You remain quiet, but your anxiety must be visible on your face. It seems to offend Ennis, whose final glare shatters what meager levels of serenity you've managed to build. It's as if she has planted a seed of something sinister inside you. While it might be small now, seeds are meant to grow. What it would grow into, you don't dare contemplate now.
You're not as immune to unsettling feelings as you'd like. At least now you know.
"Keep your phone on you," she says, all business, as if she weren't daring you to go out into the woods searching for monsters like it's summer camp all over again. "Answer when I text you. I'm not going to make it easy for you if you try to get out of it."
When she leaves, the rooms sounds so much quieter. Strange, you think, as she hadn't been all that loud.
Stranger still, your ears are ringing. The ringing is harsh, as though someone had been standing right by you, screaming in your face the entire time.
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