A few hours after dinner Grace was in her room waiting for the perfect time to sneak out the house. She was most certainly dressed for the cold night and had a flashlight and knife in her pocket, she was taught by her grandfather on her dad's side and how to use a cooking knife by her grandmother on her mother's side. She looked at the clock on her nightstand '12:05 pm' she got up and made her way to the window "It's time go." She carefully moved the curtains out the way and opened the casement. "Oh Mother Miranda please help me make it back in time."
She then climbed out the window she was now standing on the roof looking for a clue as to where her girlfriend may be. The old lady said the woods lo and behold she can see smoke coming from the forest with help from the moonlight, looks pretty far. "I'm not giving up tha-" Grace heard a noise coming from behind the tree next to her house and took a misstep causing her to slide of the roof and on to the ground. She landed right on her rear, she groaned in pain and got up rubbed her bottom before dusting herself off. She checked to see if she had everything.
"Knife check, flashlight that's now cracked check, and no broken bones check." She began to walk to the entrance to the woods which didn't take long cause she kinda lives close to it. As she made her way into the forest she then proceeded to turn her flashlight on; and made sure to be high alert. No one should be out here so why is Jennifer out here in the middle of the night, better yet why is she herself out here? This is a terrible idea but she has to know what the hag and everyone else is talking about. Other villages would hang people for be interested in the same sex, however in this village it's not really cared about but it doesn't mean most townspeople like idea of people sleeping around with the same sex.
Grace heard stories about the monsters the larked around the village and they are worse than the merciless lords. Some didn't care until some started to go missing and it was a small number but others began to notice; more weapons were being bought and families would go home at a certain time. Tonight was no different, the village was dead silent and nothing could be heard but the breeze brushing through some wind chimes.
As Grace continue to walk through the woods she made sure she didn't stray from the path. She stop in her tracks when the heard what sounded like a stick being crushed, she didn't waste any time and began run what seem to be for her life. Her heartbeat quicken as her blood ran cold with fear and something started to swiftly sift through the trees but it sounded like it was swarming her all around.
She turned around and saw nothing chasing after her but whilst she wasn't focusing on what was in front her. She yelped as her face was met with the ground causing her to drop her flashlight; but was soon to make a swift recovery from the fall while dusting herself off Grace takes a good look around. Trying to adjust her eyes to the darkness was a bit hard however it was manageable.
'Fuck that hurt like hell man this is stupid and I'm suppose to be smart, why the fuck is there a rock in practically the middle of the pathway?' She picked her flashlight up and examines it
to her disappointment it's broken . 'Well shit'
She is trying to turn the flashlight back on she sees a light in the distance, she squints her eyes to try and get a better visual however she sees nothing but what seemed to be the back of a per- 'Oh shit that must be Jennifer!' As soon as she made sure her flashlight was working she turned it back off so she wouldn't be spotted by them. She cut away from the path and walked through the forest and as she got closer she could hear music mainly jazz. Grace hid behind a tree and watched as a small group of people partied with each other nothing was going wrong but she noticed Jennifer was no where to be seen.
'Wow this was a bust, came here for nothi-' A sound came the other side of the hangout. It was Jennifer and Lily hugged up with each other? 'That's nothing they're just friends.'
Jennifer sat on a log as Lily place herself on her lap. There was three other people there but Grace only knew one and that was Hannah...her only friend or so she thought. She looked back at Jennifer and Lily just to see them laughing and kissing. 'H-how could she just up and cheat two years of dating out the window just for someone like Lily?' She slid into the ground and tears slowly started to slide down her cheeks as she began to process what was happening.
Her heart ached with pain and her mind started to race. She looked back as she heard Hannah's voice.
"Don't you think you should at least break up with her? If she finds out then-" She looked up from the bonfire with sorrow in her eyes.
"Then what? She won't do anything to me she's love sick and she won't know unless you tell her." Jennifer smirked and bring her lips back to Lily's for a moment. "Mmm, I bet she at home in the bed cause we all know she follows the curfew rule so let's stop talking about her." Others began to laugh a bit. Hannah looked at the ground in shame.
"If you don't want Gabs I'll take her." A dark skinned guy with dreads said while he was standing next to the fire with stick poking at it.
"Hey hands off that's still my girlfriend Jake!" Jennifer spat as she glared at Jake.
"Let's be honest here do you even want her to be your girlfriend?" He rolled his eyes at her comment.
"He's right, you've been dating her for soo long and you've just been ruining it ?" Some guy with short blonde hair said leaning against a nearby tree.
Grace wiped her tears and took a deep breath to calm down. 'It's alright everything is fine.' She got up, dusted herself off and decided the best this to do was run. Not even bothering to look back she ran back home, maybe it was better if she didn't sneak out.
"What the fuck was that?!" Hannah and Lily screamed in union as they both stood up.
Everyone looked in the direction of the noise, Jake was the one to walk up towards the tree and inspect it. He scoffed looking back towards the group. "There's nothing guys maybe it was a little bunny. Aww Lily you scared dude?" Jake said mockingly staring at Lily, Hannah and Sam.
