The Rebel.

13- The woods isn't a place for a rebel.

It was like they didn't notice me here, but I swear Amber was looking directly at me. I slowly crawled off the ground, muffling a scream in pain as my ankle protested, and limped away.

I wasn’t fast. But I was scared out of my mind and more confused than I had ever been before. I didn’t know what I saw; I didn’t even know how to process it. So I suppressed it. My main goal was to get home. I walked around aimlessly, if you could call what I was doing walking. Until I remembered my phone has a map.

If I could sucker punch myself in the face, I would. I could have saved myself a lifetime of nightmares by simply remembering to use my damn phone! Ray Charles could have figured that one out; he’s blind and dead.

I typed in my house's address and followed the little blue line that showed me the way home. As I limped along, trying harder and harder to forget what I had seen, I heard sticks breaking behind me. My body went rigid with fear, as I thought it was the thing that had chased me before, I turned around.

Nothing. I’m being silly. There were other animals in the woods, it’s not like I could actually be alone out here. It was probably a squirrel, or some other seemingly harmless animal.

Snap. I froze again.

It must be the paranoia, I just witnessed a traumatizing event, and now I was looking around every tree hoping that thing wasn’t waiting to kill me.

 I turned around, trying to clear my head when I smacked into something- or someone I should say. It was Amber.

 "Amber? What the hell are you doing out here? Why do you have a crossbow? Who were the people with you? What was that thing?" The questions came out as a rushed and panicked squeak when Amber smacked her hand over my mouth, looking down at my injured leg.

 "If you don't want every living being in the woods tonight knowing that we're out here you will shut the fuck up!" She whispered menacingly, glancing at my ankle again, "Wrap that up when you get home." She turned around and started walking away,

 "Amber!" I yelled after her.

 With the speed of a ninja Amber smacked me into a tree, covering my mouth once again, "I told you, to shut the fuck up! Are you the least bit smart enough to comprehend what I'm saying?"

 I nodded my head, not daring to speak.

 "Now I'm going to say this and I'm only going to say this once. Forget what you saw in the woods tonight. I wasn't here, you weren't here. And whatever you think that you saw, forget about that too. Do you understand? Or do I need to beat you into amnesia so you won't remember it?" She threatened.

 I shook my head no, forgetting tonight would be amazing.

 "Good girl. If I find out that you didn't forget about tonight, you'll regret it."

 Amber walked away again, disappearing into the trees.

 What the hell was that about? I decided not to think about it, as I focused again on getting myself home.

After 20 painful minutes of limping through the forest, I was almost home. Of course, the universe couldn't let me get home without me being scared to death again; I had this freaky feeling of something following me. And my gut was telling me that something wasn't Amber. Every few minutes a twig would crack behind me, and I swear that I saw a tall figure in the shadows. But I blamed it on the paranoia again.

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 I had found my way home. I crept back into the house and crawled to my room. I slipped into the bathroom, careful not to wake Hanna, and got a good look at the damage.