"I don't think you understand the severity of the situation," I said, my face mastering the same kind of childish disinterest that Maverick always wore during a long lecture in Pre-Calculus.
"I don't think you understand the situation at all,"...
Maverick had to be driven to all his hockey games by his parents now. They weren't letting him get a new truck until he proved that he could drive, which made no sense considering that he currently had nothing to practice on. Despite my internal protests, I could not complain to them. They were his parents, not mine, and they had allowed us to use their shed for our Band of Meddling Kids meetings. Besides, that and school were the only places we could see each other anymore.
I found it impossible to link together the "evidence" the five of us had found. It all made no sense- the initials, the burnt down cabin, the diary, the clearing, the dream . . . it was too much to handle. How did it connect? What was doing this?
It was quite possible that the answer to those questions were "It doesn't" and "Nothing". For as long as they had been chasing an answer they were trying to solve the puzzle and glue the pieces together to no avail. Perhaps none of it was related. Maybe everything that was happening was an inconclusive and unconnected coincidence.
I was sure that everybody in the group thought about it from time to time. They had to. It was human nature. We were finding loads of evidence, but we made no effort to see how it fit into one big picture. Perhaps that was all we needed to do.
I whipped out my phone and began typing rapidly.
Band of Meddling Kids: Me:Meet me at the park Asher: Why Me: plz just do it Victoria: What time? Me: 17:00 Knox: Twenty-four hr time? Nice Me: Thx Maverick: what r we doing Me: You'll see Maverick: ugh
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I sat on the snow-covered bench, the cold biting my cheeks as I stared through the perfectly lined up trees. Everybody had arrived except Maverick, who wasn't answering his phone. "This isn't like him. What if he's disappeared?" Asked Victoria worriedly.
"I'm sure he's just busy," I reassured her.
"And he couldn't text us to tell us that?"
I frowned, looking at my shoes in concentration. "Well, if Maverick is missing, the best thing to do would be to try to figure out what happened. That's actually why I called you all over here. We have to understand what's going on."
"I agree, but how? None of it makes sense."
"Well, first things first; Have any of you guys been having . . . dreams?" I questioned. "Like weird dreams?"
"About the forest?"
I nodded my head, closing my eyes as if blocking out the memory. "I have," said Asher as Victoria and Knox piped up in agreement. "What do you think it all means?"
"I don't know, but I think that whatever is living in the forest is targeting us. We need to talk to the people close to the missing teens, see if their friends were acting weird around the time that they disappeared. I know Rena was. She totally changed," I admitted. "Did you guys know anyone who went missing?"
They all shook their heads no. "Alright. What about the time loop in the forest?"
"I was thinking that was where the thing lives. It's obviously at least half a century old, so maybe the time loop preserves its life. The crow in there has been flying around since the cabin burned down, according to Taren's dream, so it would make sense."
"But how do you kill something that's already dead?"
"I don't know," groaned Victoria, putting a hand on her forehead. "What if it needs a life force or something? There are no animals in the forest anymore save for the crow. That would be all the more reason for it to live in the clearing."
"That would actually make sense," I mused happily. "We've finally figured something out!"
Nobody else seemed to share my excitement. "I have to go now," said Knox, looking at his watch. An hour and a half had passed already.
"So do I," blurted Victoria. Asher looked at her for a moment, not wanting to be left alone, and nodded in agreement.
After they left, I strolled solo through the park, thinking and wondering about the forest and where Maverick could be.
Mist blew from the river lining the path on which I walked and I smiled as it tickled my face. Relief flooded me like a tsunami. We were one step closer to solving the case. We were one step closer to being done with all of this.
"Hey," I heard a voice say. Spinning around, I saw Maverick holding two cups of hot chocolate and a cookie the size of a pizza with a grin on his face. "Sorry I was late. I bought the cookie for the whole group, but when I only saw you, I figured you'd want some hot cocoa," He handed me my steaming cup and tore the cookie in half. "Enjoy."
"Why were you so late?" I asked him, taking a bite of my cookie.
"I-," he sighed, glaring down at the ground. "I was hoping you wouldn't ask. Let's just say that I have to work two jobs now instead of just helping out at the rink to pay for the damage on my car. My parents wouldn't let me argue about it and sprung it on me hours before I went to meet you guys. They took my phone and sent me off to work. Sorry I couldn't text you."
"It's okay and I'm sorry you have to work, but listen to this," I told him of everything that I had worked out with Victoria, Knox and Asher, explaining what we were doing to figure out how the thing was targeting other people. Maverick smiled.
"I'm proud of you."
"Me? The others helped too."
"But they wouldn't have discovered this if it weren't for you calling us together. I'm glad you did," he stared at the white Christmas lights wrapped around the trees, his eyes smiling. "You know, we still have to plan Victoria's 'surprise' birthday party."
"Agh, don't remind me," I moaned jokingly, laughing.
"Hey, I was thinking that maybe you could go ice skating with me tomorrow? I only have to work the first half of the day."
"That would be awesome-," I stopped in my tracks, staring intensely at the stone plaque in front of me. On it was engraved "Greatness. Restraint. Magnificence."
