Whispers of the Turning Seasons (part 21)

The echo of the gunshot tore through the forest like a crack in the sky.

For a moment, no one moved.
No one breathed.
Even the snowflakes seemed to freeze in midair.

Then a scream shattered the silence.

Rowan spun around instantly, pulling Evelyn behind him as deputies raised their weapons in every direction, shouting commands.

“WHERE DID IT COME FROM?” Ellis yelled.

“No visual! No visual!” a deputy shouted back.

The two women—both claiming to be Evelyn’s mother—stood frozen.

Then one of them collapsed.

Evelyn screamed.
“Mom!”

But she didn’t know which one she was screaming for.

Rows of deputies rushed forward, kicking up snow as they formed a protective circle.

Rowan grabbed Evelyn’s arm.
“Stay behind me. Don’t move. Don’t go near them until we know who fired.”

But Evelyn ripped her arm free.
“I have to see—”

She stumbled forward, heart hammering.

The woman lying in the snow wasn’t moving.
Her body twitched once, then went still.

It was the woman from the cabin.

Her coat darkened with spreading blood.

The boy screamed, a sound so raw it ripped through Evelyn’s chest.

“Mom!” he cried, falling to his knees beside her.

Evelyn’s world tilted.

The woman who claimed to be the one who raised her for her first four years—

shot.

Bleeding.

Barely breathing.

Evelyn felt her heart tear in half.


---

The Aftermath Begins

Ellis crouched quickly beside the woman.

“Pulse is weak!” she shouted. “We need medics NOW!”

Deputies sprinted toward the trail, one already on the radio for emergency extraction.

The boy shook the woman’s shoulder, sobbing.

“Please wake up… please…”

Evelyn knelt beside him before she realized she had moved.

Her mother—the woman who raised her—called from behind:

“Evelyn, stay away from her!”

But Evelyn ignored her.

The woman from the cabin’s eyes fluttered weakly.

She looked up at Evelyn.

A faint, painful smile curved her lips.

“You came back,” she whispered.

Evelyn’s breath caught.

Rowan knelt on the other side, pressing a cloth to the wound.

“Stay with us,” he said urgently. “Don’t close your eyes.”

Her gaze never left Evelyn.

“Don’t… be afraid,” she murmured.
“Truth… doesn’t die… with me.”

And then her eyes rolled back.

“No!” the boy sobbed.

Evelyn felt her throat close as paramedics crashed through the trees with a stretcher.


---

The Search for the Shooter

“Everyone get down!” Ellis shouted. “Shooter might still be here!”

Deputies spread out into formation, scanning the treeline.

Evelyn froze.

Because something about the direction of the shot…
something about the angle…

She turned slowly.

Her mother—
the woman who raised her—
was trembling.

Her hands were buried deep in her coat pockets.

Too deep.

Too still.

Rowan followed Evelyn’s gaze.

He stood up abruptly.

“Ma’am,” he said sharply, “show me your hands.”

She flinched.

“I—I didn’t—”

“Show me your hands,” Rowan repeated, voice cold.

Her breath hitched.

Slowly, she pulled her hands from her coat.

Empty.

Evelyn gulped, half relieved and half terrified.

But Rowan wasn’t convinced.

“Search her,” he told a deputy.

Her mother recoiled as the deputy approached.

“Don’t you touch me! I came here to protect her!”

Evelyn stared at her.

“Protect me… from what?” she whispered.

Her mother didn’t answer.

Didn’t blink.

Didn’t breathe.

Just stared back at her with eyes filled with something Evelyn had never seen before:

Fear.

Not of the shooter.

But of being found out.


---

The Boy’s Accusation

A small voice cut through the chaos.

“You did it.”

Everyone turned.

The boy stood there, face red and streaked with tears, pointing at Evelyn’s mother.

“You shot her,” he said, voice breaking. “You always said she didn’t deserve to have us.”

Her mother’s face went white.

“That’s not true—!”

“She told me,” the boy insisted. “She told me I was dangerous. That Evelyn wasn’t safe with us. That we were… broken.”

Evelyn’s heart plummeted.

Her mother shook her head violently.

“He’s lying! Evelyn, you know me—”

Evelyn didn’t know anything anymore.

“Mom…” she whispered, “…did you bring a gun?”

Her mother’s eyes flicked away for a split second.

Just one.

But Evelyn saw it.

Rowan saw it.

Ellis saw it.

“Ma’am,” Ellis said, “turn around. Hands behind your back.”

“No!” her mother cried. “Please— I didn’t shoot anyone! I came to bring her home!”

“Turn around!” Ellis barked.

But Evelyn’s mother refused—
and that was all the deputies needed.

They grabbed her arms and pinned her to the snow.

She screamed.

The boy watched with trembling fury.

Evelyn watched with a breaking heart.

Rowan watched with a storm behind his eyes.


---

A New Discovery

As paramedics lifted the wounded woman onto the stretcher, the edge of her coat shifted—

And something fell out.

A key.

Old. Iron. Rusted.

Evelyn picked it up.

The boy whispered:

“That’s the key to the basement.”

Evelyn stiffened.

“What basement?”

He wiped his tears.

“The one under the cabin. Where the fire started.”

Rowan’s head snapped toward them.

“The basement was sealed off,” he said. “The fire report said—”

The boy shook his head.

“That was the lie.”

Evelyn clutched the key.

Cold metal.
Heavy.
Important.

Rowan looked at her.

“Evelyn,” he murmured, “are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

She nodded slowly.

“If we find the basement…”

She swallowed.

“…we find the truth.”

Behind them, her mother screamed as deputies struggled to restrain her.

“I DID IT FOR YOU!” she cried.
“I DID EVERYTHING FOR YOU!”

But Evelyn no longer knew if that was a confession…
or a threat.

She looked at the key in her hand.

Then at the cabin.

Then at the two lives she could have lived.

And she whispered:

“We go back. Tonight.”