Chapter 6
Morning arrived in fragments—thin lines of light slipping through the motel curtains, the distant rumble of a truck on the highway, the low hum of the heater clicking on and off. Ethan woke with a knot already forming in his chest, the memory of the gas station crashing back into him before he even opened his eyes. The store owner's face. The blood on the counter. The way the man had looked at them before they ran.
Liam was sitting on the edge of his bed, elbows on his knees, staring at the floor like he hadn't slept at all. Caleb lay sprawled across the other bed, one arm flung over his face, breathing slow and even. Aria and Jasmine were quiet in the next room, their voices muffled through the thin wall.
Ethan pushed himself upright. "We can't just leave it," he said softly.
Liam didn't look up. "I know."
They gathered in the parking lot a few minutes later. The motel was just as empty as it had been the night before, its faded sign flickering lazily in the daylight. Aria hugged her jacket tighter around herself. Jasmine kept glancing up and down the road as if she expected something to come racing out of the distance.
"We're going to the police," Ethan said. "Right now."
Caleb blinked at him. "Police? For what?"
"For what we saw last night," Jasmine said. "That man was murdered, Caleb."
Caleb's expression shifted, surprise giving way to concern. "Wait… you mean that really happened? I thought you were just… panicking."
Ethan shook his head. "No. It was real."
For a moment, no one spoke. Then Caleb nodded slowly. "Okay. Then yeah. We should report it."
They climbed into the car, Liam starting the engine with hands that still weren't steady. The drive to the nearest town was quiet, the morning sky pale and washed-out above the empty road. The black SUV wasn't there—at least, not that anyone could see—but the absence didn't comfort Ethan. If anything, it made him more uneasy.
The police station was small, brick, tucked between a closed bakery and a hardware store. Inside, everything smelled faintly of paper and old coffee. A tired-looking officer listened while Ethan and Liam explained what they had witnessed. Aria filled in the parts they'd missed, her voice trembling. Jasmine stood with her arms crossed, jaw tight.
The officer's expression grew serious. "You're saying you saw the suspect commit the act?"
"Yes," Ethan said. "He looked right at us."
"Did you get a description?"
They did their best. Height, build, dark clothing. Not much else. Everything had happened too fast.
The officer nodded slowly, writing things down. "We'll look into it. You did the right thing coming here."
As they stepped back outside, the air felt heavier. Like something had been set in motion.
Caleb stretched his arms above his head. "Well. That was intense."
Jasmine shot him a look. "You say that like we just watched a movie."
"I just mean… it's a lot," he said. "But we did what we could."
Ethan was about to respond when he heard the sound of tires.
Too fast. Too close.
He turned just as a black SUV tore around the corner of the street, engine roaring. For a split second, everything slowed—the sunlight glinting off the windshield, the dark shape behind the glass, the way the vehicle seemed to lock onto them like a missile.
"Caleb!" Aria screamed.
The SUV slammed into him.
The impact was violent, brutal, a sound of metal and flesh colliding. Caleb's body was thrown sideways, hitting the pavement hard. The world seemed to shatter into noise—Jasmine's scream, Ethan's voice shouting his name, Liam running forward without thinking.
The SUV didn't stop.
It sped down the road and disappeared between buildings as quickly as it had appeared.
"Call an ambulance!" Ethan yelled, dropping to his knees beside Caleb.
Caleb lay on his side, eyes half-open, blood darkening the pavement beneath him. His chest rose unevenly, shallow and strained. Jasmine pressed her hands over her mouth, sobbing. Aria knelt on the other side of him, shaking.
"Stay with us," Liam said, his voice breaking. "Please. Stay with us."
Caleb coughed weakly, eyes flickering. "That… sucked," he whispered.
Ethan felt something inside him collapse.
The sirens came fast, slicing through the air like a promise and a threat all at once. Paramedics worked quickly, voices sharp and controlled, lifting Caleb onto a stretcher, strapping him down. Blood stained their gloves. Ethan followed the ambulance in a daze, Liam driving like the road itself might disappear beneath them.
