Last part - Enjoy and if you liked this story please do share it with your friends.
I poke my head around the corner of the building, "Sam... Sam... Sam!" The boy around the corner turns at the third mention of his name. He sees me hiding at the edge of the P.E. building in the gutter between the gym and the changing room.
"What is it?" Sam snaps back. The boy is thin, has short spiked hair and a pair of round glasses hanging on the tip of his nose. He pushes the glasses up his nose and comes over to reach an arm around the corner. There's a black watch on his wrist that is massive compared to his arm. As he pulls his full body around, I see he has a Green Lantern t-shirt and black shorts.
"I found something. You've got to see this."
"Why me?"
"Cause you write for the school paper silly, I want this shit recorded." I put my finger up and wag it in front of his eyes, "I can be your source," I tease. He scowls at my offer and looks over my attire. I'm wearing a loose fitting white blouse and matching white shorts. I look like a ray of sunshine, matching perfectly with the warm day. "Come on, do you want to see?"
"Where and what is it?" he asks, his tone has grown harsh and unpleasant. How rude of him to treat a lady in such a way.
I ignore his tone and reply, "On the other side of Dean-Jay's farm. Chase is waiting there, we found it together." Sam moves back at the mention of Chase's name. Everyone knows I'm with Chase and everyone knows he towers over most of the kids at the school, works out regularly, and is a force to be reckoned with. Hell, since school started he's gone undefeated on the wrestling team even dethroning Jasper's record.
Talking about Jasper, he took the loss of Emily much harder than Chase or I did, and everyone expected him to. After all, she was the first in a series of disappearances across the city. He's gone downhill since. In the last few months his grades have plummeted, he's dropped out of both the wrestling and football teams, he's gained weight and does nothing except sit at home and dwell on that evening over and over.
We never told anyone what happened. Everyone thinks she just vanished and the police investigation has found no trail—of course they wouldn't. I doubt anyone even knows that haunted house exists.
"Why should I trust you?" Sam asks.
"It's about Emily, it may be about all of the disappearances, we found something pretty crazy out in the forest."
This sparks something in Sam's eyes. I knew it would. He writes for the school paper but always ends up with boring stories about gossip or nonsense. His dad writes for the local paper and an online blog with up to a hundred thousand hits. For Sam, it's always been about trying to prove his abilities to an unimpressed dad. He wouldn't be able to resist a story that could not only prove his worth but also become a national success. He could crack six months of crime that no one, not even the special task force sent from New York, has cracked.
"What is it?" Sam asks with interest showing on his face.
"Come with me, we'll meet Chase and Jasper at The Willow." He cringes at the mention of Jasper. Chase is one thing, the big scary guy you don't mess with, but since Emily's disappearance, Jasper has become a dark force of which nothing comes from except self-harm and depression.
"Of course, it would be you three," he says.
"Yeah," I reply, "we never stopped looking you know."
We were the pack. Emily was part of our pack. Everyone knew our pack as the four that never parted, we did everything together. So, when Emily vanished it was only natural us three would take it the hardest. We played the part perfectly—devastated, obsessive over finding her, and enraged she would just vanish. Jasper's dark descent fit in perfectly to match our outrage of a friend disappearing.
