Somewhere in the black I could hear a noise reverberating through the distance. It didn’t make sense, but the intent was forceful. The more I focused on the noise, the more frightened I became. I couldn’t discern from what direction the noise originated, only that it was growing stronger. Whatever the reverberations were, they now felt somewhat familiar.
Another reverberation left me with a sense of vertigo, and the thought hit me, it was the first sensation I had felt in the darkness. The noise came again with more clarity and force. It was a voice. I could feel pressure, and a sharp pain in its wake. Through the darkness, I could feel myself sinking. The words echoed somewhere in the distance, rising to circle me as a whisper.
“GET UP!” The voice erupted.
I bolted upright, and scrambled away from the command. My back struck something hard to stop me. All that I could see was an empty black. There was no sense of where I was, or if there was anything nearby, there was only an emptiness. My lungs burned, and every part ached, but I could start to feel the world. Everything was damp, and it felt like solid earth under me.
“Hello?” I asked, my voice cracking. Someone had to have been calling to me. The girls had to be here somewhere. “Alison? Veronica?” The high-pitched whistle in my ears subsided, and left me with the muted sounds of night. I blinked repeatedly in hopes of making out some details in the surrounding ink, but despite my best efforts the world refused to emerge from darkness. What I could discern was that I was still in the forest, and it was night. I would need protection.
The revolver that I had been carrying all day was not in its holster. All of my pockets were empty, there was no GPS, no map, not even a flashlight. Something drastic had to have happened. I patted the wet ground, there had to be something around. My hands found a boot.
I followed the boot up a leg, to hips, a torso and slim arms. They were lying face down and rather small. I quickly moved to their neck to check for a pulse. I rolled them over noting the feminine features and pressed my fingers to her neck. A flash of lighting revealed Sarah lifelessly staring at the sky. I slouched and swallowed the regret. It was my fault. More blood on my hands.
After a few moments, I took a breath to steady myself, and moved back to her. Whatever happened to us, maybe she still had something on her that could be of use. I patted my way down her corpse, and found a lump in the left pocket of her jeans. I tugged the small cylinder free and pressed the end in with a click. The small LED flashlight cast its beam across her face, revealing a grisly wound where her left eye should’ve been. I recoiled from her.
I stumbled away, and headed for the log closest to the tree-line. I managed to make it over before exhaustion took me. My heart was pounding as I sat down and tried to catch my breath. I opened my eyes and saw the firelight cause the shadows to dance across the trees. Beyond the campfire and tents, Veronica reached for me in time to the pulsing music. I shook my head at her. She rolled her eyes and twirled back to her position dancing between Matt and Ethan. I dropped my gaze to my hands. Her words still haunted me.
“Hey,” a voice called out over the music. I looked up to see Jess slip out of the mass of our friends dancing at the other end of the campsite. I wanted to roll my eyes when I saw her smile. She made her way around the campfire, and quickly took a seat next to me. “What are you doing?”
“Nothing, just taking a break.” I watched our friends dancing. Veronica moved playfully between the guys. Ethan slid his hands over her jeans. She laughed, and slipped away from him.
“You liar.” Jess turned sideways to lean against me. “You’re thinking about her again.” I let out a groan, and she laid back across my lap to look up at me.
“I’m fine. I’m just taking a break.”
“Oh, no you don’t.” She pointed up at me. “You do not get to be all mopey. Not this weekend.”
“I’m not mopey.”
“You are!” She poked her finger at the middle of my forehead. “Fine, if you’re going to be that way then I won’t tell you.” She crossed her arms, and turned up her nose. I heard everyone laughing and saw Nick brushing off as a new song started. The thought stayed with me.
“Tell me what?”
“Nope, I’m not saying if you’re going to be that way.” She crossed her legs and bounced her left foot rapidly. I let out a sigh. She wanted to tell me, but she also wanted me to relax this weekend. This weekend was for her as much as it was for me. I didn’t want to be the one to ruin our first chance to relax.
“You’re right,” I surrendered. Her eyes refocused on me. “I’ll try.”
“Good.” She smiled at me. “I’ve got a secret.”
“Yeah, right.” Jess couldn’t keep a secret to save her life. She told me everything all the time, even if I didn’t want to know.
“I do.”
“Seriously?” I eyed her with skepticism. “Well?” Jess sat up and turned to face me. The music hit a lull, making our conversation feel incredibly awkward. She watched our friends beyond the campfire, and brushed out her striped dress.
“Not here.” She jumped to her feet and took my hands. “Come on.” She tugged me up. I stumbled forward a few steps. Jess let out a giggle. “Follow me.” I saw Veronica and Kelly dancing between the guys. “Come on.”
“Where are we going?”
“Stop being so difficult.” Jessica moved around our tent and into the woods. “Come on.” She ducked under a low branch. I tripped over a root and stumbled forward into a tree. Jess let a giggle slip. My flashlight beam caught a bit of dress before she vanished behind a tree.
“Jess,” I coughed. All of the aches and pains returned with the pitch black of the forest at night. I had lost so much, and I still didn’t know how much the latest round had cost me.
“Come on,” Jess called to me.
“Jess?” I turned the light on her as she darted behind a cluster of birches. Pain resonated through my head. I turned the light back on Sarah, bloodied and lifeless. It was my fault, again. The light dimmed, and the dull headache increased to a stabbing pain. Shadows twisted and swirled with a rising wind.
“Follow me!” Jess called to me. Something moved in the distance cracking through the woods. I saw her silhouette beckon to me.
“What?” The noise cracked its way closer.
