DÉJÀ VU

“Raccoon!” Taylor shouted, pointing toward the windshield from the center seat in the back of Kiran’s rented Escalade. Noelle slammed on the brakes and we were all flung forward for a second before the massive SUV came to a complete stop, its tires squealing on the wet pavement. My hand flew to my heart as the raccoon paused for a moment, gave us a withering stare, and continued loping across the road.

“Okay, why are you driving my car again?” Kiran demanded, glaring at Noelle from the front passenger seat.

“Because my car was too small and we all know your driving’s for shit,” Noelle replied, slowly rolling ahead again. The windshield wipers thwapped violently back and forth, sending sprays of water into the night with each giant arc.

“Yeah. And clearly you’re way better,” Kiran complained, resting her elbow against the top of her door and her head on her hand.

“Well, maybe if any of these damn streets had streetlights,” Noelle shot back.

“Guys. Can we stop sniping for a second and focus?” I asked, gripping the back of Kiran’s seat with my free hand. “Where are we?”

“We have to take the next left,” Ivy said, her phone aglow in her lap, casting a white light over her already pale features.

“Does anyone see a next left?” I asked, squinting into the night.

“There!” Kiran pointed at a street sign that was half hidden by a low-hanging tree branch. Noelle cut the wheel and we all screeched as the car skidded around the corner, veering into the far lane.

“Next time, I drive,” Ivy muttered, her hand braced against the window.

This road was even scrawnier than the last, and clouds of fog rose up from the pavement, gathering around the car as we cut through. I turned and gazed out the window to my right, trying to see anything in the dark—a house, a business, a barn, a gas station—but all I saw were trees, trees, and more trees. An ancient but well-maintained stone wall loomed into view, terminating at the base of a driveway with a tall iron gate. The house beyond wasn’t visible from the road, either because of the fog or because the driveway was so long, the house was hidden by trees.

Taylor glanced past me, then did a double take when she saw the gates. She leaned toward the window, crushing my cast, and I let out an involuntary gasp.

“Oh God! Sorry,” Taylor said, sitting up straight again. “But, you guys, do you realize where we are right now?”

“The middle of nowhere?” Kiran theorized.

“Trapped in some bad horror movie?” Ivy joked as the fog thickened.

“I think both,” Taylor said, looking skittish.

“What do you mean?” I asked, all the little hairs on my arms standing on end.

“It says to take the next right, just after the covered bridge,” Ivy announced. Then she looked up from the page. “Wait a second. The covered bridge?”

While her words still hung in the air, the structure appeared as if from nowhere, and the Escalade’s tires bumped and thumped over its old creaky boards. For a moment, we were eerily cut off from the outside world, the noise of the rain stopped, and all I could hear was the sound of our breathing and the squealing of the suddenly dry windshield wipers. I had this sinking sense of déjà vu as the car reemerged into the rain and Noelle slowed to make the turn.

Seconds later my throat went dry and Noelle hit the brakes. I held my breath. No one moved. Rising up out of the fog at the top of the hill were the uppermost floors of a house I knew all too well. A house I hadn’t stepped foot inside for more than a year. A house I had visited on one of the most horrific nights of my life.

Kiran clutched the door handle, as if ready to bolt. “Isn’t this—?”

“Yeah, it is,” Noelle confirmed. “It’s Cheyenne’s house.”

The very house my friends and I had partied and laughed and played dress up in on the night Ariana Osgood had attempted to kill me.