The hospital was a blur of white light, antiseptic smells, and voices that never quite seemed to speak to them directly. Doctors asked questions. Nurses moved with urgency. Doors closed. Hours passed.
No one spoke much.
Jasmine sat with her head on Aria's shoulder, eyes red and hollow. Liam stared at the floor, jaw clenched so tight his face hurt. Ethan paced the hallway like a caged animal.
Finally, a doctor came out.
"He's stable," she said. "Multiple fractures, internal injuries, significant trauma… but he's alive."
Ethan exhaled shakily. "Can we see him?"
"Briefly."
Caleb lay in the hospital bed, pale and hooked up to machines, tubes snaking into his arms. But his eyes were open.
Ethan stepped forward. "You're… you're okay."
Caleb tried to smile. "Guess I didn't plan on getting run over today."
Jasmine let out a broken laugh that turned into a sob. "You idiot."
"Hey," he whispered. "I'm still here."
The days that followed blurred together.
They stayed.
None of them even considered leaving.
They slept in stiff chairs and cheap hospital couches. They brought Caleb snacks he wasn't allowed to eat yet. They watched the city through the window, every passing car making Ethan's heart spike.
But something was… off.
By the second day, Caleb was sitting up.
By the third, he was walking.
The doctors were surprised. They kept checking scans, murmuring to one another in low voices. "It's unusual," one said. "But not impossible."
By the fifth day, Caleb was joking about stealing hospital gowns.
"You should not be this okay," Aria said, staring at him.
He shrugged. "Guess I heal fast."
Liam frowned. "You were hit by a car. A speeding car."
"Yeah, well," Caleb said lightly, "I've always been stubborn."
Ethan watched him closely.
Not suspiciously. Not with fear.
Just… confused.
He remembered the blood on the pavement. The sound of impact. The way Caleb's body had moved.
People didn't recover like this.
And yet, here he was.
When the doctors finally cleared him for discharge, the relief was overwhelming. They walked out of the hospital together, sunlight hitting their faces like they were stepping into a different world.
"We should go home," Jasmine said quietly as they reached the car. "This trip… it's too much."
Aria nodded. "I don't want to keep pretending everything is fine."
Liam looked at Ethan. "They're right. We can end it here."
Ethan hesitated. A part of him wanted nothing more than to turn the car around, drive until the road became familiar again, until fear was something that belonged to someone else.
Caleb stood quietly beside the car.
Then he spoke.
"I don't think going home will fix anything."
They turned to him.
"I don't mean that we should be reckless," he said. "I just… I don't feel like whatever this is, is something we can outrun. I have this… feeling. That if we stop now, it'll follow us. But if we keep going… it won't."
Jasmine stared at him. "You got hit by a car. A black SUV. The same one that's been following us."
"I know," he said gently.
"And you still want to continue?"
"Yes."
Aria's voice was barely above a whisper. "Why?"
Caleb thought for a moment. "Because every time I've had this kind of gut feeling before… it's been right. About people. About choices. About when to walk away and when not to."
Ethan studied him. Caleb wasn't afraid. Not reckless. Not arrogant.
Just… certain.
Liam rubbed his face. "This is insane."
"Maybe," Caleb said. "But I don't think it's wrong."
Silence fell between them.
Ethan closed his eyes briefly.
He thought about the gas station. The murder. The SUV. The hospital.
And he thought about what it would feel like to spend the rest of his life wondering what might have happened if they'd kept going.
He opened his eyes.
"We go to Ridgewater Lake," he said.
Jasmine looked at him like he was crazy. Then she sighed. "I hate that I'm agreeing with this."
Aria squeezed her hand. "Me too."
Liam stared at the road ahead, then slowly nodded. "Okay. But we stay together. No wandering off. No risks."
Caleb smiled softly. "Deal."
They got into the car.
As Liam started the engine, Ethan checked the mirror out of instinct.
For a moment, the road behind them was empty.
And then—far back, at the edge of the street—he saw it.
A black SUV.
Motionless.
Watching.
The engine growled as they pulled away, the city fading behind them.
Ridgewater Lake waited somewhere ahead.
And whatever had been following them… did not let go.