Rose couldn't believe it.
Kim was dead.
The words kept echoing inside her head like a broken record.
Dead.
Dead.
Dead.
She sat on the edge of her bed, her hands trembling uncontrollably. Tears streamed down her cheeks, refusing to stop no matter how hard she wiped them away.
Her mother sat beside her, gently holding her shoulders.
"Rose, sweetheart, calm down. It's not your fault."
"It's my fault!" Rose cried.
Her voice cracked.
"He wanted me to stay in the room! He wanted me to stay there!"
Fresh tears rolled down her face.
"I didn't understand! I didn't know what he meant! If I had stayed with him... if I had just listened..."
Her chest tightened.
"I left him alone, Mom."
Her voice became a whisper.
"And now he's dead."
Her mother pulled her into a hug.
"It's not your fault."
But Rose couldn't hear her.
All she could see was Kim.
The hospital.
The blood.
The fear in his eyes.
Then suddenly, something clicked inside her head.
Her eyes widened.
Sarah.
Rose immediately stood up.
"Rose?" her mother called.
Rose ignored her.
She rushed out of the room.
"Rose!"
But she never looked back.
---
A few minutes later.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
The front door of Adrian's house shook under the force of Rose's fists.
Sarah frowned.
"Who could that be?"
She walked toward the door and opened it.
The moment the door opened, Rose grabbed her shoulders.
Her eyes were red from crying.
"You're the one that killed Kim, aren't you?!"
Sarah froze.
"What?"
"You killed him!"
Rose's voice rose.
"Because we attacked that stupid farm right!"
"You started all of this!"
"You killed him!"
Sarah stared at her in complete confusion.
"What are you talking about?"
"Don't lie to me!"
Rose shoved her.
"You killed him! You monster!"
Before things could get worse, Adrian rushed forward and grabbed Rose's arm.
"Rose, stop!"
Rose struggled against him.
"Let me go!"
"Calm down!"
"She killed him!"
"Sarah was with me the entire time!" Adrian snapped.
Rose stopped.
For a brief second, silence filled the room.
Sarah's heart pounded.
Something felt wrong.
Very wrong.
Her voice came out barely above a whisper.
"...What do you mean killed?"
Rose's expression shattered.
Tears filled her eyes again.
"Kim is dead."
Sarah felt her body go numb.
The world seemed to stop moving.
"...What?"
"He's dead."
Sarah shook her head.
"No."
"He died."
"No."
"He was attacked in the hospital."
The color drained from Sarah's face.
Attacked?
In the hospital?
Who would attack someone lying helpless in a hospital bed?
Unless...
Her stomach dropped.
The scarecrow.
"No..." Sarah whispered.
Rose nodded weakly.
"They found him this morning."
Sarah couldn't breathe.
Kim.
Dead.
Kim.
Dead.
The words felt impossible.
Just few weeks, he had been alive.
Just few weeks, there was still hope.
Now he was gone.
Adrian looked equally stunned.
Neither of them knew what to say.
Finally, Sarah looked up.
"Are you sure?"
Rose laughed bitterly.
A broken laugh.
The kind that came from someone whose heart had already shattered.
"I'm sure."
She wiped her tears.
Then her expression slowly changed.
Fear replaced grief.
Pure fear.
She looked directly at Sarah.
"Don't you understand?"
Sarah felt chills crawl up her spine.
Rose took a shaky step backward.
"That thing in your farm..."
Her voice trembled.
"...it's not just some thing anymore."
The room became silent.
Then Rose whispered the words that made everyone's blood run cold.
"And I think..."
She swallowed.
"...I'm next."