Chapter 53 YOU'RE NEXT...
MERRIELYNN.
The week after the party dragged on, slow and heavy, like a storm waiting to break.
Ever since Cormac had pulled me out of the pool and stayed with me through my panic, I hadn’t seen him once.
At first, I told myself it didn’t matter. That it was for the best. After all, Cormac’s absence meant I could go back to being invisible, back to blending in the way I wanted when I first arrived at Pinnthorpe.
But it wasn’t that simple.
Every day, I found myself scanning the hallways, lingering longer than I should near the places I thought he might be.
The cafeteria. The courtyard. The stairwell he liked to lean against, arms crossed, his ever-present glare daring anyone to approach.
But he wasn’t there. Not once.
By Wednesday, I started to wonder if he was avoiding me.
Maybe saving me at the party was some kind of final act, his way of making sure I stayed quiet about what I knew.
A favor of sorts.
But thinking about it... he could have just let me die. Secret safe forever.
I tried to push the thoughts away, but they clung to me like shadows.
It was strange, though, how quickly things had gone back to normal. Or at least, normal by Pinnthorpe standards. The students were their usual mix of loud, careless, and intimidating. Juniper and her group gave me the occasional sneer but left me alone for the most part. Even Emorie seemed content to pretend everything was fine, chatting away about her plans for the weekend.
But I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off.
By Friday, I had almost convinced myself that I was overthinking things. Cormac had moved on, and so should I.
I kept my head down through my last class of the day, counting the minutes until the bell rang. When it finally did, I gathered my things quickly, ready to escape into the weekend.
As I stepped into the hallway, though, I felt it—a shift in the air.
It started as a prickle on the back of my neck, like someone was watching me. Then I noticed the glances. Curious, lingering stares from the other students as I passed by.
I told myself it was nothing, that I was imagining things. But as I continued down the hallway, the glances turned into whispers, and the whispers grew louder.
Déjà vu hit me like a punch to the stomach.
My mind flashed back to my first week at Pinnthorpe, when I’d found my locker smeared with blood. The humiliation—it all came rushing back.
I tightened my grip on my bag and kept walking, my pulse quickening with every step.
When I reached the front entrance, I saw the crowd.
A group of students had gathered near the bulletin board, their voices a low hum of curiosity and amusement.
My stomach dropped.
Pushing through the crowd, I caught sight of what had everyone’s attention.
And then I wished I hadn’t.
It was a photo of me. My face, pinned to the board with a giant red X slashed across it. A knife had been stabbed into the picture, right into the middle of my forehead.
Below it, in bold letters that looked like they’d been written in blood, were the words:
“YOU’RE NEXT.”
I stared at the display, my mind struggling to process what I was seeing.
The whispers around me grew louder, students speculating about the message, about me.
“Do you think it’s real blood?”
“Little stag must’ve pissed off the wrong person again.”
I couldn’t breathe. My chest tightened, and the walls of the school felt like they were closing in on me.
I needed to get out of there.
Turning on my heel, I pushed through the crowd, ignoring the startled looks as I shoved past people.
“Merrielynn!”
Emorie’s voice cut through the riot, but I didn’t stop. I couldn’t. My feet moved on their own, carrying me out of the school and into the open air.
“Mere, wait!”
Emorie caught up to me just outside the building, grabbing my arm to stop me.
“Mere, what was that? Are you okay?”
I shook my head, trying to catch my breath. “I don’t know. I just… I can’t deal with this right now.”
“Who would do something like that?” she asked, her voice full of concern. It dropped to a whisper, "Is it-?"
“I don’t know,” I said again, cutting her off, my voice breaking.
Emorie hesitated, her grip on my arm loosening. “Do you think it’s connected to Cormac? I mean, after what happened at the party…”
I flinched at the mention of his name.
“I don’t know,” I said for the third time, frustration bubbling up inside me. “I don’t know anything anymore.”
Emorie opened her mouth to say something else, but I cut her off.
“I just need to go,” I said, stepping away from her. “Please, Em. I need to be alone right now.”
She looked like she wanted to argue, but she nodded reluctantly. “Okay. But call me later, alright? Promise me.”
I didn’t answer. I just turned and walked away, my legs trembling with every step.
By the time I got to my room, the initial shock had worn off, replaced by a heavy mix of fear and anger.
I paced my room, my thoughts racing. How had I let myself get comfortable? How had I been so stupid to think things were getting better?
A week ago, Cormac had saved me. He’d been there when I needed him the most, and for a moment, I’d let myself believe that he’d changed. That maybe, just maybe, he wasn’t the cold, dangerous person everyone thought he was.
But now, I wasn’t so sure.
The display at school had been a message. That much was clear. Someone wanted to scare me, to make me feel small and powerless.
And it was working.
I sat down on the edge of my bed, my hands trembling as I stared at the floor. I thought about the photo, the knife, the words scrawled in blood.
Whoever had done this wasn’t just trying to scare me. They wanted me to know that I was a target.
I couldn’t let them see me break.
Taking a deep breath, I clenched my fists and forced myself to think clearly. I didn’t know who was behind this, but I couldn’t let them win.
Pinnthorpe was dangerous. I’d known that from the start, but now, the stakes felt higher.
If I wanted to survive the rest of the year, I had to be smarter. I had to watch my back and stay one step ahead.
Because whoever had done this wasn’t finished.
And neither was I.