THE JOURNAL
The hotel was called the Wayside Inn. It was old and tired, with flickering neon signs and a parking lot full of potholes. Maya parked around the corner, out of sight.
“Stay in the car,” she told Danny.
“No way.”
“Danny—”
“I didn’t come all this way to sit in the car.”
Maya looked at her daughter. At the stubborn set of her chin.
“Fine. But you stay behind me. And if I tell you to run, you run.”
Danny nodded.
They walked to the hotel.
The lobby was empty. The front desk was unattended. A bell sat on the counter, next to a sign that said, “Ring for Service.”
Maya didn’t ring.
She walked to the stairwell.
Kaela’s room was on the third floor. 3B. The same number as her apartment.
Maya knocked.
No answer.
She knocked again.
“Kaela. It’s Maya Cross. The reporter. I’m not here to hurt you.”
Silence.
“I know about Dr. Vance. I know about the dreams. I know about the bridge.”
The door opened a crack.
Kaela’s face appeared. Pale. Thin. Eyes wide.
“How do I know you’re not working for him?”
“Why would I be working for him? He set his own office on fire to frame me.”
Kaela opened the door wider.
She was wearing the same clothes as in her apartment. Her hair was matted. Her eyes were red.
“You look like hell,” Maya said.
“I feel like hell.”
Kaela stepped aside.
Maya and Danny entered.
The room was small and dark. The curtains were drawn. The only light came from a lamp on the nightstand. And on the nightstand, a notebook.
The same notebook Maya had photographed in Kaela’s apartment.
“I grabbed it before I left,” Kaela said. “I didn’t want him to find it.”
“Can I read it?”
Kaela hesitated. Then nodded.
Maya opened the notebook.
The first pages were ordinary. Grocery lists. Appointment reminders. Doodles.
Then the dreams began.
“Dreamed of the bridge again. Dr. Vance says I’m making progress. He says I need to trust my instincts. He says the bridge is the answer.”
“Dreamed of falling. It didn’t hurt. I felt peaceful. Dr. Vance says I’m ready.”
“Ready for what? He didn’t say. But his smile was different today. Hungry.”
“I asked him about the other women. The ones who jumped. He said they were brave. He said they found peace.”
“I’m scared. I think he wants me to jump. I think he wants me to die.”
The last entry was dated the day Kaela disappeared.
“I’m leaving. Not jumping. Running. He doesn’t know where I am. He can’t find me. I hope.”
Maya closed the notebook.
“He knows where you are now,” she said. “He found me. He’ll find you.”
Kaela’s face crumpled.
“I don’t know what to do.”
“You come with us. We have a safe place. Friends who can help.”
“I can’t go back there. To Barrow Falls. He’ll find me.”
“Then don’t go back. Stay with us until we figure out how to stop him.”
Kaela looked at Danny. At Maya.
“Okay.”
They left the hotel.
As they walked to the car, Maya’s phone buzzed.
A text from an unknown number.
“The fifth victim is closer than you think. Look in the mirror.”
Maya’s blood ran cold.
She showed Danny.
Danny’s face went pale.
“Mom. He knows where we are.”
“Get in the car.”
They drove.
Behind them, a black SUV pulled out of the hotel parking lot.
Following.