The Huntress [2018 Archived]

Chapter 3

The arrow hit me right in the chest, knocking the breath from my lungs.

I flew backwards forcefully, slamming against a tree. Pain immediately erupted on the back of my head, making me yelp. I gasped as colors bloomed in my vision.

I tumbled to the ground. Fleeting images of deer in headlights danced through my drugged mind. I had been caught, captured, killed.

Just as quickly as the pain came, it ended. Before I realized what was happening, Jamie and I were alone in the thick darkness of the woods. The glowing light was gone and so was the strange woman. The forest was quiet once more.

"Alexis!" Jamie cried, rushing over to me.

"I'm fine," I mumbled, disoriented. I waved her away. My head throbbed. When I touched it, I winced. There was no apparent blood on me, nothing was pierced or punctured. Except for my killer migraine, I was fine.

The strange woman was truly gone. Vanished. I scrambled to my feet. She had been there, right there! Where had she gone? Had I imagined the entire thing?

"We should get back to the party," Jamie said in a half-strangled voice. It wobbled ever-so-slightly. "You might need a bandage or something."

"It didn't hit me," I said, my voice barely audible.

Jamie coughed. "I mean because you fell. Not because of the...um...let's just go."

I groaned a little as she helped me to my feet. I stepped into the clearing one last time, peering through the darkened trees. There was nothing. The forest was dark and cold and formidable. I left it, wondering if I had been hallucinating.

But that couldn't be right. Jamie had seen the same thing.

"We don't say anything," I told her suddenly, commanding her like she was a small child. Somewhere, I knew that the woman was listening to us.

"Of course we're not going to say anything!" Jamie hissed. "We're drunk. Or hallucinating. There has been a lot of stress and drama going on tonight. It's just...I don't know. What I do know is that I'm tired."

And suddenly, at that moment, I knew I wasn't drunk or hallucinating. Don't ask me how I knew. I just did. That hunter was still out there, watching us. Waiting. Yet, I didn't sense an aura of malice nor of ill will. Just a feeling of incredible...sadness.

"Let's go back to the party," Jamie pleaded. "Please Alexis," her eyes beseeched me.

"Okay," I told her, scanning the forest once more.

"Thank you." We turned silently and climbed back up the slope. My mind was reeling. I knew I wasn't crazy, but how could I be sane? How could this be real?

We walked up the steep slope, not daring to utter a word. Jamie's eyes were wide, and her mouth moved noiselessly around words. As I stared at her, I realized that I didn't think of her as Jameson Longford, Queen Bee of Winshest High anymore. She was just Jamie. And she was my friend.

"Do you like Joel Callister?" I blurted out suddenly. I don't know why I said it. All I knew is that we couldn't talk about what had just happened.

"Huh?" Jamie asked, confused and disoriented.

"Joel," I repeated, willing my heart to stop thumping so loudly. "Do you like Joel? He...he's really into you."