Chapter Text
Her body was heavy in his arms.
As James trudged through the fog to his car, he’d noticed this. It was heavier than he had expected even from her dead weight, and he wondered if it was his own guilt manifesting to make him suffer one last time, as just the slightest inconvenience. The thought was brief, though, and almost immediately dismissed, because he knew it was bullshit. He’d felt the physical weight of his guilt before. He’d held it in his very hands. He’d tried to, at least.
That blade he’d attempted to lift down in the historical society. The monster had carried it, its scraping against the floors echoing in his ears, and he’d known he shouldn’t touch it. But when he stumbled on it, it called to him, almost begging him to try and take it. How nice it would be to give that thing a taste of its own medicine, after what it had done to Maria; the thought alone was enough to get him to try and grasp the handle. But the weapon was just too massive for him to do much more than tug it off the table, sending it smashing against the ground.
So he knew. He knew that a corpse was not nearly enough to have the weight of what he’d done. A soul, on the other hand…
Now I understand.
He shook his head. His limbs were sore from the uphill climb already, thighs burning, biceps even worse as he hefted her closer to him. When he’d left the historical society, it had been Mary. Her body was cold and scarred, but it had been her, bundled up in the same yellow pajamas she’d died in. But as he walked, when he wasn’t looking, the thing in his grasp had become a body bag.
Now, it was the Mary he’d left behind in the back seat.
He furrowed his brows, having to pause his walk from the sheer force the memory punched him in the gut. He looked to the ground, eyes squeezed shut, before pushing on. It was almost over.
Soon, he could rest, or burn in hell, or whatever the cosmos decided to do with him when he was gone. The thought made him grimace, but still, he couldn’t say he was scared.
His car finally came into view. His reliable Chevy was miraculously still here; hell, the door was even still open. Then again, the thing was so old, and nothing of value was in it anyways, he doubted it would catch any attention from shifty eyes.
Man, he’d really parked like an asshole. He truly hadn’t been thinking at all, had he?
His body ached, crying for the release from the labor he endured. James finally made it to his car, walking around to the passenger side. He awkwardly reached for the handle, having to grasp around before finally managing to get ahold of it. When he tugged to pull the door open, he almost stumbled backward, just barely catching himself. After regaining his balance, he sighed, taking one last look at the view of the lake from the overlook. Even in the dreary fog, Mary would have loved it, he was sure.
He placed her in the passenger seat, careful to adjust her so that she wouldn’t fall forward. He leaned the seat back ever so slightly, and even reached across her to bring the seatbelt over her lap. He clicked it in place, and murmured, “I’m sorry if it’s uncomfortable.”
The real reason I came to this town.
He stared at where her face would have been. It was covered by a shotty wrapping job on his part, but he could remember it as clear as the sun. He swallowed, pressing a kiss to her forehead through the burlap.
His movements after that were instinct, and he hardly remembered doing them. He was suddenly in the driver’s side, his seatbelt was on, the windows were down. His car was in reverse and on the road. The road? Hadn’t it been closed?
Except now it wasn’t; the road to town was open, the tunnel a gaping maw that was laughing at him. His grip on the wheel tightened. Of course. It knew what he was doing.
Whatever the hell this town was, it knew that it was what he deserved.
There was a hole here. It’s gone now.
He drove through, the tunnel so unnaturally dark, his headlights barely even pierced the pitch black. When he emerged, the fog was no different. Not that it mattered. He knew where he was going, and he knew this town’s every turn by now after stumbling around all night. The monsters had fled the streets, he noticed, and something about them being empty unnerved him more than if it were inhabited by the uncanny beasts.
It felt incredibly lonely.
James found the drive to be frustratingly easy. The roads that were once falling apart, caved into a sinkhole so deep he might have thought they were pulled into the core itself, were now in perfect shape. No cracks to be found, only leftover bloodstains dirtying the blacktop. The intersections that were blocked were open, and there was no sign they’d been closed in the first place. The only suggestion James even had that this was the same town that had been tormenting him the entire time was the mist that clung to the ground. As he drove, he found himself almost desperately searching for anything else. The calm only made him feel insane, like maybe this was all a bad dream he’d drummed up in a hysteric state.
Though he guessed he didn’t need any proof. The fact he was closing in on the pier was proof enough.
And suddenly, he was there. The car’s engine purred softly as he gently braked to a stop.
I wonder, what was I so afraid of?
His knuckles were white on the wheel, but it wasn’t from fear, or anger, or any of those things. He wasn’t even sure what it was, because though his heart ached, it was calm in his chest. Anticipation, perhaps?
If you really want to see Mary again, you should just die. But you might be heading to a different place than Mary, James.
He drummed his fingers on the wheel, thoughts stirring in his head.
Mary…
She said she’d forgiven him. But it couldn’t have been true. How could she?
He killed her.
It was a trick. It had to be. There was no way she could ever forgive him for what he did. For how he’d done something so…selfish. So monstrous.
He killed her.
This town had done far worse to fuck with him. Maria He killed her. had been slaughtered in front of him more than once just to taunt him. Besides, Mary You killed me. was dead. He knew it from the very start that there was no way she could be here. So how could she you killed me, James. forgive him? She was gone, and not even this Hell of a town could bring her back.
Right?
You killed her.
He slammed his foot on the gas, tears burning in his eyes, a scream tearing at his throat.
Without you, Mary…
The tires squealed against the ground, the engine jumping to life with a deafening roar. The world flew by in a blur, and in mere seconds, his shitty Chevy crashed into the water. It began to sink into the lake, dragged below the surface and weighted with memories he could never think about again. The car was sputtering and fighting for its life more than he ever would have.
…I’ve got nothing.
The water was already swallowing them. His lungs felt like torches in his chest, bubbles erupting from his mouth and nose as he instinctively released the last bit of air in his lungs to buy him more time. He’d done this to himself, and yet, something within was keeping him from taking any kind of breath and getting it over with.
He thought about Laura. Mary wanted to take her in, but she deserved better than him. Wherever she ended up after this mess would be better for her than if he’d finished what Mary had started.
Still, it hurt that he was leaving her to fend for herself. But that was exactly the kind of decision someone like him would make, wasn’t it?
He was getting dizzy. James wasn’t sure he could take it anymore. He finally gave in, water flooding his lungs. Too weak to hold onto the steering wheel any longer, he released it. He stole a glance at Mary, able to make out the figure of her body through the cloudy water.
The blackness came in a little at a time, but James couldn’t find it in him to even notice that it was strange. He saw it happening, the dark clouds pluming through the fans, but he couldn’t register it. They grew thicker, filling up the car at an alarming pace, dancing around him before consuming him completely. Everything hurt, and he couldn’t remember ever hearing about anything like this when you drowned. He felt watched, laughed at, like something else was in the car with them.
Maybe it was Mary, taking joy in seeing him succumb to such a fate.
Now, we can be together.