Page 47 of The Stranger

I’m fading again. Perhaps imagining all of this. If I close my eyes, I can pretend I’m still in bed. That this has all been some sort of dream. That I’m safe and warm and happy.

Then I hear Lori cry out, and my eyes tear open again.

“Walker?” As my eyes find focus, I see him. I realize he’s on her back, squeezing her throat from behind. They fall into the snow together, and seconds later, I hear him groan as she stabs him again.

His screams tear through the night, bleeding into my brain, calling me to him. I don’t know if any of this is real, but I hope some of it is. Was.

As I fade away, as I sink into nothingness, my last thought is of how badly I hope he was real.

Then it all goes black.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

TIBBY

When my eyes open, everything is bright and ice cold. I didn’t know I could see temperature, but at this moment, I swear I do. The cold seeps into my skin, my pores. I feel it in my eyes, my ears, my fingernails, my breath. It’s everywhere, surrounding me. Swallowing me up.

At the same time, I’m completely numb. My body tingles and radiates and burns with that pins-and-needles feeling your feet get when they fall asleep.

Red-and-blue flashing lights splash over my face, reflecting on the snow all around me. I try to move my feet, my hands, to lift my head, but I can’t. All I can do is lie completely still and pray for sleep again. Somewhere in the distance, I hear voices.

“And you don’t know which way he went?” a man asks. It’s a voice I don’t recognize.

“That way, I think,” the woman says. Her voice is familiar. It sends a pang of anger through me. Lori. Her name is Lori. It comes back to me slowly. Who she is. What she’s done. “He…he stabbed my friends, and I hid.” She sobs. “I hid. I just did nothing…just hid and let them… I’m so sorry. I-I didn’t know what else to do.”

“And this same man, you’d seen him earlier in the night?” The man is no-nonsense, asking questions like he’s reading off a script.

Someone is touching my arms, covering me with something. I can’t open my eyes, but I swear they were open just moments ago. I can still see the flashing red-and-blue lights behind my eyelids, their rhythmic pattern almost hypnotizing.

“Yes. My husband and I stopped to help two teenagers that we thought were broken down. The man came out of nowhere. He stabbed my husband. He stabbed the kids. I…I just panicked. I ran. I took their car because our keys were in my husband’s pocket, and I couldn’t get to him. I couldn’t… If I tried to get to him, I thought the man would get me. I just left him.” She’s talking through her sobs, practically in hysterics. “I stopped at the first place I could find because I couldn’t get service, but the motel’s phone lines were down, too. I was so scared. I didn’t know what to do. I found some other guests, told them what had happened, and we tried to get help. They tried to help me. I was so distraught, so upset. I kept having panic attacks, and I couldn’t even drive. I just want my husband back. I just want him back.”

“Ma’am, I need you to breathe for me, okay? Tell me what happened next.”

I hear her heavy, erratic breathing. “We drove to town together and called the police because the manager was dead, and they were supposed to come here. We saw flashing lights behind us and stopped, but it was…it was him. He found us again, just like he found me at the motel. It was so fast. He just killed them. There was nothing I could do.”

“And how did you get blood all over you if you were hidden?” the officer asks.

“After he left, I…I didn’t know what else to do. When I saw what he’d done, I tried to help. I did CPR. I tried to keep them warm, but they’re all…they’re all gone. My friends…”

“Your friends you met at the motel?”

“Yes.” She’s crying again.

Something cold touches my chest, and I realize it’s a hand. Someone is touching me. I will my eyes to open with every ounce of strength I have left.

“Okay. We just need you to calm down, ma’am. Everything’s going to be alright. You’re safe now. You’re safe.”

“I’m trying. It’s so hard.”

“I understand. You’re just lucky the family drove by when they did. Good folks. Drove down all the way from Chicago to find their boy after they reported him missing earlier tonight. We’re all lucky they just happened to see his car parked here. They almost missed ya. The dad’s an officer up there in the city, so he knew just what to do. We’ll let you talk to them at some point if you’d like, but for now, all you have to do is breathe. You’re safe.”

She’s safe…and she’s a liar, and she’s going to get away with every bit of it. If the police hadn’t arrived before she could leave, I’m sure she would be long gone by now.

“Wait a second.” There’s a woman’s voice speaking near me. “He’s breathing. We have a pulse.”

He.

He who? Which he? I open my eyes then, finding the will deep within myself. I have to know if it’s Walker. When I open my eyes, the hand on my chest pulls back, and a woman is staring down at me. She smiles broadly, and I turn my head, realizing Walker is lying next to me. He smiles, stretching his hand out slowly toward me, and I find the strength to smile back.