End of Eternity 3 Read online

  “Don’t worry,” Helen says. “There’s Wi-Fi here, so we’ve got unlimited horror movies.”

  “I think I’m in heaven,” Owen says with a deep sigh of satisfaction. “I honestly can think of nothing better than sitting in haunted cabin with my friends, and watching other kids getting murdered in their haunted cabin by ghosts and serial-killer hermits, while we wait to also be murdered by ghosts and serial-killer hermits.”

  “I have no idea what you just said, bro,” Liam says as he moves back to the car to grab more luggage. “But I’m pretty sure you’re going to be the second one to die. The annoying one usually gets shanked pretty quickly.”

  Helen and I laugh lightly at this, and give each other a warm look of appreciation. I can’t read her expressions as well as I could when we were younger, but if I could guess, I bet she’s thinking something along the lines of:

  How did we get so lucky? These two guys are the most silly, charming, handsome, insane bunch of dorks I’ve ever met. I love them. I wish life could always be like this.

  I’m thinking the same thing, sis.

  Chapter Sixteen

  I am fully convinced that there is nothing scarier or more fun than watching horror movies on a laptop outside in the woods with friends. Of course, depending on the laptop, speakers might be required to amplify the sound for full effect. Luckily, we have those. Add a little wine, and you have the perfect day.

  “Crap!” Owen shouts out, leaping forward to hit pause. “I’ll be right back guys. Gotta run into the house. We’re out of marshmallows for the s’mores.”

  I groan loudly in drunken annoyance, for I had been very cozy cuddled up beside him. “Owen, do you realize that you make food runs like ten times per movie? If I had realized this about you, I never would have agreed to date you. Just bring a lot of food so that you don’t have ruin it for us!”

  “Pausing the movie builds suspense,” he argues. “Besides, sometimes the scenes get really intense for me and I need a break to walk it off. Don’t judge me. I get emotional when dumb people die in movies. It makes me think I could be next.”

  He turns and begins walking toward the house, and I shake my head in astonishment as Liam and Helen laugh. “What have I gotten myself into?” I ask aloud rhetorically.

  “For the record,” Liam says lightly. “There are some movies he doesn’t need to pause.”

  “Porn movies,” Helen and I say together in harmonized disappointment.

  “Precisely.”

  While Owen is gone, I steal a moment to check my phone. We’ve been at the cabin for a few days now, and Brad has been incessantly calling and texting. I never pick up the phone, but I have been reading some of the messages and listening to some of the voicemails in secret. His voice and his words are growing more and more desperate, and I am getting a little worried.

  I want nothing more than to just relax out here and enjoy my time with my sister and the guys, but like many of the vengeful spirits in the movies we are watching, I have unfinished business that is keeping me anchored to another world. I can’t totally move on to this one and be at peace when my heart is still at home, and at war with Brad.

  Owen returns a few seconds later with bags of marshmallows, chocolate, and graham crackers. I smile at him as he immediately gets to work on making s’mores for all of us.

  “Will someone start up the movie while I do this?” he asks.

  “Actually,” my sister says. “I was thinking we should try something a little different. I was thinking we should kick it old school, and try telling scary stories instead.”

  “Oooh,” I say, sitting up in excitement. “This is going to be good, guys. Hellie always told the best scary stories when we were little. Better than any movie. I was unable to sleep for days, thanks to her.”

  Helen laughs at this. “That’s right, and you’d sneak into my bed and jump at every little creak the house made all night long, and swear that something was coming to get you.”

  My chest shakes with giggles. “You were so mean to me, Hellie.”

  “That sounds like fun,” Liam says. “I’d love to see what kind of stories the famous writer can weave now that she’s a professional storyteller.”

  “Actually, I think I was way better back then,” Helen says with a nostalgic smile. “Few things can compare to the imagination of a child. And when you’re blind, you pretty much have to spend all day imagining things, so you get a lot of practice.”

