The Barn Run - Part 3

At twenty to twelve, Jojo and Stephi were waiting as arranged behind the tall hedge at the bottom of the back garden, where they wouldn’t be seen. I sneaked out the back door to meet them, and we headed back to Wilson’s Lane.

As much as I liked Stephi being there, there was no reason she should get into any shit, so I told her we’d walk her home—this was just Jojo trying to prove me wrong, and me trying to prove him an idiot.

“I don’t get a choice,” she said. “It’s the rules. Every Barn Run must include someone who’s done the Run before. A Runner can’t refuse.”

I went from Stephi to Jojo and back. “You’ve done this before?”

“Twice,” Jojo said.

Stephi corrected him. “Three times.”

It was still stupid. “Yeah, well, you don’t have to make it four times,” I said, but Stephi shook her head.

“A runner can’t refuse,” she said. “And besides, if one of you doesn’t make it, someone has to get the story straight.”

I was liking this less all the time. “What do you mean: doesn’t make it?”

Jojo put on a spooky voice. “If Cassie gets ya.”

“And what if you don’t make it?” I asked Stephi.

She made an exaggerated blowing noise. “Moi? Puh-leese!”

There was going to be no talking her out of it. We were in this together. Apparently, that was part of the rules.

The Rules, they were traditions going back more than twenty years, even before Cassie—fat, mad, or otherwise—took the farm over from her folks.

Some of the rules were secrets, only revealed on a Run. Things like the start point, and the route.

Some were common knowledge.

Like: “If you get caught, you don’t grass on the others. Death will come to those who tell.”

Jojo told me that one, and I sniggered.

“And no turning back,” he added. “Those who turn back are never seen again.”

Stephi backed him up. “It’s important. Once we start, we have to finish. There’s no chickening out, no changing your mind.”

“Or Death will come to us?” I said.

She didn’t laugh.

“Or worse,” Jojo said. “Even if one of us gets caught: no turning back to help them.”

I looked to Stephi for confirmation. She nodded lightly, but didn’t look back at me, as if there was something she regretted, something she didn’t talk about.

“No matter how much they scream,” Jojo said.

I understood. No turning back.