❪ 𝐈𝐂𝐊𝐘 𝐃𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐌𝐒 ❫ , SBG

𝐄𝐏. 22

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┆⋮＃༘⋆⤷  CHAPTER
TWENTY-TWO ; DAZED STARE .
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•••

Malik eyes open once more as he wakes up from his slumber, I was currently discussing something with the others as I ran a hand through my hair.

I turn my eyes to logan and I smiled, "hey. you're awake, you feeling any better?" I asked him with a reassuring smile and logan nodded.

"Not really-" but Logan's eyes widened when he saw the melting phantom in the seat. "what happened to it?!"

Aiden laughs. "turns out if these things are exposed to light for too long, they start to wig out and turn to goop." he explains, "like their body starts to twist, and bubble, and spaz—"

"Okay, okay!" I spoke up. "I think he's got the point."

"Since he's awake now- let's talk about Savannah." Tyler spoke. "We can't keep hoping that things will go back to normal on their own."

"And we can't risk getting stuck here permanently." Ash replied as the two of them stared each other down, I scratched one side of my head awkwardly.

"Um..." Taylor spoke up. "...going back doesn't mean we have to go back to the house again, or interact with the phantom, right? maybe we can just search around for someone who might know something? the locals are bound to know something."

"I don't know how that's gonna work," malik spoke up. "even if we searched it up? we still haven't found anything useful."

"I'll agree to avoiding that place and only searching for local information. that way we don't have to risk anything." Tyler spoke.

"I-If we don't go back to the sorrel house, then I'm not against...going to savannah." Logan says.

"Ben, what about you?" Ash asks.

Ben pulls out his phone and shows what he typed, and that wasn't helpful at all. I sigh and Malik thinks to himself before tapping his chin.

"This wasn't an accident. there's the possibility that lady did this on purpose and we could run into her again." Malik said while thinking, "there might even be others like her."

"So you're against going to?!" Tyler questioned.

Malik turns to him, "did I say that? no, I didn't. I'll go. but only if we wait—"

"A year." Ashlyn adds.

"A YEAR?! YOU WANT TO BE STUCK HERE FOR A YEAR?!" Tyler shouted.

"Would you calm the hell down?" Malik says. "there's no guarantee that even if we go back, we'll find a way out of here. plus, none of us have a car or license."

Everyone went silent on that.

"And aside from finding a way down there, I think a year would give us a good time to prepare for the worst outcome." Ashlyn explained.

"...worst outcome?" Logan questioned.

"Even with all our precautions, we could still somehow get stuck here permanently or have another encounter with that woman. so for a year, we should train ourselves, research. and turn this place into a reliable stronghold to survive in." Ashlyn says, "it's about time we start taking this seriously."

And serious we were about to take.

END OF CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO