No one moved for what seemed like an eternity. They didn’t know what to do. Was someone really out there? And if so, was it someone from the school waiting to bust them? Or worse? Luke was really feeling déjà vu now.
They waited, frozen in fear, their ears straining to hear any sound. But it was completely quiet.
“Kelsey, are you sure you saw someone?” Oscar asked quietly.
“Yes!” Kelsey was practically crying now.
The near misses weren’t funny anymore. Even Pippa had dropped her reserve and looked scared. Things had gone beyond a fear of getting in trouble; now their safety might be in jeopardy.
Luke’s senses were on high alert. He pulled up his sleeve.
His running watch said ten past three.
He looked at Oscar and tipped his head back toward campus. Oscar nodded, understanding. They needed to leave.
“Okay, guys,” Luke said, keeping his tone light. “I don’t know who is out there, if anyone, but it’s time to call it a night, am I right?”
The girls nodded in unison, finally agreeing on something.
“Oscar’s going to go up first, then Kelsey, then Pippa, and I’m going to follow. We’re going to hold on to each other and move through the woods as fast as possible, together. Okay? Once we’re ready, we’re going to run, and we’re not going to stop until we get to the meeting spot. Don’t worry about being quiet. Let’s just move as fast as we can. Got it?”
Luke’s heart was racing, but he was glad to be planning and moving. Action always made him feel better.
“I’m scared,” whispered Kelsey as Oscar helped her up the Dip.
“Just hang on to me,” he said, taking her hand.
Luke hopped up last, looking around quickly to take everything in.
The other three kept their eyes on him until he gave the signal.
“Go,” he said, motioning toward campus before grabbing on to Pippa’s hand. The two of them took the lead.
They ran, all of them, as fast as they could, jumping over logs and flinging branches aside. If anyone was out there looking for them, they had definitely made themselves a target, but it was better than staying back in the Dip, where they’d be sitting ducks for whoever was out there.
Luke shot backward glances as they ran.
Was that a person or a branch? A stalker or a squirrel?
“Nearly there,” Oscar said.
“Yay,” Kelsey replied weakly.
Finally, the chapel’s steeple appeared in the sky like a beacon. They had made it back to the meeting spot. Not quite home, but close enough where it felt safe.
Everyone was breathing hard.
“I must say, I have no love for this school, but right now I’m quite glad to see it,” said Pippa.
“Yeah, home sweet home,” said Luke. He really meant it.
This night had been unexpectedly grueling.
“Are you okay now, Kels?” Oscar whispered in his most concerned voice, pulling Kelsey into a hug.
Luke turned to Pippa. He realized they were holding hands again, after dropping them during their sprint through the woods. He reached for her other hand and pulled her closer.
“Well, that was certainly an adventure,” she said, smiling at him.
“It was,” Luke agreed. “And not at all what I expected.”
“Nothing wrong with unpredictability, is there?”
“Not at all,” Luke said. He would have preferred to get to this point earlier in the night, back in the privacy of the woods, but he knew he should kiss Pippa now or he’d regret missing his chance.
Oscar cleared his throat.
“I hate to break this up,” Oscar said. “I really do. But hello, we may have just escaped the Southborough Strangler in the woods, and I’d kind of like to call it a night, if you don’t mind.”
Luke reluctantly broke away from Pippa.
“Tomorrow,” he said to Pippa. “After classes end. You, me, and that telenovela.”
“As you Americans say, Let’s do it,” Pippa replied.
They were about to make a break for it and run through the clearing when they saw a figure walking with a flashlight down by the dorms.
“Stop,” whispered Luke, putting his arm out.
“Nooooo,” whined Kelsey. “Oh my God, I just want to get back to my room.”
Whoever it was disappeared around the corner.
“I couldn’t see who it was,” said Pippa, looking at Luke. “Security?”
“Security leaves at midnight,” Oscar said.
“Then who?” asked Kelsey.
“It couldn’t be who Kelsey saw in the woods, could it?” Oscar asked. “How could he have beat us back?”
“There’s no way,” Luke said.
“But why would someone be walking around so late at night?” asked Pippa.
“Dorm duty?” offered Oscar.
“This late?” Luke knew what they were all thinking: a teacher was out looking for them. Funny, all that fear in the woods had made getting busted seem like a lesser problem, at least for a little while.
They waited, but the person with the flashlight didn’t reappear.
“Okay, listen,” Oscar said. “Let’s just go. If we’re busted, we’re busted. But I think it’s clear, and, you know what, I can’t take it anymore.”
“Agreed,” said Luke, the girls joining in.
All four ran down to the edge of Wilcox, whispering quick goodbyes before Kelsey and Pippa split off and ran down the path toward Hadden. By unspoken agreement, Luke and Oscar waited to go inside.
“I know you’re into her, but I want to go on record as saying that girl is trouble,” Oscar murmured.
Luke knew he meant Pippa. “Why do you say that?”
“For one thing, where’d she go? Why did she ditch Kelsey like that? I bet she wanted to freak her out, and she was willing to jeopardize us just to mess with her.”
“What? No way.” Luke frowned. The thought hadn’t occurred to him.
“Yes, way,” Oscar said. “Mark my words.”
When the girls disappeared at the end of the path, Oscar slid open the basement window in the laundry room of their dorm and wiggled his way inside. Luke followed.
“Why didn’t we sneak out this way? It’s much easier,” whispered Luke.
“Mr. Crawford lives right above here. You know how he stays up super late, watching movies. We couldn’t risk it.”
Every dorm had at least one faculty member living in an apartment per floor, depending on the size of the dorm. Mr. Crawford was chill, and they hung out a lot in his apartment eating pizza or watching TV, but no matter how relaxed he was, he would have no choice but to turn them in if he caught them sneaking out.
Luke turned to shut the window and glanced out at the clearing toward the woods. Something caught his eye. He could swear he saw a man standing there against the backdrop of the forest. Watching him. He pressed his forehead against the glass, and this time he was certain.
The warm, fuzzy feeling he’d had from thinking about Pippa disappeared, and Luke felt a familiar rush of terror wash over him.
A man. In the woods. Watching him. No, not this. Not again.
Luke shut the window harder than he meant to, his stomach churning. He’d felt so safe for so long. Had it just been an illusion?