"Shut up asshole." Lily crossed her arms and scoffed at him. "Don't call me 'dude' either."
"Dude fuck off we all know you were scared too." Sam rolled his eyes and sighed in relief.
"That could not have been a bunny, that sounded like something running." Hannah's blood went cold at the thought. "I knew it was a bad idea to come out here!"
"Would you shut the hell up! You're not doing anything but making worse." Jennifer reached behind the log and grabbed her flashlight. She glared at Hannah as she walked into the woods headed for the trail. "Let's go kids."
All of them didn't ask any questions and let Jennifer lead the way. The party was over and so was the Night.
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The sun shined through the village, everyone was ready to start their day off. All except Grace of course and she did not plan to get of bed at all she spent the night in her bed crying herself to sleep. She felt so heartbroken and stupid that she didn't listen to everyone around her, it's what she gets for trying to see something good in someone as a first priority.
She twisted and turned in her bed as last nights thoughts came back to her, she jolts out of her sleep breathing heavily as cold sweat runs down her forehead. She sighed and laid back down in anger and pain, her legs were sore from the running and her head aches.
The knocking at her door only made it worse followed by the voice of her father. "Gabriella are you ok...you didn't come down for breakfast."
"Yeah dad I'm uh I'm alright" She covered herself up with the covers, tears threatened to fall as last night events came back flooding. Grace heard the door open slowly.
"Hey Gracy are you alright right in here?" He peaked through the door to only see that she was huddled under the covers.
Grace knew that he usually uses other nicknames when he is really worried so she took a deep breath and tried to come up with the best lie. "Yes dad why wouldn't I be, I'm just really tired today. I was up reading all night."
Jason knew something was wrong but let it go, it was seemingly obvious that she didn't want to talk about it. "Ok...well Jennifer is here to see you and I hate to say this but she won't leave so go talk please."
"What!" She got up and pushed past her father as she made her way downstairs to the front door.
Upon opening the door she see no one but Jennifer. Last night's event ran through Grace's mind leaving a bitter taste in her mouth. "Hey...are you okay you look like you've been through hell and back." Jennifer said reaching for Grace's cheek but ends up hesitating.
"My father knows about us." She said stepping out, her face twisted into a sour expression.
Jennifer smirked and crossed her arms. "How'd he take the big news?"
"Fine but he told me that your a bad influence in my life and that I should end it with you." She narrowed her eyes at this now completely stranger in front of her. "Before I do, I want to simply know why?"
Jennifer gasped a little surprised by this strange change. "Wait wait wait..you're braking up with me?"
"Answer my question first." Now she is the one with her arms crossed.
"Why what?" She said stepping closer. "Babe please don't do this...I love you, you can't do this to me." Jennifer gently grabbed her waist but they were smacked away.
"Why did you cheat on me with Lily" She scoffed. "It could have been anyone else but you chose that slutty bitch." Grace watch Jennifer face change in an instant.
"How'd you find out?" She stepped back in annoyance. "Who told you that?!" She yelled.
"Doesn't matter cause I know it's true." Her blood began to boil with the thoughts, how long had they been sleeping behind her back. "You never loved me, you used me to get in between my legs and you still haven't accomplished that so you kept me around to see if I would break!" She slapped Jennifer and pushed her back.
That's when Jennifer's mask fell as she held her face for a moment. "Right on the money doll, see when I first met you I thought this was gonna be easy but you just kept holding yourself back so I stayed and listened to all the bullshit that came out the pretty little mouth of yours." She opened her arms with pride and bowed her head. "That's the truth doll face."
"You sick you know that!?" Grace took a deep breath. "Bitch...I'm.going.to. KILL YOU!!" She pounced on her and made sure she was landing actually hits.
Jennifer tried to fight back and ended up pushing her off, she felt her face and felt blood running down her nose. "You fucking bitch!"
Before Jennifer could get any closer to Grace her father ran out and got between them. "Enough!" He helped his daughter up and looked back at Jennifer. "Go home kid before I get involved."
Grace tried to escape her father's grasp screaming and shouting. "If I ever see you or her again I'll end you both I swear I will, I will make your life a miserable hell whore."
He dragged her back in the house with the heel of his foot and he settled her down. "Wanna tell me why you two were fighting?"
She took a deep breath trying to gather herself. "She cheated on me dad and I'm an idiot for not seeing her charade sooner." Covering her face with her hands she tried to hold back tears that were threatening to fall. "I should've listened to everyone."
Jason walks to the kitchen and grabs some strawberries and grapes. "Honestly my dear daughter this may have been the best way to find the truth, it hurts worse when you hear it from someone else who turns out to be right." He cleans the fruit and makes he way back and sets them in front of her.
"Why though why me?" She mumbles.
He picks up a strawberry in one hand and rubs her back with the other which causes her to lift her head up. "Listen to me when I tell you this dear, when bad things happen or are about to..never say 'why me' I want you to say 'try me'." He said handing her the berry.
Grace takes it and pops it in her mouth chuckling. "That's corny even for you."
"Yeah but I'll bet you'll remember it." He said as they laughed together.