The Secret Five #Wattys2016

Day 2-Trace

"Look, dude, I'm sorry. I don't really get your situation sometimes and it's stupid on my part. We all have family issues and I think that's why the five of us are very close. We each have a broken family and in order to survive we have to help each other." Cason nodded. "Have you talked with Locklyn about this stuff?"

"Of course I have. Lately its been hard since she was fighting with her mother."

"What happened between the two of them? They were so close before. I can't imagine Mrs. Monsey being mean to anyone, not even a fly."

"Mrs. Monsey walked in on Lock and I and she went ballistic because Lock and I were doing it in Mrs. Monsey's house. Since Locklyn lives under her roof, Lock isn't allowed to have sex. Lock reacted and said she is an adult, she is being safe, and we are careful. Mrs. Monsey then said something along the lines of 'if only you were like Rydal' and they got into this giant fight about how Locklyn gets treated differently than Rydal. Lock admitted how at one point wanted to run away and never come back and how she felt pressured to live up to Rydal's status at school and all this shit. Locklyn stormed out of the house and then Mrs. Monsey yelled at me about having sex before marriage and if I do anything hurtful to Locklyn, she would come after me. Since then, they have been fighting and Mrs. Monsey hasn't looked me in the eyes since."

"Jeez, Mrs. Monsey is going through a midlife crisis it sounds like." Cason laughed. "Locklyn went through a lot with Rydal being number one at school. Locklyn never got a break and whenever she tried her hardest to make up her own reputation, someone always came up with an excuse on how she won't be successful like Rydal. Rydal is a bitch, let me tell ya, because she basically ruined Locklyn's life with all the hidden shit she did in school."

"Rydal is three years older than her, how would you know what she did in school?"

"Um, hello, we went to private school, everyone knows everything. Word goes around plus it was written on the wall in the locker room. Armin was the one who showed me." Cason shook his head and sighed heavily.

We didn't say another word for a long time. We were trying to listen for wildlife and whenever we heard something, we would both freeze and listen more and then watch for movement; nothing was ever there though. Cason held his arm out in front of me and pointed to the ground. There was a red flashing light coming out of the ground. We looked and saw more in a line. These are the markers then. The guy in the suit and tie said they were hidden. Nice job hiding them. The rain may have washed away some dirt and grass to expose the markers or animals dug near them to see what it was.

The area we have is huge and we may not be able to cover even an eighth of it trying to look for wildlife. And then, right in front of us, was a deer eating grass. I took out my gun, pointed it at the deer, and pulled the trigger. The bullet hit the deer and it fell to the ground. Cason ran over and tied the string around its neck and then stabbed it in the chest once to make sure it was dead fully. We started to head back to the cabin and he dragged the deer along behind us.

When we arrived at the cabin, Hadley was sitting at the patio set; she was shaking her left leg furiously and biting her nails. Cason put the deer under the porch and ran into the house.

"Hey," I said sitting next to Hadley. "What's up?"

"I can't stay here." She shook her head. "It's too much right now. I don't know what is happening to me, my body is tingling, I have trouble breathing, and shakiness. I don't know what's wrong with me." She was talking fast.

"Hadley, you are having a panic attack. It's going to be over shortly, lets just go inside and watch some television. Maybe sitting out here isn't the answer, the quietness may be scaring you." She nodded and went into the house after me.

I turned on the television and the movie channel was on. It was a cartoon that I have never heard of before. Hadley sat on the couch, pulled her knees to her chest, and wrapped a blanket around her. I was about to leave when Hadley grabbed my forearm and stopped me. "Stay in here with me. I'm scared of this place." I nodded and sat on the other couch. "Did Cason and you catch anything?"

"We got a deer and Cason is skinning and cutting it now." We heard either Locklyn or Anya walking into the house yelling.

"You just chopped its head off in front of me!" It was Locklyn, I know by her screeching voice. "Cason, no! I'll be in our room!" she slammed the door, ran up the stairs, and slammed another door.

"I hope they don't break up while we are here," Hadley said, "it would suck."

"They won't break up. She is upset about this like you, plus, she may still be hung over."

"She had two glasses of wine today, she may be on the verge of drunk." We both laughed and heard Locklyn run down the stairs and back outside. "What the hell is she doing?" Hadley stood up from the couch and went to the window in the dining room. I was standing behind her looking outside over her shoulder. Locklyn was pulling Cason to the pond in a bathing suit, took his shirt off, and began to kiss him. Soon, Cason pushed her into the pond and began to make out with her, roughly it looks like. "Oh my gosh!" Hadley yelled.

"What is wrong with those two?" I turned away from the window. "You know, now that we are forced to live here, those two are going to be at it every day. I won't be surprised if they have a baby here, just saying."

"No, Locklyn doesn't want children. she told me she wants to travel with Cason then have children later in life."

"Look at them, Hadley. They can't be separated for two seconds. Last night they were in their room, today they are in the pond, next it'll be in the kitchen while she is cooking. She is the one enforcing it."

"Trace, seriously? She has been safe; she is on the pill also."

"What pill? We didn't get to bring our prescribed medications with us. She isn't on the pill anymore, we are in the middle of nowhere and how can she get it refilled anyway." Hadley looked back at me from the window. "I bet they will have a child in the next year."

"And I bet that they won't have a child in the next year," Hadley held her hand out towards me. I shook it and smiled widely at her.

Let's see who will win the bet this time. It will be me; it is always me.