Chapter 1

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chapter 1

" Consider yourself dumped, Tristan." said Anna, my girlfriend. Well, ex-girlfriend now. 

"Fine! I never really liked you anyway." lame come-back on my part, i know, but it was the best i could come up with right now. when we had first started dating, everyone was saying, 'Anna's so nice, being so popular and dating an average guy like Tristan!' They would sigh in admiration, but as the weeks went by, i had learned that it was all an act.

In the inside, she was mean as hell and all she cared about was being the hottest girl in school and keeping up a good appearance. A lot of lies came out of her over-sized trap and fake expressions were pasted to her face every day.

And now, as we walked our separate ways, i couldn't help grinning at the overwhelming sense of relief that it was over. I am, once again, a free man!!!...teenager...whatever.

Just then the bell rang and students came stumbling out of their classes to catch the bus.

" Hey, man! Whatchya so happy about?" It was Liam, my best friend in the whole world. He was about the closest thing to being popular, just for his looks, but over the past year his hair had developed this sort of permanent cow-lick. He just couln't get rid of it, no matter how hard he tried. And one more thing. He was a serious know-it-all. A walking-talking answering machine.

"Got dumped." I said simply.

"You mean you finally got rid of the hag???"

"Didn't have to. She beat me to it."

By the time I was finished, he was smiling, too. As we headed to our locker, Liam yelled over the crowds chatter: " Make way!!! Free man coming through!!!!" All I could do was smile and shake my head at my friend.

"You taking the bus?" he asked.

"Nah. I think i'll walk."

"Suit yourself!"

"Later!" we said at the same time. Liam got onto the bus and i set off on foot. It was a nice enough day. Too bad it wouldn't last, though. We were expecting a thunder storm tonight that might last through tomorrow as well.

All well, I thought to myself.

I followed the road until I reached a path leading into the woods. This part of the forest had always seemed endless to me, it would just keep going on and on. I often took this path as I walked home if I wanted to spend more time outside. And today was one of those times.

By the look of it, extremely overgrown so you could hardly see the path anymore, I was one, if not the only one, coming through here. As i picked my way along the trail, i was so happy that once i stopped, I realized that i had gone so deep into the woods, I couldn't even hear the cars from the road. I checked the time on my cell phone and it read 5:30 pm. It had already been an hour and a half since I'd been let out of school, but not late enough for my mom to worry. She'd probably think I was staying at Liam's, then call later on to make sure. I looked around, trying to orient myself to find a way out of here. I was too far into the forest to see a house or something to lead me in the right direction. I mean, who would live in the middle of the woods, so far from civilization? Also, nobody owned this land, so we weren't allowed to build anything on it.

Or so I thought.

I had reached a small patch of grass and i looked up, trying to see which way the sun was setting and follow it. Not the smartest thing to do since the sun had already hidden itself behind the trees. Just as I started to turn away, I saw a thin trail of smoke in the sky. It looked like the kind you would see coming from a chimney or a campfire. I headed towards it, because if it was either  of those things, there would be people.

As i drew closer and closer, the smoke became clearer and clearer. I was a little confused. There was smoke, but i couldn't see a fire anywhere. My mind was racing for an answer as I stumbled closer and then all my thoughts sort of evaporated.                                                                      

Right in front of me was some kind of old hunting cabin. If not for the smoke, I would have thought it to be abandoned. It was so rundown... Suspicion started to rise within me, questions popped into my head at the speed of light. Where was the car? The driveway? The people? What were they like? Were they runaways? Wanted by the police? The government?

Then i tried to calm myself, telling myself that i was getting paranoid for no reason at all. But, i guess, whoever they were, they should have the decency of giving a stranger direction. As i made my way towards the cabin, i heard some rustling from inside. There was definitely someone home.

I knocked three times and waited. Nothing.

I knocked again. Nothing.

I was about to knock again when i heard more movement from the other side of the door. In that moment, I made a split second decision. I grabbed the handle and pushed open the door.

"Hello?" I said. No answer. This was probably property invasion but at this point, I didn't care. It was getting dark and i needed to get home.

I took one cautious step inside, shut the door and looked around. It seemed as if this cabin as a one room house. Beside the door was a sort of make-shift table with a hand made bowl full of water in it sitting on it. Also on the table was a pile of rags, some clean, some not so clean. On the ground near the far wall was a bunch of blankets. I looked closer to see a Teddy Bear with the blankets placed nest-like around it. It had its right arm and left leg missing, stitches everywhere, along with a button eye. It looked old, ancient even. And both blanket and bear were covered in dirt. On the back wall was a cord strung across it. Hanging over the string were furs and skins of many different animals. Seeing this i felt a bit nauseous. I came to the conclusion that a hunter of some sort lived here.

From what i could see, the only living thing in here was the fire. It was in the middle of the room where its smoke could escape from a whole in the roof.

As i looked up at the escaping smoke i heard a movement behind me. Startled, i spun around, only to be met by a sharp pain on my forehead. I fell to the ground and looked up to see fiery hair coming from the rafters. Then everything went black.

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hey!! i know the beginning was a bit tragic but if you keep reading you might like the rest!

thanks!!

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