envenoMATE

2. Under the Bed

xXsweetmisery10Xx: My stories and I would be so lonely and discouraged without you. Thank you for all that you do. (: <3

 Two.

Adina shook her head, causing the tendrils of wavy hair that had escaped her high pony tail to wisp around her heart shaped face. “I-I’ve changed my mind,” she said firmly, but with a quivering voice. The anxiousness had to do with the idea proposed, not with saying no. Her body was forcing her to say that. There was an invisible line in the dirt, but a line nonetheless. Adina's body reacted to that line like a negative magnet: she was pushed back with no desire or ability to move forward.

“Are you serious?” Sadie's nasal voice shot out in the chilled air. Her poofed hair was spilling out of the black hood of her sweatshirt. When the shadows hit her right, she could look like a pumpkin headed phantom.

Adina shivered and looked away, trying to convince herself it was just her imagination. "Sadie isn't evil, just ill-mannered," she chanted repeatedly in her thoughts.

“If Adina doesn’t want to go, then she doesn’t have to, Sadie,” Caroline said in Adina’s defense. “Right?” she asked Tabitha, looking for back-up.

“Well,” Tabitha stalled dejectedly. Hands on her hips, she looked from girl to girl, trying to appease the situation.

The whole trip had barely gone according to her plan. Adina was still quiet, but she had at least blossomed somewhat. Becky always made a point to be where the other girls were not. After Sadie freaked out on the morning hike, mistaking a branch for a snake, Tabitha realized inviting Becky to the woods may have been a bad idea.

Tabitha herself was a little peeved at a swipe a random tree took at her leg. She did not feel it when it happened, but the bloody line across her calf was evidence enough that she got clawed by something.

And then there was Caroline and Sadie. Those two could not get along for anything. If Tabitha later found out Adina did not want to go simply because she was tormented at the thought of spending more time with the two drama queens, well, Tabitha would not be able to blame her.

“Well?” Sadie asked, crossing her arms and popping a generous sized hip to the side.

Tabitha tried not to roll her brown eyes, thinking Sadie might have loved her own body a little too much. Clicking her tongue, a moving shadow caught her gaze. Looking to see what it was, Tabitha peered through their open cabin window. She could barely make out Becky pacing inside. An idea struck her.

“If you don’t want to go, Adina, then feel free stay. I think it would be good for Becky to spend some time with someone. She’s still been alone this whole trip.”

“Oh my God,” Sadie drawled with an exaggerated eye roll. Walking over to Adina, she walked around her in a cirlce and poked her shoulder. “You’re too scared to go into the woods at night, on trails we traveled in daylight, like, four hours ago, but you’re okay with spending time cooped up in a small cabin with little miss dragon? God, I will never understand white women.”

“Sadie,” Caroline said appalled.

“Fine, I’m sorry,” Sadie said carelessly, making sure to avoid eye contact. “I’m tired, and I haven't had my nightly medicine." She paused to give Tabitha a snotty look and then acted out like she was chugging from a bottle. Tabitha merely sighed and shook her head. Sadie popped her gum and headed for the trail. "Well? Let's go! If we’re going to find a ghost, can we do it before I get eaten alive?” She growled and slapped her bare forearm. “These damn bugs are everywhere! Stop it! My blood! You hear me? Mine!” she shouted at the little critters, slapping her arms and legs.

“Fine, let’s go. You’ll be alright?” Tabitha directed toward Adina with a motherly tone of voice.

Adina nodded. “Yeah. Have fun,” she said quietly with a small wave. "And-and be careful!" she pleaded. Although Tabitha was the supervising adult in the group, Adina felt like the mother because she seemed to be the only one worried.

Sadie had turned around and was walking on the barely visible trail into the ominous woods. “Yeah, yeah.” Her voice trailed over but a few grunts and groans could be heard as well as more slaps as she tried to shoo the bugs away.

Caroline smiled, bidding Adina a good night. Pointing a finger at Sadie’s back, she mouthed, ‘Sorry.’ 

Adina stifled a giggle and shrugged as if to say, ‘What can you do?’ Although her feelings were sometimes hurt by Sadie's actions and words, the amusement took most of the sting away.

As the girls left, Adina quickly turned and delicately ran back to the front steps of the cabin’s porch so as to not be caught outside alone. She only had to move about twenty feet to reach her safety zone, but by the time she reached the top step, the other girls had completely disappeared into the darkness. Adina pulled her bottom lip in between her teeth and unconsciously gnawed. Placing a hand over her fast-beating heart, she tried to calm down.