bitter | e.d

| thirty-seven

it's about to be curfew.

there's a few minutes before 11pm strikes and the forest is beginning to get increasingly silent. most people have already gone to bed and are in there tents by this hour, but there are always stragglers that the chaperones keep on the lookout for.

I've spent a good hour inside mine and lana's tent, alone, fretting over having to go see jack soon. I've debated over just not going, but I'm scared to see what happens if I really upset him. the information he knows is too crucial.

lana hasn't returned yet, which means she's probably still out there with ethan and maybe some of the others. I'd like to believe she's wandering the woods aimlessly and getting chased by a bear while ethan is just hanging out with kellan.

I sit up and decide to take this time while I'm alone to do something that might prove to be very important.

reaching over, I grab lana's purse, which is next to her suitcase, and slide it across the tent in front of me. then I unzip it and look for anything I can write on. I shuffle through her stuff in a rushed manner since she could be back at any moment.

being as high maintenance as she is, I'm able to find a notepad and an expensive looking ballpoint pen.

clicking the bottom of the pen on the ground, I get ready to write on a fresh piece of notepad paper.

went to lake east of the lodge
- E.W.

and that's all I write. if it lands in the right hands, they'll understand what it means.

my phone vibrates, startling me, and my eyes shoot to it only to see it was my curfew alarm. I tap the screen to turn it off, slipping my phone under my sleeping bag pillow. then I quickly stuff the notepad and pen back into lana's purse where I generally found them.

I slide her purse back to it's spot next to her suitcase, and then stick the note into the pocket of my vest and unzip the tent.

it's extremely quiet, only the sounds of nature able to be heard. I head down a few rows to locate what I think is ethan and kellan's tent, and then I lean down and stick the note there. I try my best to make it stick firmly, but it's windy out.

when I begin to hear voices in the far distance, none that I recognize, I shoot back up and start making my way out. I go east.

it takes me longer than it should have to find the lake. but with my sucky sense of direction and the fact that I left my phone in the tent and don't have a flashlight, I was bound to struggle.

I know I'm close when I hear the water from the creek. the closer I get, the stronger the faint light I see seems to get. there's a shadow of a figure by the lake's edge, and I can tell it's jack.

he's sitting, his back facing me, and there's a small lantern on the ground next to him. it illuminates the surrounding area somewhat. as I walk up behind him, I notice now that he's laid out a large blanket and there's even a lit candle in the center.

similar to something romantic a boyfriend would do for a girlfriend.

"what is all this?" are the first words I utter to him.

my voice seems to startle him, and he turns to look at me, turning off and setting his phone down. his eyes take me in for a moment before he smiles.