  “I bet you can still scare the shit out of me, Helen,” Owen says solemnly. “Or at least make me wet my pants.” He smashes a roasted marshmallow between a bit of chocolate and graham crackers, and hands it to my sister like a worshipper kneeling and offering a devotion to a goddess. “Please share with us your glorious gift of telling terrifying tales, oh great one.”

  “Well, when you ask me like that, it’s hard to refuse,” Helen says with a chuckle. “Let’s see. Where do I begin?” She tilts her head to the side thoughtfully for a few seconds, and then smiles and shakes her head before looking at me. “Honestly, Carmen? What scary story can compare to the things that you and I have actually been through? I think real life is the scariest story of all.”

  “That’s deep,” Owen says, “but also boring. Boooo!” He rips a bit of grass off the ground and throws it at my sister. “Sca-ry sto-ry, sca-ry sto-ry!” he chants, gesturing to me and Liam to join him. “Sca-ry sto-ry!”

  A rustling in the bushes behind us causes Owen to shriek and turn around, holding out a flaming marshmallow as his weapon. “Show yourself, undead fiend! I’m armed with cleansing fire that will send your kind straight back to purgatory!”

  I am a little drunk, so I find this incredibly funny, and I burst into laughter. I am sure that it’s just a harmless little animal, like a deer or a raccoon. However, when a person-sized shape steps out of the shadows, I gasp and move backward in fear. Could it be Brad? Could he have found me? Does he know that I’m with Owen? Is he going to hurt Owen? I look around for some kind of weapon, desperately wishing I’d followed Owen’s advice and kept even a butter knife close at hand. Liam and Helen also look like they are on guard, as Liam has bolted upright and moved to Owen’s side, even pushing his friend out of the way.

  “What do you want with us?” he demands. “Who are you?”

  “Liam?” the voice says softly. The voice is female, and we all breathe a sigh of relief.

  In my slightly tipsy state, I realize that our relief is sexist. Girls can be serial-killing hermits too! But I know that we are all just happy that it wasn’t Brad.

  “Caroline?” Owen says softly, stepping forward and pushing Liam out of the way. “Jesus! What are you doing way out here?”

  “It’s embarrassing,” she says softly as she steps forward. “But I GPSed your phone when you started growing distant a few weeks ago. Owen? What the hell? What the hell are you thinking, leaving me like this? And what was up with that totally bullshit break-up call? You expected me to believe that you were serious?”

  I know that I should be more concerned about the fact that another woman is hitting on my man, especially one that has an extremely valid prior claim on him, but my attention immediately goes to my phone. I grab it in my hand in a panic, wondering if Brad could have installed an app to track my location—and then I remember with relief that smashed my phone into a thousand pieces. Now, I can finally go back to worrying about Caroline and whether I’m going to get my heart broken.

  “Caroline,” Owen says gently. “I discussed this with you a million times. You know all the reasons why. It took me a long time to pull the trigger and let go, but you were the one who put up all the walls. I tried to get closer to you. I tried my best to move forward with you. But you weren’t in this with me anymore. You were already gone.”

  “I know,” she says, breaking down into tears. “Owen, I know. God, I’m so sorry. I’ve been such a stuck-up bitch. Always my way, always what I want. I never considered your feelings, because you were just the greatest g
uy in the world. You let me walk all over you, and you never stood up for yourself, not once. You never fought for anything—you just asked nicely. I never thought that one day you would just walk away! I never thought you would just disappear! And… are you with her? Owen!”

  Owen turns to look at me with fear and pain in his eyes. “Are you okay, Carm? Do you mind if I take a minute to…”

  “Yeah, yeah,” I say softly. “I’m fine. I think she deserves an explanation for the atrocious way you broke up with her.”

  “Oh my god,” Caroline says, and her German accent grows stronger. “Were you with her when you broke up with me? That phone call—were you in bed with her? Was it like a quick break up so that you could have sex with her and not have it be considered cheating?”

