Dead In Ditches

Chapter Five

The words hit me like a blow. I reeled back, all air in my stomach empty. I looked at David, who looked embarressed that he had said something like that.

"I...um..." I had no idea what I was supposed to do, or say. So I did the most rational thing I could think of at the moment.

I ran.

I heard David call my name but I continued to run.

Trees swooped past me, and soon I heard nothing but my own panting.

I leaned against a tree, catching my breath.

"You didn't have to run away," a disdainful voice said.

"Shit!" I yelled. "Jason! You scared the living shit out of me."

I hadn't seen him come up behind me, and fell onto my ass when I heard him. That's attractive, I thought.

He looked at me amused. "Noelle," he said. "You continue to suprise me."

I glared at him. "What do you want?" I asked, probably sounding like an idiot.

He casually checked his watch. "I think we've been through this."

I glared at him more.

"You might want to go back to your precious town. Things just got real complicated." He looked distracted, checking his watch again. "I have to go. You can get back home, right?"

About an hour later I had found my way to the edge of the forest. Jason was long gone, and I could see lights from the town.

I walked along the dirt road, noticing a lot of house lights were on.

"Excuse me! Ma'am!" I whipped around, seeing a police officer. We had about two police officers in our town, so it was kind of surprising one would be talking to me.

"Erm, yes?" I asked. It worried me that he was talking to me. Was I in trouble?

"You should not be walking alone at this time of day, especially on this night," he said.

"But--curfew isn't until--"

"Do you know what happened tonight?" he interrupted.

I paused. "No."

"They found another body in the ditch," he said calmly.

"They--they what?" I asked intelligently.

"A young boy," he said, pulling out a picture. He moved closer to show it to me. "His name was--"

The picture was in my face. A smiling blond boy stared at me. My knees buckled.

"David!" I yelled.

Then everything went black.