Addison glanced toward the horizon, where golden light spilled over the distant hills, and then back at Gaylen.
"What's wrong?"
she asked, kneeling beside her.
Gaylen didn't answer immediately. Her shoulders shook as her tears soaked into the earth beneath her.
Addison hesitated before reaching out, resting a comforting hand on her grandmother's arm.
Life on the farm had been lonely.
Ever since the accident that took her parents' lives when she was just a baby, it had always been just her and Gaylen.
The townsfolk whispered behind their backs, calling Gaylen unstable, and Addison, by association, strange.
Her friends—what little she had—kept their distance. It wasn't easy being the girl with the "crazy grandma."
Finally, Gaylen lifted her tear-streaked face to meet Addison's worried gaze.
Her eyes were red, her voice hoarse.
"You have to leave, Addison,"
she whispered, gripping her granddaughter's hand with surprising strength.
Addison blinked in confusion.
"Leave? Why? What's going on?"
Gaylen looked over her shoulder, as if expecting something—or someone—to emerge from the shadows of the barn.
She pulled Addison closer, lowering her voice to a trembling whisper.
"He warned me,"
she said.
"Your father... he comes to me in my dreams. He says we're in danger. That you're in danger."
Addison stiffened.
This wasn't the first time her grandmother had spoken of her father's warnings, but the urgency in her tone was new, raw.
"Grandma, it's just dreams,"
Addison said gently, though unease crept into her voice.
"You've been stressed. That's all."
jojo's side...
When Jojo and others left the down hotel, he had already informed Dana about it and asked her to keep the cops' patrol as minimal as possible for the following 3 days.
Because according to Jezelle, the Creeper, who has awakened after 23 years of slumber, is on the brink of his last few days before his hunting period ends.
Only three days are left before the Creeper once again goes into a deep sleep after completing 23 days of his hunting cycle.
It will be nearly impossible for Jojo to track him down if there is no movement from this end.
When Jojo requested Dana to minimize the cops' patrol in the area and block the entry of the highway on both sides in order to stop any new people from entering the hunting ground of the Creeper,
according to Sara, Jojo's AI assistant, there were a total of 6 small towns present in the given radius around the highway,
and they were mostly covered by forest and barren land.
It's been a day since the search for the Creeper began and is going on in full swing, but until now, there has been no single lead on the Creeper so they could get near his whereabouts.
At that time, after Jojo faced the Creeper at the entrance of the down hotel and defeated him,
they were chatting with the reinforcements when he received the news about the Creeper appearing from one of the ambulances that carried the remains of the victims which it had left behind at the old church.
When the cops looked inside, one of the bodies had gone missing, which solidified Jojo's assumption that the Creeper was able to control others' dead bodies as its puppet bodies.
Since David was injured and admitted to the hospital for treatment, Dana, who was second in command, took charge.
"____"
When the cars in which Jojo and others were traveling came to the outskirts of one of the villages, suddenly Jojo felt a huge presence of sin from the direction of the village.
creak~
"What happened, Jojo? Did you sense something?"
Seeing Jojo's reaction while looking in the direction of the small village they were about to pass, Freya, who was driving the car, stopped and asked him.
She knew Jojo had sensed something by his reaction.
"Yeah... I feel a huge amount of sin from this direction."
Hearing Freya's question, Jojo nodded his head without hiding anything and looked in that direction with narrowed eyes.
"Could it be the Creeper's real body?"
Leah spoke, looking in the same direction with clear interest. This was the first time she was witnessing a Level 4 case.
blank~ snap~
"No... but it is something related to it."
Suddenly, Alice used her ability and saw a vision where Gaylen was warning her granddaughter about the danger they were about to face.
After a few seconds, she snapped out of the vision and started to explain to the others what she had seen in her vision.
sigh~
"Then what are we waiting for?"
Hearing Alice, Rosalie rolled her eyes since she was sitting in the back seat while Freya and Jojo were in the front.
With a nod, Freya turned the car toward the direction of the village while Klaus and the others closely followed behind them in another car.
When they entered the town, Jojo shook his head and asked Freya to move even deeper to where he could feel the sins.
When they were at the outskirts where a farmhouse was present, built quite far from the rest of the houses in the town.
"That's the tree... that's the tree I saw in the vision."
When Alice noticed the dead tree on the side of the farmhouse, she pointed at it and informed Jojo and the others.
Gayley's farmhouse...
After taking her grandmother back to the farmhouse and making her lie on her bed,
Addison went back to her room to sleep since it was early morning but was interrupted by the alarm.
sigh~
With a defeated sigh, Addison got up and went to do her regular routine.
After a good short sleep, Addison went to the horse stable where their family horse was kept to take care of its needs since it was her daily routine.
creak~
With some effort, Addison finally pushed open the stable door. Since it was an old one, the door seemed to be a little stuck sometimes when opening.
Snort~ Whinny~
Inside the horse stable, it was a short one that could only accommodate two horses, but currently, there was only one white horse present.
"Good morning, handsome. Hey, are you ready?"
Entering the stable, Addison greeted the white horse with a smile and stroked it.
Whinny~ Whinny~
Hearing Addison and feeling her hands stroking its mane, the horse released a contented whinny and shook its head.
sigh~
"Come on, let's go to grandma. I'm not doing this alone."
When she turned around and saw the corner of the stable, which seemed to be empty, she let out a defeated sigh, took the reins, put them around the horse's neck, and started taking it out of the stable.
After putting the reins on the horse, Addison mounted it and moved in the direction of the farm where she would usually find her grandma.
"____"
When she arrived, she saw her grandma Gaylen sitting on the tractor truck, looking at the sky, seemingly in a daze.
Even though Addison had not openly told her opinion on the weird behavior of her grandmother before her, she had started viewing her grandma from their perspective.
thud~ thud~
"Grandma... hey, grandma... are you okay? Are you taking the truck to the town?"
Seeing this, Addison went toward her grandma and asked what she intended to do since she was sitting in the driver's seat of the tractor before her.
"Who is going to pay for it?"
Hearing Addison's voice, Gaylen snapped out of her thoughts, calmly turned to look at her granddaughter, and spoke, eyeing the white horse.
"____"
"We could get some credits at Hooks, he called again..."
When Addison heard Gaylen's question, she became silent for a second and spoke in a low tone, already expecting an answer from her grandmother and trying to find a reason.
sigh~
"We owe them more than we could pay."
But before Addison could finish her sentence, Gaylen shook her head and interjected with a defeated sigh, informing her that they had already owed Hooks more than they could pay.
"____"
"Cal did say it, he..."
Hearing Gaylen's words, Addison became silent.
Seeing Addison was silent, Gaylen continued the conversation.
"Addie..."
"No! Grandma, I already told you we are not selling Rocket, grandma.
Selling him would feel like giving away my own child."
Seeing her grandma once again wanted to consult regarding selling their horse Rocket, since they couldn't afford to keep it and maintain it any longer due to owing Hooks more than they could repay.
honk~ vroom~
honk~ vroom~
Their conversation was interrupted by the horn sound from two cars which seemed to have arrived at the entrance of their farmhouse.
From inside, many people stepped out of it, which aroused Addison's curiosity.
Because most of the town members avoid coming to their farm due to the reputation of her grandma.
But now, seeing there was a group of people who seemed to be from outside the local area, Addison wondered who they were.
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(Author's POV)
Thanks for reading the chapter!
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