Meet Me Halfway (EDITING)

Chapter 19: The Red Cross

Their feet crunched in the dried up, dead leaves. They had no colour and were mashed up in piles separated from branches that had fallen off the beautiful trees. Nate and Vince walked behind Jay and Sarah, eating as they all followed Jay’s lead.

“I think we’re almost near the river,” Jay sighed, hyperventilating as they took a few more steps. Vince focused on his plastic bowl, trying to lick up every drop of milk that was left.

“Thank God,” Sarah breathed, exhaling and inhaling on the spot now. She took a moment to catch her breath, throwing a piece of hair behind her shoulder. She stood still with her hands on her hips, waiting as she watched Vince and Nate put their bowls away.

“You know, I’m actually starting to think we’ll be living here,” Nate stated sarcastically, almost as if he was suggesting it due to the lack of his energy and strength left to walk.

“Very funny, Nate,” Vince muttered as he fixed the frame of his glasses. He threw his head back in his fake laugh, pretending to find the joke funny – although the joke actually frightened him.

“Well, we pretty much have no more food...so if we don’t get out of here today, then we’re pretty much dead.” Nate finished the sentence ever so seriously. Sarah stepped back, stunned. She blinked a few times hysterically, taken aback of the thought that they could die here too if they weren’t quick.

“Oh God, please don’t say that!” She spat, frequently stopping through every step. A guilty feeling rushed inside of her, flowing all over inside her body.

“Don’t worry. Don’t listen to him,” Jay replied, rolling his eyes as he threw his head back to his front view.

“I’m not trying to make any trouble here! I’m just stating the facts,” Nate said in defence, his voice raising an octave higher. He casually grabbed a long stick nearby and walked with it as he took a step, as if he was the biggest leader guiding a helpless crowd.

“No...you’ve always been a menace, Nate. Always thinking of the bad side,” Vince responded in offence, innocently walking on a new sidewalk that had appeared from nowhere.

“I so have not! Is that how you see me now, Vince?” Nate ominously spoke back at him, curling his front lip back so his bottom puckered while tilting his head slightly.

“Well, yeah...I have always seen you like that,” Vince laughed, burying his face in his hand. He exchanged an evil glare with Nate, who flicked his curls back as he carried his bag.

“Would you guys just shut up? Seriously. Cry me a river,” Jay scoffed, exchanging a sheepish smile in Sarah’s direction. She glanced in his eyes, her lips curling into a cute smile – later turning into a giggle. Vince and Nate both glared at Jay, neither of them saying anything. They quickened their pace, noticing the little friction between Sarah and Jay.

“Your voices drown the sound in my ears!” Jay carried on, watched Sarah walk behind him shyly. They all walked a few more steps in the tracks as they finally came over a tiny hill in the ground.

“Hey, look! I think this pathway is to the river!” Vince pointed fortuitously and loudly, almost as if he was ecstatic to find it first. He started jogging, overlooking as they all followed and ran behind him. They all halted in front of the glistening river that shone beneath the sun’s light rays. The water’s reflection sparkled from their eyes, straining them for a minute or two.

Sarah leaped in the front, sticking one finger inside the water. Circles formed around it when she touched the water, almost like deafening echoes after someone’s scream. The water was fresh, and was a nice temperature for both a drink and a bath. She looked over the bank, her face staring blankly right back at her.

She stuck both her hands in the water, cupping them before she took a quick sip.

“Nice?” Jay asked, throwing his bag off his shoulder to leave on the river bank.  

“Yeah. It’s actually not dirty,” she replied, taking her sandals off beside his bag. Jay stuck his finger in, watching as Sarah waited by the river, who watched Vince and Nate remove their bags.

“Well, what are you waiting for? Take a drink.” Sarah watched as he drank. Before she could take another drink, she felt two hands push against her back. With no time for defence, she was pushed hard enough to fall into the river with a big thud.

It was so unexpected yet predictable at the same time. She came up to the surface after being trapped underwater for two seconds. Her head popped up, facing three laughing guys who had also happened to join her in the river for the two seconds she had been under.

“Who pushed me?!” She screeched, balling her fists up in their faces.

“It was Nate! He pushed us in too!” Jay squeaked, in between fits of laughter. Their bodies were drenched and fully dressed in the river, although none of them seemed annoyed by it. Sarah had no problem to be annoyed now. Her dress was already ruined on day one.

 She removed some wet waves from her eyes, watching as Jay flicked his hair back beside her. Some of Nate’s curls fell back in his eyes as he jumped on the spot in the river.

“You’re going to pay for this,” Sarah barked as she watched Nate’s react to the outcome.

“What?! You said you wanted to have a wash,” Nate smiled innocently, shrugging his shoulders in her response.

“Has he always been this smart?” Sarah gestured her hand to Jay and Vince, who floated in the centre of them all. Jay nodded, shutting his eyes as he did so. Sarah then shook her head, chuckling loudly with them all as she avoided Nate in case of anything.

“You know what? I’ll just fill up our bottles while we’re here,” Jay suggested, turning away quickly as he moved away from the laughing group. He dragged his wet and exhausted body from the river, pulling his clothes out with him. Water dripped down from the edge of his jeans, making a dotted track to their bags. Before Jay could take the bottles out from their bags, something flicked in between a tree and a rock in the corner of his eyes.

He flinched and moved closer, then turned back to see what the others were doing. They splashed about in each other’s faces. Sarah was having a piggy back on Nate while they teamed up and fought against Vince in a water fight, even though they were already wet. They all splashed the water upwards into Vince’s eyes, almost losing his glasses.

Jay laughed quietly to himself, then realising that it was a piece of paper tucked and wedged in the rock. He bobbed down to its level, slowly reaching out to it. He removed it slowly, quickly gripping the paper before he dropped the rock back on the tree.

It slammed against it, and the paper was safely in his hands. In fact, the piece of paper was printed from a newspaper article. Some words were in black ink, half smudged. Chuck’s smiling face appeared on the front, with a large red ex drawn over his face in a thick, bloody marker. Written below his picture was: ‘Young teen Chuck Reeves, missing on 26th...’ the rest of the date had been slightly ripped off. Jay looked back to the rock, although the ripped piece must’ve flown away when he yanked it out.

He looked back at the paper mysteriously, in shock and awe, incapable to think of why it was there. Clearly, something was going on here. This wasn’t right. Someone had crossed out Chuck’s face from an article, and had probably planted it here for some odd reason.

“What?” Jay whispered, squinted his eyes down at the photo. It was strange to see Chuck’s face again, considering it was always in his face every day for months and months at school. His heart sank again for a minute, and the image of Chuck lying around kilometres away from them freaked him out.

Suddenly, a weird sensation had flooded over him. A terrifying and alarming presence had filled his surroundings. He shivered, not noticing his hairs standing on end all of a sudden. His hairs at the back of his neck prickled up, making him throw his head back.

It was like someone wanted him to find it deliberately...like someone knew where they were all going to be at every minute of the day. Almost like they had followed them down the river tracks. Or maybe, just maybe... they were watching them at that very moment.