The tree behind them had stopped shaking and swayed, bending as no tree should.
“And who’s in that one?” Linda racked her brain. “Marion? Tatum?”
“Brandon. Pink suit and all.” She pursed her lips. “You must think I’m a monster. Is that what you think?” Deja moved away from the half-stitched tree and peered at Linda’s wilting body. “But you’re the one who killed her own father.”
“It’s not like there’s only one monster in the world,” Linda said. “They’re everywhere.” Linda tried to move her hands, but they were tied tight.
“You think your father was bad because he drank a little? You don’t know anything about bad fathers.” Deja knelt in front of Linda and gestured around her. “Linda, I’d like you to meet my family.”
“Your family?”
“These woods here, they’re the men of the house. Plus my recent additions. The women occupy an ornamental grove. The sexes must be separated, after all. Isn’t that what makes good boys and girls?” Sarcasm dripped from her words as she returned to the wound. She took the needle once more and sewed the final stitches. Behind her, her first creation stopped bending and settled into its slowed reality. Still, every time Linda blinked, the tree had moved an inch closer to Deja.
“Let us go,” Linda said. “I’ll carry her out. We won’t tell anyone about any of this. We signed contracts, remember?”
Deja frowned. She finished her stitching.
“You know my past?” Linda said, struggling at the cord around her wrists. “Then you know I can keep a secret. I won’t tell anyone what happened here.”
As Deja pulled through her final stitch, she stepped back. The seams sealed, and the transformation began. Linda remained silent, and in that silence she heard—at such a high frequency it was nearly inaudible—screaming.
“You know what it’s like to be haunted,” Deja said. “I tried to leave, just like you left your mother. Your husband. Family has a way of calling you back.” Deja’s voice caught. “I wake every night to my sister’s face. I hear her screaming as they sewed her in. I’m as haunted as you are.”
“What are you talking about, you crazy bitch?” Linda said. “Everyone’s haunted by something. Let me go.”
Deja wrung her hands. “I’m afraid I can’t.”
“And why not?” Linda begged.
“Because I’m the winner of this season,” she said. “There can’t be two women walking out of here. Not when you’ve seen what you’ve seen.”
“Deja, I don’t even know what I’ve seen.”
“You know enough.”
Deja patted the bark as it shifted to skin. She ran a hand along Linda’s jaw. “You remind me of me. We both thought we could evade being what our families made us.” Deja’s eyes sparked with despair. “I was going to lose my job, you know. Everything I built. This franchise. They were going to blame me for the numbers falling, but I gave my whole life to this show. I understood that it was a risk to bring you all here, but it was the only thing I could think of. They drained me, you see.”
“Your family?” Linda wanted to keep her talking, to keep her rationalizing until she realized the error of her ways.
“This show. The well of ideas was dry. I swore I wouldn’t come back here, not after what they did to my sister. But a haunted excursion? A paranormal season? It was too good an idea to pass up.”
“You brought us here knowing?” Linda scrunched her face. “All those people…”
Deja closed her eyes. “It was a mistake. And it was the last mistake I’ll be making.” She pulled out a lighter. “I’m so sorry.” Linda’s eyes darted, looking for any escape she might settle on. And that’s when she glimpsed the gas can Deja had dragged with her. Deja picked it up, tipped it over, and poured.
• • •
Linda tried to rub the cord that bound her against the bark, but the plastic wouldn’t catch. She screamed, but there was no one there to hear her.
A presence surfaced behind her. She didn’t dare scream again. She tried to turn her head, but she couldn’t catch sight of whatever was making its way to her.
Then she smelled Charity’s mix of sweetness and sour infection.
“How did you get out here?” Linda said, relief flooding her.
“I hopped on one foot,” she said. “I won’t lie. I fucked up my good foot, and I fell about a hundred times.” Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out the earpiece. “When I realized you were gone, I had this hunch. So I turned this thing on. And sure enough, Deja had hers on, and I heard you. Took me a minute, but I got here.”
“Jacket pocket,” Linda said.
Charity grabbed the blade from Linda. She sawed at the cord until it broke. Linda’s hands sprung free. She pressed her lips against Charity’s, holding Charity against her, and when they broke free, she didn’t let go.
“I love you,” Linda said.
When Charity smiled, it was everything. “I love you.”
“I’ve learned a lot.”
“I heard some of it.” Charity chucked the earpiece. “Let’s do whatever we’re going to do.”
Linda struggled to her feet. Charity’s exposed ankle was covered in dirt. Linda helped Charity stand, and together they followed the smell of gasoline. At the border, they found Deja. As she caught sight of them, her forehead wrinkled as her eyebrows frowned.
“Goddamn it.” Deja grabbed a leaf from the ground and flicked the flame onto its brittle surface.
A monstrous hand sprung from the murk of the woods and grabbed Deja by the neck. Its long fingers were pointed at the end, covered in thick flesh. It closed its massive fingers around Deja and lifted her. The creature surged forward: it was Marion. She was half-human, half-creature of the woods, her skin as ridged as bark, her eyes two knots in a long trunk, her mouth grown over. Her arms were branches while her feet remained the same. She was terrible in her mockery of nature and humanity, and Charity’s grip on Linda tightened.
Marion advanced as Deja dangled from her grip. The leaf the producer was holding dropped, and the fire crept, leaf by leaf. Linda let go of Charity and ran forward, stomping out the fire. Marion turned her whole body to look at Linda, then reached with her other hand to grab at her. Linda dropped to the charred ground. She rolled away from Marion. With all the energy she had left, she swooped Charity up, and they hobbled off inch by inch.
Marion trailed them, her steps meandering, but she gained on them. Deja banged her hands against the trunk that was now Marion’s body.