  “Ummmm. Yes, yes, and no,” Owen responds. “Technically, I couldn’t have sex with Carmen due to her extenuating physical circumstances. However, if we could have had sex, then we probably would have. I guess I’ll change that last ‘no’ to a ‘yes’ as well.”

  Caroline moves forward so that she is standing very close to Owen. She looks like she is about to slap him in the face, but she simply stands there proudly as tears slide down her cheeks. “So many years together, Owen. I know that you still love me.”

  Owen shifts uncomfortably from one leg to the other. “Well, yeah, Carol. But it wasn’t going anywhere. We were moving in different directions.”

  “And that’s my fault. Owen, I’ve had some time to think over these last few days without you. You’re everything to me, you know? I can’t go on without you. I can’t sleep, I can’t eat. You’re a part of me. And I haven’t been good to you. Whatever you need me to do? I’ll do it. You want to get married? I’ll do it. I’ll invite my parents from Germany, and you can invite your family. We’ll have that nice big wedding party you always wanted. You want a baby? Well, the idea scares me, but I’m willing to try. I do want kids, I just felt like I was too young and I didn’t want to get fat. I thought adoption might be better, someday when I’m older. But maybe that’s something special that I should experience. Maybe I would have a better bond with my children if they were naturally my own.”

  Owen clears his throat loudly. “Caroline, you’re saying this all now, but we both know where you stand. This is just too little, too late. Here, tonight, with Carmen? With Helen and Liam? I’m happier than I’ve been in years. I don’t know what happened to us, but we lost something that we used to have. Something that held us together. It’s gone, and I can’t get it back.”

  “Please,” Caroline says, stepping closer to him. She slips a hand around his neck and places a kiss on his lips. “Please, Owen. Let’s try to get it back.” She kisses him again, and it is so full of passion that I have to look away. “I’ll do anything. I just want you back. I need you in my life.”

  “Caroline…”

  “Do you want to know what’s scary, Owen? About the marriage and babies thing. I was just trying to hold on to my youth. I just wanted to feel cool and free a little bit longer. But I thought it might be fun to try it someday. And there was no one else I could imagine being married to, other than you. There was no one else I could imagine having babies with, other than you. You are the funniest, kindest, most compassionate man I have ever met. Life gets really hard sometimes, and I know it would get even harder if we decided to raise a family. But everything has always been a little easier with you by my side. You make everything better. You make everything possible. Please come back to me.”

  I notice that Owen’s shoulders are shaking slightly, and I can see that he is crying. I felt rather numb to Caroline’s words, but seeing that he is affected by them hurts me. I don’t want him to feel any pain, and if he would feel better going back to her, I really hope he does.

  “Caroline,” Owen says in a shaking voice. “It’s over. It’s too late.”

  “I refuse to believe that it’s over, Owen,” she says firmly. “No. Not like this. It’s never too late. This whiny little girl doesn’t get to steal you away from me.”

  “Whiny?” I repeat incredulously. “Okay. Maybe I should go inside and let you two talk. Actually—Owen, why don’t you just get back together with her? She came all this way because she loves you. You should go back to your real life.”

  Owen turns to look at me sharply. “Don’t you dare go anywhere. Just stay put, right there, Carmen.”

  “Okay?” I say in surprise, stunned by his sudden authority.

  “Caroline,” Owen says quietly. “I don’t take back decisions once I’ve made them. You know that about me. I gave you dozens of chances. I loved you with everything I had, until I had nothing left. I have nothing left for you.”

  Lowering her head and sniffling softly, Caroline reaches into her pocket and pulls out a small box. “Owen, do you remember when you proposed to me?”

  “Yes,” he says with a clenched jaw. “You laughed at me. Every time.”

  “Well, it’s your turn to laugh at me,” she says with a tearful smile. Opening up the velvet box to reveal a man’s engagement ring, Caroline sinks to one knee. “Please, Owen. I love you so much and I can’t lose you. Please say you’ll marry me, and be with me forever.”

