The world turned upside down for a second, the lights of the city spinning around us in a blur of blue and red.

And then, the sound of metal tearing against metal filled the night.

The car came to a stop against the concrete barrier, the engine dying with a hiss of steam.

The silence returned, heavier than before.

I opened my eyes, the cold air rushing in through a broken window.

“Is everyone okay?” Ethan’s voice asked from the dark.

“I’m okay,” I said, my hand finding Lauren’s shoulder in the back seat.

She was quiet, her small body shaking but unharmed.

“Mary?” Ethan asked.

There was no answer from the passenger seat.

I looked over, my heart stopping in my chest as the dim light of the street lamp cut through the shattered glass.

The passenger door was open, the seat empty.

Mary Grace Fitzgerald was gone.

Only her wool scarf remained, caught on the torn metal of the doorframe, fluttering in the freezing wind.

And on the snow outside, a single set of tracks led away from the car, disappearing into the dark woods of the park.