“Come on,” she called to me again. I reluctantly turned away from the noise, and moved to follow Jess.
She moved quickly, ducking under low branches, and weaving between the trees with a graceful ease. No matter how hard I tried, I never seemed to be able to catch up to her. As I ducked under a fallen tree, my light caught a flash of bare leg and dress before she vanished around another tree.
“Wait up.”
“You’re slow.” She walked backwards for a few steps. “Will you hurry up already?” I tripped over an exposed root. When I looked up again, Jess had vanished.
“Jess?”
“This way,” she called from my left. I only caught a glimpse of her through the thick foliage, but it gave me a direction. The flashlight did a poor job of illumination, between the fog and branches, but it was better than nothing. I placed my hand on a tree, and stepped over a dead sapling. The cold, wet bark felt weird under my palm. It seemed unnatural. It was somehow smooth and rough at the same time.
“Connor!” Her shout broke my fixation.
“Jess?” I looked for her. Shadows and fog swirled through the light. In the distance I heard something crack branches. I held my head as the dull throb grew to migraine proportions.
“Hey.” Jess appeared a few paces away with a giggle. “You’re so slow.” With her before me, the headache and swirling shadows seemed to disappear. “Come on.” She turned and started off. I heard the noise crack in the distance behind me, and felt the headache begin to throb again. Jess slid around an ancient tree and flashed me a smile.
“Where are we going?” I asked, while I did my best to remain only a couple of steps behind her.
“We’re almost there.” She moved around a large broken tree, and disappeared again. The cold reasserted itself with my encroaching headache.
“Jess?” I tried to follow her path, and ended up in a thicket. The branches clawed and scratched at my arms as I pushed through. I broke free of their grasp and found myself on a warm gravel beach.
The ocean was serene under a clear sky as waves lapped the point. Across the surf was a vast empty darkness. I caught sight of a figure in white at the water’s edge. The gravel and sand crunched underfoot as I moved closer. Jess was standing with the water flowing around her ankles. A wave sloshed on the toes of my shoes, stopping me. Between the serene waves and moonlight, it felt like a dream.
“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” she asked over her shoulder.
“Very.” I spotted her sandals on a driftwood log nearby, and took the hint. I untied my Chucks and kicked them off next to the log, so I could step into the tide behind her. The rocks felt cool on my feet. She watched the vast darkness that stretched out before us.
“Do you ever wonder why?”
“Why what?” I felt the cool water rush around my legs. This was a switch for her. Usually, if there was something that she wanted to share, she wouldn’t be able to stop talking. Tonight she was downright cryptic.
“Why it’s always so hard.” Jess leaned her head back to take a deep breath.
“Now who’s mopey?”
“Not like that.” She sounded annoyed by my response. “It’s always so difficult but I finally figured it out.” Her words drew me closer. “I finally understand. I get it.”
“And what’s…?” Before I could react, we were caught in a kiss. I felt the urgency and need for comfort with her in my arms. She broke the kiss and leaned away from me. I licked my lips. Was she drunk? This wasn’t us.
“It doesn’t have to be so hard.” She looked away, her hair drifting on the wind between us.
“Jess…”
“Don’t.” Her crystal blue eyes were filled with fear. “How many times have you heard it? I know Stephanie wasn’t the first.” I rolled my eyes. “How many times? No matter what you do, they all say it. Don’t they?” I let out a sigh. I tried to push away from her, but she kept her arms around me. I knew exactly what she was talking about, but she was well out-of-line.
“No. We’re not going to do this.”
“They always say it.” The moonlight revealed she was on the edge of tears. “They’re not wrong. We’re just too stubborn to admit it.” Every girl I had ever asked out responded the same. They thought I was dating Jess, and it was ultimately the reason none of the relationships lasted.
“It’s not us.” I tried to keep my head. “We tried this before. It’s not us.” In junior high we had attempted dating. After everything, Jess and I had only learned that we were better as friends.
“No.” She shifted her hold. “It’s always been us.”
I opened my mouth to object, but she used it as an opportunity to steal another kiss that lasted too long. There was a need, a craving, that said she was right. Jess broke the kiss with a knowing smile. She released me, and stepped out into the water. I followed her into the surf.
“What about Nick?” I asked. Her current pursuit was out here with us. I had assumed this trip was meant to help us relax, but also to give her a chance to get closer to her next boyfriend. She stepped forward and cupped my face in her hands, kissing me again.
“I think we need to get back.” She giggled and walked away from me. I staggered as another wave knocked me off balance. Jess moved over to the driftwood on the beach, and slipped on her sandals. I had been so caught up in the routine that I hadn’t seen Jess in this light before. She was gorgeous, amazing, and I wanted to feel her in my arms. I wanted to feel that comfort again.
“What do we do now?” I started over to her. She brushed her hair aside and tucked it behind her left ear.
“We head back.” She walked toward the tree-line.
“That’s not…”
“I know what you meant.” She spun to face me. “We have three days out here, and you’re stuck sharing our tent.” I stopped in my tracks. “We relax.” She moved into the trees.
“Jess…”
“Come on before they notice.”
I stumbled up away from the beach after her. A stray rock sent me down, and scraped up my hands on the gravel. My hands were raw as I attempted to brush away the embedded grit. The flashlight was rocking in a packed groove between strips of loose gravel. A dull throb and chill had returned to the world around me. I had to be losing my mind. As I lifted my gaze my heart jumped a beat.
I was in the middle of an old gravel road. A few hundred meters away, one of the Sheriff’s Department SUVs was parked across the road with its lights flashing.