Evie Pogue ran away from home to be with her dad at his most recent renovation, a haunted old manor house in the middle of nowhere Connecticut. Scary stories go hand in hand with these old houses, but this one unknowingly haunts a little too close t...
"Running away from home wasn't smart, Evie," Charlie scolded his little sister as she sat on the couch in his dorm room. He was pacing back and forth like their father. She'd showed up at three in the morning, claiming that Nancy had thrown her out. "Do you even understand how stupid that was? Anything could have happened to you and no one would have known because you didn't tell anyone what you were doing!"
"That's kind of the point of running away, not telling people what you're doing!" Evie defended her actions. She had never sounded so bratty before.
Halfway from Maryland to Massachusetts, she'd realized what she'd done was pretty stupid. But there was no going back. She'd be in so much trouble, more than she'd ever been in before, if she'd gone back then.
"If I'd called you to tell you what I was doing, you would have just called dad or told Nancy." Charlie pinched the bridge of his nose because it was what he'd have done if she'd called him. Just because she nailed it didn't mean he was going to loosen up. "I can't stand living with her, not anymore. Please let me stay here, please don't tell them where I am," she begged, her eyes getting watery as she looked up at him with petted lips.
Please don't tell them where I am.
He'd only agreed so that she'd fall asleep. And then, he did what she'd begged him not to do. He called Nancy, and after calling Nancy, he called their father. Sean told him to drive her to Willowcreek. He betrayed her, but for her own good. However, Evie didn't see it like that. Her dad and Eamon told them stories about how they would always have each other's backs when they were growing up, they would do anything. There had been a time when Evie thought that was the kind of the sibling-ship that she had with Charlie.
But he had betrayed her.
She loved her brother, he used to be her best friend. They had each other when they had no one else, when their dad was off at another house and their mom was missing him too much to realize her children missed her. They were a unit when their family couldn't be one. Evie had always had a creative imagination and she adored making up stories. Charlie would always listen to them and he always loved them. No one encouraged her more than Charlie did. He would draw pictures to go with the scenes she'd imagined and the pair would show them to family when they all gathered. That was when they were all happy. That was when they were actually a family.
But getting older meant things started to change. Charlie became a teenager, while Evie remained a kid. He no longer drew little skits for her stories, he grew up. Spending all of his time with his kid sister wasn't cool anymore. They grew apart, and it was like he'd stopped caring about how the situation with their mother affected her. Evie tried telling her brother that something wasn't right with their mom, but he had just moved out and he was trying to settle into campus living. He had school to worry about and hearing that his mom was being a little stranger than usual wasn't what he needed. But he hadn't stopped caring. Evie didn't know how much her brother regretted it, prioritizing getting away from home as most important. Charlie felt a lot of guilt for not listening and now, he was trying to make up for it.
Trying to make sure the family didn't lose her prematurely, too.
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