Chasing Shadows

Part Two ~ Chapter One

            “I wish I knew, Amy,” he sighed. He got up and wrapped his arms around me to stop me from shaking. “Hell, I really wish I knew.”

            I was ashamed that, as Matt held me, the thought lingered that maybe he was the one lying to us all along.

***

            Life went on. It went on as it always shockingly does when I least expect it to. Time doesn’t wait for anyone, no matter how wounded or scarred their heart may be. Classes continued on, snow filled the green fields, tears were shed and laughs were shared. I went through it all as if the emotions inside of me had been turned off. I found it better to not feel at all.

            “Someone’s being studious,” Julia eyed the homework I had been poring over for the last hour.

            “I guess I’m tired of failing,” I held up the paper in disgust, not sure what I was referring to. Focusing on schoolwork, it was the only way to turn my mind off from the outside. If I wasn’t focused on molecular bonds or log functions then my mind would wander right back to Mr. Grey.

            “Well you’ve been working for too long,” she nagged me. “Come join us, we’ve rented skis and figured we could take a cross-country skiing trip around the course.”

            That did not seem at all inviting, but I knew saying no was not an option. I had been avoiding Julia too much in the past two weeks, and she was about to call me out on my act. “Sure, I’ll meet you in a second.” I packed up my stuff and put on a warmer coat, grabbing my phone just in case I needed to call for help. That always seemed to be the case these days.

            We all met down at Center Circle, where Andrew and Matt were holding skis and the poles. Hamilton had a limited amount that they could rent out, but on a cold and grey day like this, nobody else felt like walking outside.

            “You convinced Ames to join us,” Matt raised an eyebrow. “Nice work Jules.”

            “Very funny,” I gave a mock laugh, suddenly finding myself angry at all three of them. It was the first time in a while the four of us had hung out to do something other than eat silent dinners. Mr. Grey had gotten in my head again, and I wanted to know what they were hiding. What secrets they were keeping. If I had to prepare my “last goodbyes” to one of them, I might as well know the truth.

            We put on our skis and started down the course cut out for us through the snow. It was not very fun, nor did we talk to each other. It left me wondering why they bothered to come out and do this in the first place. After eight minutes of silence, I was annoyed. “Why are we here?” I blurted out loud.

            Everybody stopped and turned around to look at me. “What do you mean?” Matt asked.

            “You know what I mean. Out here, freaking cross-country skiing. Look at us! It’s not like we’re even talking with each other.”

            “It’s just for fun,” Andrew argued. “Can’t we do anything for fun these days, or do we need to take life so seriously like you do all the time?”

            “I do not-”

            “Amy, you haven’t said more than four words to me in the past week. And those words were ‘please pass the salt.”

            “Glad to know you were paying attention,” I grumbled. “Whatever, forget I brought up. We’re at an intersection, which direction should we go?”

            “When in doubt, always go right!” Julia’s cheery voice was trying to cut through the air of silence. It didn’t help very much, because we just continued on in silence.

            After another ten minutes I was starting to get weary. But this time it was because the place we were skiing across oddly familiar. And it also felt like the way we weren’t supposed to be going.

            “Do you guys see any blue markers?” Matt asked us. “There haven’t been any for a while now.”

            “But the path is cleared, so it must be the right way,” Julia pointed out.

            “Can we just turn around?”

            That earned me some dry looks. I wasn’t this negative. Usually.

            “The whole thing goes in a circle. Geez Amy, if you were going to be like this then why did you come along?”

            “Well gee Matt, why don’t you tell the others what you’re hiding?” I said in a mocking tone. I regretted it instantly, and karma decided to pay me a visit too. A man going on a run in the opposite direction almost collided with me, sending me face first into the ground. He didn’t turn around to apologize, but kept running as if nothing had happened. “Where are your manners?” I yelled after him, but he kept on running.

            I picked myself up and dusted myself off, realizing the huge mistake I had made with my big mouth. “Matt I-”

            “What secret?” Andrew  demanded.

            “Can we talk about this when we get back?” Matt asked softly, not making eye contact with me. I had really screwed up this time. If there was something that was going to turn all of us against each other, this was it.

            But nobody had time to say anything because we found ourselves in front of a place we never expected to be again.

            “Is this?”

            “Yup.”

            It had barely been a few months, but I remembered the place clear as day. I remembered Mrs. Grey and her gun, the inside of that cabin and those steel chairs with their ropes. My hand instinctively went to my pocket where my phone usually was, but the pocket was empty.

            “That runner back there…” I turned around slowly. “You don’t think that was Mr. Grey, do you?” There was a pause before I was answered with a scream. I whirled around to find my friends’ three pairs of empty skis. “You went inside the cabin? Seriously!?” I clicked off my skis and grabbed the nearest stick I could find, running into the very place that had haunted my nightmares for weeks.

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Lame ending, I apologize. I've been working on this chapter for quite a while and nothing really sat right with me so I just decided to upload it and stop being picky. I'm actually cringing right now this is barely edited, but I'm very behind so here y'all go.

tell me what you think!

xx

Ella