And… fin.
Epilogue
Katie had come along with the search party, even though she had been told again and again not to. The villagers of the valley were reluctant to chase after a man who had fled a murder scene, but Katie's cries of self-defense gave them little choice.
"He's scared…" Katie whispered to herself. It was similar to looking for a wild animal. And with the continuously piling snow coming down, flakes whirling around her face and sticking to her long curls and eyelashes, their odds seemed slim.
Please be out here… Please be safe…
Katie pulled on a tree branch and brought herself further up the hill. Lantern lights filled the evening forest around her as others of her village plodded through the snow calling a name that didn't belong to anybody in the woods. She hid her nose deeper into the scarf around her neck. It was bitterly cold.
She had broken. She had been weak in the face of death. But she had tried. Katie was determined more than anything to prove her devotion to Gill. If she could be the one to find him, she knew he would be able to trust her. Finally move on from his past. Look at a future. Someday even love her… like she did him.
"Please come home…" Katie mumbled. She couldn't cry. She couldn't let herself cry. But the thought of Gill never returning to Sugar Village made the town seem so melancholy. So uninteresting. So small and insignificant. Katie couldn't return without him.
And I won't.
A horse's whinny was carried on the slim edges of the wind. Katie waited before the call came clearer.
The girl took off in the direction of the horse, thumping through the snow with all her might. The trees began to thin, and they suddenly stopped. A wide field opened before her. A lone windmill sat at its center.
A black horse was stamping near its tall walls.
"Topper…" she breathed, running forward. When she reached the animal, it still panicked and bucked no matter how much she cooed or attempted to soothe. Katie was forced to leave him.
Making her way around the side of the windmill, Katie's curiosity peaked at the sight of a door. It was swung wide open, but the darkness inside was impenetrable. She should have brought a lantern.
As Katie approached the door, the horse grew more unsettled. He neighed and cried terribly, causing Katie to run back and comfort him. "Topper! Topper, calm down! It's just me… Sh…! Sh…"
Again, Katie could not satisfy the horse and explore the windmill. The horse seemed to be terrified of it. Like it was a warning. There was something evil inside.
Her heart clenched painfully in her chest as Katie ignored the horse's cries and stepped bravely towards the door. "Gill…?"
Her foot touched something small and hard. Drawing back, Katie looked in silent terror at a rusty key and matching padlock. A string was tied to the key like a necklace she recognized.
Katie squinted as she entered the musty, little room. A thick smell hit her nose, but she couldn't identify it. Her eyes slowly adjusted to the lighting. She held a hand over her mouth as she took in the scene.
In the dark, Katie looked down to see a hole torn into the wood. Embedded in the floor boards was the portrait of a beautiful young man. Innocent, full of youth and promise. The man Katie knew.
Before the picture was the crumpled, disfigured corpse of a long dead old man. Skeletal and rotten; a stake driven through his heart.
Katie's scream echoed off of the walls of the windmill and into the night.