Chapter Sixty-One
The old well-house behind the chapel was small, damp, and smelled of wet earth and rotting wood. I sat in the darkest corner of the tiny room, my knees pulled up to my chin and my arms wrapped tightly around my legs. The cold from the stone floor seeped straight through my jeans, making my lower body feel completely numb, but I was too afraid to move.
The air was thick and hard to breathe. Every few minutes, I would hear the distant, muffled sound of shouting from the front of the compound, followed by the heavy, metallic clanking of gates. Once or twice, the deep, vibrating roar of a motorcycle engine would echo through the valley, but then the silence would return, heavier and more terrifying than before.
I waited.
I counted the seconds in my head to keep myself fro
