing and he could
     trace its path. “You shouldn’t be here. It’s not safe.”
    I looked around. The remaining walls were kind of unsteady, but nothing seemed dangerous
     about it. Reid continued, “This is the old student center. You know what’s past here?”
    “No,” I said.
    “Nothing. Well, not nothing, just nothing you’ll ever find your way out of again.”
    “It’s just trees.”
    “No, not trees, a forest.”
    Now that was something I could understand. The way a bunch of little things can become
     something bigger — something more than the sum of its parts. I stared off into the distance, no longer
     seeing the trees stacked up behind one another, but seeing this big thing — a forest, a living, breathing single entity.
    “Once you get going,” Reid said, also staring off into the distance, “it’s hard to
     find your way back out again. There’s this story about this kid, Jack Danvers, who
     got lost during initi — Anyway, he wandered off one night and didn’t come back.”
    A chill ran down my spine. “What happened?”
    “Don’t know. They never found a body. I tried to look it up but couldn’t find anything.
     Didn’t you notice that form you had to sign about not going into the woods? It basically
     excuses the school from liability. And a few years ago, the school finally raised
     enough money to build a new student center so we could stay more centralized.”
    I stared off into the trees, thinking about that kid who disappeared. I wondered what
     the end was like for him — was it fast? Slow? Was he scared? Resigned? Was it violent? Gradual? But then I realized
     it didn’t matter. Dead is dead is dead.
    The wind blew and Reid narrowed his eyes at the woods. “Sometimes I think I can feel
     . . .”
    I shivered and cleared my throat. I didn’t want to talk about ghosts. “Anything else
     I should know?”
    “Jason’s an ass. Don’t let him get to you.”
    I shook my head, about to explain that it wasn’t Jason I was running from, but I wasn’t
     about to offer up yet another secret for distribution. If secrets were currency, I
     was holding onto the ones I had left. “Noted,” I said.
    “So come on,” he said, holding his hand out for me. I stared at his open palm, at
     the lifeline running down it.
    Colleen traced mine once, back in middle school. She ran the dark nail of her pointer
     finger along the crease toward my wrist and said, “Better live while you can.” I had
     laughed uncomfortably, and Colleen had smiled, even though she’d been trying to keep
     a straight face. “Just kidding,” she’d said. “We’re going to live forever.” Because
     that’s exactly the type of thing you think when you’re twelve.
    Reid’s arm eventually dropped to his side. “Come on,” he said again, but this time
     without the open palm.
    I pictured us walking back together, side by side on the narrow trail. Either in awkward
     silence, where I’d be thinking about how he used to be, or with him telling me stories
     about Monroe, like almost kissing me wasn’t something worth remembering.
    “I like it here,” I said. “Quiet.”
    He dug at the dirt with the toe of his shoe, but didn’t make any move to leave.
    “I won’t get lost. Promise.”
    “Okay,” he said, making his way through the rubble again. “So I’ll see you later?”
    “Later,” I said.
    After he’d left, after I couldn’t hear his footsteps, even in the distance, and after
     I couldn’t really even hear the scurrying of animals anymore, I maneuvered my way
     back over the piles of bricks and shuffled down the dirt path, back toward Monroe.
     I stood in front of the apparently not-main gate watching the students weave around
     in pairs and clusters. But before I went back through the gate, I had to know. I had
     to get close enough to check the license plate — check to make sure it was her. Before I called