  The four of us are completely silent. The flames of our campfire dance erratically, reflecting off the golden ring. Caroline looks so beautiful and devastated that I almost wish he would say ‘yes’ to her. What the heck? Why would you wish that, Carmen? My inner voice scolds me harshly. Whose side are you on?

  “I wish I could laugh,” Owen says softly. “But I’m not as cruel as you are, my love. I’m not going to rip your heart out when you’ve made an effort to put it on the line.”

  “So you agree?” Caroline asks. “You’ll marry me.”

  “Nah. It’s just a piece of paper, isn’t it? A waste of time. But why don’t you join us for some s’mores and a horror movie? Then you can get going back to the city.”

  Helen has been making a s’mores sandwich in anticipation of this moment, and she moves forward to hand it to Caroline. “Here you go, Carol. Guys are jerks.”

  “No, thank you,” Caroline says, lifting herself to her feet with shame. “I can see I’m not wanted here. I will go.”

  She moves to leave, and she has disappeared as quickly and quietly as she arrived. We are all left with a slightly sour taste in our mouths after that episode, and we share sad and confused looks.

  “Well, that was awkward,” Owen says to break the silence, ripping the s’mores from Helen’s hand and taking a large bite. “Anyone up for more scary movies?”

  “Uhhh,” Liam says softly. “Dude, the love of your life just proposed to you. You wanna talk about it?”

  “What’s there to talk about?” Owen says with a shrug, plopping down beside me. “She didn’t want any s’mores, so that’s more s’mores for us!”

  I shake my head in disbelief, and feel a bit of a headache starting behind my eyes. It might be because I’ve had too much wine tonight, or it might be because a gorgeous German supermodel just proposed to my boyfriend. Or some combination of both. Owen’s refusal to be genuine about his feelings when he’s obviously shaken up is not helping. Grabbing my bottle of wine and my cell phone, I stand up and walk toward the cabin. “I think I’m going to call it a night,” I tell the others, before taking a long swig of wine and heading for bed. As I do this, I look down at the message from Brad on my phone.

  Four more missed calls while Caroline was proposing. Ten more text messages.

  I have no idea what I’m going to do about him.

  Caroline isn’t my biggest problem.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Scanning through the messages on my phone frantically, I find myself completely unable to relax and sleep. Brad is starting to sound really scary, and I think I should probably answer his next phone call. Maybe I can pacify him, and tell him I just needed a break and that I was going to visit my sister. Maybe I can soothe the beast before he does something crazy.

  My pho
ne displays that Brad is calling, and my thumb is about to slide to answer when a large body slips into bed with me and wraps its arms and legs around me. I look down at Owen in surprise, and find that he is so drunk that he is already fast asleep. “Owen?” I say softly. “Are you going to marry her?”

  “Mmmhmm,” he says sleepily, and I’m pretty sure he has no idea what I’m saying.

  “Are you breaking up with me?” I ask him with concern.

  “Mmmhmm,” he mumbles again, snuggling closer.

  I roll my eyes in frustration. Brad’s call has gone to voicemail, and I’m fairly sure that he’s in the middle of leaving me a threatening or frightening message. I shudder at the memory of his last few messages, and lean my head to the side to rest it against Owen’s. Another phone call causes my phone to light up, but this time, it isn’t Brad. The display shows Lauren and I slide my thumb across to answer.

  “Hey, Lauren?” I say in surprise. “This is pretty late for you to be calling me.”

  “God, Carm. Oh my god, what are you getting yourself into? If you are anywhere near that man, run. Just drop everything and run.”

  Pushing Owen off me, I sit straight up in bed. “What are you talking about?” I whisper hoarsely.

  “I finally found something on Brad. I found something big.”

  “I thought you stopped following him?”

  “No way. I know how important this is to you.”

  “It is. It was. I’m trying to take a break. I was getting a little obsessed, Laurie, and it was taking over my life.”

  “Carm, please forget about this mission of yours. This guy is bad news, and I don’t want you anywhere near him. Please, please, please. You’re too special to be throwing your life away chasing madmen.”