𝐫𝐞𝐝-𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐞

                                    

                                          
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" I ask Deena as she open the window to the random lady's house. "Yes, August. Now stop talking and boost me up."
                          
After realizing Sam wasn't gonna stop acting like a possessed demon, we all came to the conclusion that there was really only one place we could go for help.
                          
The only girl who survived.
                          
Besides Sam, obviously.
                          
I sigh and help Deena crawl through the window. "Still don't know why we didn't just knock on the door," I mumble to myself, before feeling all of Deena's weight leave my arms as she gets dragged inside the house. 
                          
"Don't fucking move!" The redhead in the house yells at Deena as she holds a knife in her hand. "Wait, wait!" Deena yells. "Stop, please! We called you."
                          
The woman turns her head to look at Simon, Josh and I. Simon flashes her his award winning smile. "Sorry we had to commit a felony to talk to you in person," Simon tells her. 
                          
The woman looks back at Deena. 
                          
"Why the hell would you come here?"
                          
Deena stands up and wipes her hands on her pants. "There's something you need to see."
                          
Simon, Josh and I walk back around the house to reach the car as C. Berman and Deena walk through the house and out the door.
                          
As we approach the car, Deena steps in front of us and pops the trunk open, revealing a growling Sam.
                          
C. Berman immediately takes a few steps back. "No," She tell us. "No, no, no! You need to leave! You need to leave right now! You have no idea what you're doing!"
                          
She starts walking away, but Deena cuts in front of her, stopping the woman. "Yeah, exactly. You are the only person who knows what we're dealing with."
                          
"Which is exactly why I don't want that thing near me. Get that car and 'it' off my property," The woman tells Deena. "Her name is Sam," I speak up, catching the woman's attention. "Red-headed asshole," I mumble to myself. I hear Simon laugh while quickly pretending it's a cough. 
                          
"You could've watched us dead on the six o'clock news, but you didn't. You called us back," Deena tells the woman. 
                          
The woman lets out an angry breath and throws her hands up in the air. "I can't help you with this!" She yells at us.
                          
"You are our last chance! The witch-"
                          
The woman pushes past Deena. "No! I'm sorry."
                          
Deena grabs the woman's arms and pulls her towards her. "My girlfriend is possessed by her and tied up in a trunk, but you... you saw her and you survived," Deena says. "What was different? Please. Maybe something happened to you. Something that can help us stop her."
                          
"There's not!" The woman yells. "You can't stop her. Run, as far as you can. As fast as you can. That is your only chance."
                          
The woman starts walking away, once again, up the gravel pathway that leads to her small house. 
                          
"I can't just run!" Deena yells. "I can't let her die. I won't. I love her," Deena says, her voice breaking. "Please," Deena begs.
                          
The woman closes her eyes and curses herself under her breath. "Just keep her away from Major Tom."
                          
Who the fuck is Major Tom?
                          
Simon, Josh and I help carry Sam into the house. "Grab me that rope," Deena tells Simon as we enter the bathroom. Simon throws Deena the rope as her and Josh quickly tie the possessed girl up so she can't escape.
                          
We walk back out into the living room just to earn a concerned stare from the red-headed woman, obviously hearing the grunts and screams of Sam in the bathroom. 
                          
"She's completely fine. Don't worry about it," Simon says to her. "Yeah," I chip in. "She's tied up in the bathroom so she, uh, totally can't leave now. We're cool."
                          
Possessed Sam screams as loudly as she can. "Yep," Josh says, planting a fake smile on his face. "So cool."
                          
"Take a seat," The woman tells us, after a beat of silence. The four of us sit on the carpet, smushed together.
                          
The woman in front of us opens a scrapbook. "In Shadyside, the past is never really past," She lets out a shaky breath, flipping to a page in her scrapbook that holds a picture of two young girls. 
                          
"This was July twelfth. The summer of 1978. The first day of camp," She throws the photo on the ground. "A week later, my sister was dead." 
                          
Simon intertwines our hands together as the woman tells us the story of what happened. 
                          
About how her sister's boyfriend 'went crazy' and started killing everyone. About how she fell in love with a boy named Nick. About how she died and got brought back to life. About how her sister wasn't that lucky.
                          
"I told everyone the story of how she died. The story I just told you. And no one believed me," The woman tells us. I frown. "What about Nick?" I ask, leaning my head on Simon's shoulder. 
                          
"I thought he was different. I thought he would believe me. But Nick had a destiny in this town. And you don't become sheriff talking about ghost stories. I couldn't see him again after that night. Not after he made me out to be just as crazy as everyone else in this sad town," The woman says to us. "The witch. This town's curse. For one night, Cindy believed that there was a way to end it. So I thought there was too. But now I know. There is no end."
                          
The alarm clock buzzes, startling all of us. The redhead gets up to turn it off as we all stand up. "Like I said, your best chance is to run from this place. Go as far as you can and hope a bus doesn't hit you on the way out."
                          
"We found the body," Deena says, causing the woman to stop in her tracks. "Off Highway 5, in the woods, between Shadyside and Sunnyvale."
                          
"That's not possible," The woman says. "Oh, it's there. The chains, the bones, the whole thing," Simon tells the woman. "The girl in the bathroom threw up blood on me August after touching them."
                          
I nod my head at his statement.
                          
"That could still be anyone," The woman says. "Why do you think our friend died?" Deena asks. "For the same reason they killed Alice, your sister. The killers came after us because we found something they didn't want us to find. And I wish to God that it never happened, but we found it. We found what you were looking for in '78. We found Sarah Fier. Look, please, we... Nurse Lane was right. We can end the curse by reuniting the hand with the body."
                          
"Yeah," Josh says. "And we know where the body is, so all we need is the hand."
                          
"What even happened to that place?" Simon asks. "Is the hand bone still there, buried under the hanging tree?"
                          
"Yes," The woman says. 
                          
"Great," I clap my hands. 
                          
"But where exactly is the hanging tree?"