Chap­ter 94 begins with the Tooms house engulfed in dark­ness, illu­mi­nat­ed only by the faint light of a cres­cent moon. Saint, dressed in her prom gown, stands before the house, hav­ing recent­ly vis­it­ed the salon where her hair now falls in chest­nut waves, fram­ing her face. She care­ful­ly applies make­up and slips into her Mary Janes, embody­ing the image of a young woman pre­pared for a spe­cial night. Nor­ma, her com­pan­ion, admires her appear­ance, not­ing the atten­tion to detail Saint has put into her look, yet their play­ful exchange hints at an under­ly­ing ten­sion between them. Saint’s ner­vous ener­gy is pal­pa­ble, reflect­ing her inter­nal tur­moil despite her out­ward appear­ance of con­fi­dence. As she stands before the house, her thoughts shift to Jim­my Wal­ters, who is set to arrive soon, fur­ther empha­siz­ing the emo­tion­al com­plex­i­ty of the evening.

Amidst the prepa­ra­tions, Saint’s mind drifts to Grace, a girl who might be lost or hid­den away in the vast­ness of the wilder­ness. The uncer­tain­ty sur­round­ing Grace’s fate looms large in her thoughts, cast­ing a shad­ow over the excite­ment of the prom. As she gazes out over the sprawl­ing land­scape, Saint wres­tles with her con­cern for Grace, torn between the joy of a night meant to cel­e­brate youth and the deep wor­ry that con­sumes her heart. The ten­sion between these con­flict­ing emo­tions under­scores the chapter’s theme of lost inno­cence and the bur­dens of unre­solved mys­ter­ies. Saint’s con­tem­pla­tion reflects the com­plex­i­ty of her inner world, where hap­pi­ness and sor­row often coex­ist, and where the weight of one’s respon­si­bil­i­ties can over­shad­ow per­son­al mile­stones. Despite the allure of the night, Saint finds her­self grap­pling with the haunt­ing uncer­tain­ty of Grace’s dis­ap­pear­ance, unable to ful­ly escape the dark­er ele­ments of her life.

Com­pelled by an urge to explore the Tooms farm­house, Saint qui­et­ly climbs through a win­dow, her dress trail­ing behind her as she nav­i­gates the dim­ly lit inte­ri­ors. The house feels aban­doned, yet there are signs of life in the form of canned goods neat­ly arranged in the kitchen, a tes­ta­ment to their endur­ing pres­ence. These pre­served items stand as a stark reminder that while some things remain untouched by time, the peo­ple and mem­o­ries tied to them fade away. The con­trast between the items that endure and the ghost­ly rem­nants of those who once lived there deep­ens the eerie atmos­phere of the house. Saint’s care­ful explo­ration leads her deep­er into the space, where each step echoes the weight of the past. As she moves through the house, the ten­sion builds, cre­at­ing a pal­pa­ble sense of unease that lingers in the air.

From the farm­house, Saint notices a flick­er­ing light from her grandmother’s house in the dis­tance, fur­ther ampli­fy­ing the omi­nous atmos­phere that sur­rounds her. The qui­et of the night is bro­ken by the sound of creak­ing floor­boards beneath her feet as she ascends to the attic. Each step height­ens the sense of fore­bod­ing, adding to the unease that has set­tled in her chest. The attic, with its dim light and dusty air, feels like a place where secrets are hid­den, wait­ing to be uncov­ered. As Saint moves deep­er into the space, her heart races, and an unset­tling noise caus­es her to freeze in place. Pan­ic sets in as the sound seems to fol­low her, and the real­iza­tion that she is not alone becomes unde­ni­able. Sum­mon­ing every ounce of courage, she calls out, hop­ing to con­front what­ev­er might be lurk­ing in the shad­ows. Her knees shake with fear, but the ten­sion builds as she pre­pares to face what­ev­er unknown enti­ty threat­ens to over­whelm her.

Saint’s inter­nal strug­gle inten­si­fies as she grap­ples with the over­whelm­ing sense of dread that fills the attic. Every creak of the floor­boards and every flick­er of move­ment adds to her mount­ing anx­i­ety. The fear of being fol­lowed con­sumes her as the dark­ness grows heav­ier around her, leav­ing her feel­ing more vul­ner­a­ble with each pass­ing sec­ond. The air is thick with ten­sion, and the slight­est sound seems ampli­fied in the oppres­sive silence. As Saint stands on the edge of ter­ror, her body betrays her with a tremor that threat­ens to undo her com­po­sure. The chap­ter cul­mi­nates in a moment of high sus­pense, where Saint must con­front her fears and sum­mon the strength to face the unknown, even as the dark­ness seems to close in around her. The chill­ing atmos­phere and the uncer­tain­ty of what lies ahead keep read­ers on edge, adding a lay­er of inten­si­ty that dri­ves the nar­ra­tive for­ward.