I dove under the water to see nothing but darkness. The water was so dirty and green. I'm probably going to need some eye drops after this. I swam back to the surface and wiped my face. I looked around and all of a sudden I felt something touch my leg. I tried to look under the water, but I couldn't since the water was so green and mucky.
I stuck my hand into the water and grabbed the thing that kept touching my leg. It was slimy. I pulled it out and it was algae. I put it back in the water. I got out and grabbed my towel. As I dried myself, I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around and there stood a Mexican girl. She was around my height. She had dark brown hair that reached the middle of her back and dark brown eyes.
"Hi" I spoke first. "Do I know you?"
"No" she answered. "I'm Alexa"
"Hi Alexa, I'm Maya" she smiles and I smile awkwardly.
"I've been watching you" she says and I froze.
"Watching me? Why?" I ask a little nervous.
"You seemed like a loner" she says and I'm taken back.
"Well I'm not. I just like having time to myself" I snap.
"Okay. Sorry. No need to get all mad" she says with hands raised.
"Sorry. I just hate being called a loner"
"Me too. Anyways are you alone?" She asks and I clearly take that as a red flag.
"Yeah. I told my parents I was going to stay at my friend's house for the rest of the trip here. But she has other plans, so I might just go back to my family. I haven't told them yet though" I explain and her eyes widened.
"You can stay with me" she says excitedly.
"I don't know..." I trail off.
"Don't worry my family and I won't harm you. My family is really nice and so am I" she says with a big smile on her face.
I thought about it. "Okay"
She jumps in excitement.
"I'm going to ask my parents if you could stay for a couple of days. I'll be right back. Don't move" she says.
"I won't" I say with a giggle.
I watch her as she runs off and disappears into the now becoming dark woods. I hadn't really noticed that the sun was already coming down.
I walked back to where my things were and began to pick up everything and place them in my bag. As I did, I heard a hiss. I turned around to see an old man sitting on the sand looking at me. I felt creeped out and looked away. I continued to pack my stuff.
"Be careful" he spoke. I turn around and look at the man again.
"Excuse me?"
"Be careful going into those woods" he says.
"Why?"
"Those Mexicans aren't the only things living in there" he adds.
"Are you trying to scare me?" I ask with a bit of attitude.
"No sweetheart" he gets up and starts walking towards me. I take a step back. "Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you. But there's a family of cannibals living in there. Well, they live across the lake that's inside of the woods"
"And how do you know that?"
"I lived around here for many years. A family who lived in that cabin before those Mexicans were killed there"
I was starting to believe this man. Something told me to.
"Was the police informed?" I ask hoping for a good answer and not the stomach turning one.
"Yep but they never found out it was them because, they covered their tracks" he says and I started to feel a bit queasy.
Before I could speak, two headlights blinded me. The truck stopped and out came Alexa.
"Ready?" She asks.
I zip up my bag and hang it over my shoulder. "Yup"
She takes my hand and pulls me to the truck.
"Thanks for telling me" I sorta yell at the man.
"No problem" he says and waves goodbye as the vehicle turns around and goes into the dark forest.
"What did he tell you?" Alexa asks with a raised eyebrow.
"He told me that cannibals lived across from you guys" Alexa stays quiet and so does the guy in the front that I'm guessing is her brother. "So it's true?" I ask in disbelief.
"Yes. But they haven't done anything to us. They usually give us meat. But we don't eat it cause we don't know what kind it is" she explains.
"Now I'm a bit nervous"
"Don't be" she says and rubs my shoulder. "By the way, this is my brother Marshall" she taps the guy in the shoulder. He looks at the rear view mirror and smiles at me. As the drive continued, I've noticed his eye on me. But it didn't really bother me.
We finally approached the cabin. It was gated. Which was a good thing. And it was huge. This was more like a house than a cabin. It was beautiful.
The gates were opened by a women and a man from the inside. Marshall drove inside and I looked back to see the gates being closed and locked.
"How do they give you guys the meat if this property is gated?" I ask.
"They usually go through the back which is usually opened or they ring the gate bell if the back is closed" she explains.
"Okay"
The truck comes to a holt and we all get out. I'm greeted by the women who's Alexa's mother and the man who's Alexa's father.
"You look hungry. Come inside, it's time for dinner" Mrs. Cortez says and leads me into the house.
The smell of beans and spices fills my nose. I'm a sucker for Mexican food. We walked into the dining room and on the table was a bowl of black beans, a plate of corn tortillas, a bowl of cheese, sour cream, onions, shredded lettuce and guacamole.
We sat at the table. Alexa sat next to me and so did her brother. We dug in right away. During dinner, I was asked simple, non personal questions which I liked. Once dinner was over, Alexa, her mom and her dad went up for bed. I wasn't tired, so I went outside. I saw Marshall double checking if everything was locked.
"Is that like a daily thing?" I ask him.
He turns around and smiles. He looks around. "yup"
"Can I help?" I ask, walking towards him.
"Uh..sure" he says with a smile. "Check that door which leads to the trail, while I check the front"
I run to the door and check. It was missing a lock. I lock it and shake the door to see if it would come undone. I didn't.
"Done" I say and he turns to look at me.
"Great. Well I'm going to bed" he says.
"Okay. I'll just stay out here" I tell him and he gives me a questioning look.
"What?" I ask with a smirk.
"You're really going to stay out here with our creepy ass neighbors? You're brave" he says with a small laugh.
"And you're not?"
"I am. But I'm not stupid enough to stay out knowing there's human eaters across the lake" he spat. Stupid? Wow.
"Your loss" I say and I sit on one of the rocking chairs.
He sighs and joins me.
"Weren't you going to bed?" He noticed the smirk and bit his lip.
"I don't want to leave a beautiful girl out here alone and look like a big pussy" he says and I laugh.
"Oh..now I'm beautiful? Last time I remember I was stupid" he laughs and goes forward in his chair. I cover my mouth to stop myself from laughing too hard. He gets up. "Clumsy much?"
"Oh shut up" he says with a smile. "I didn't mean to call you stupid by the way"
"It's okay. I know I'm not stupid anyway" he laughs.
All of a sudden we heard the sound of a leave crunch. We both stood up and looked around the yard.
"It's probably one of them" he says annoyed and he does the dumbest thing. He yells at the person or thing.
"Get out of here you freak!"
"Shut up" I whisper but he doesn't stop.
The front door opens and Mr. Cortez comes out.
"What's going on?" He asks a little scared. By the way he spoke you can tell he was tired.
"I think one of those freaks are out there" Marshall yells.
Mr. Cortez was about to speak when we heard footsteps running away.
"Yeah! Run away freak!" Marshall shouts and turns to me. I look at him and shake my head in disappointment. I get up and head inside the house.
I run up the stairs and into the guess room. I plop myself onto the bed and look at the ceiling. Marshall is such a jerk. I get up and walk to my window. I realized my window was facing the neighbors home. It was like a dump over there. I froze. I looked to the corner of the house and there stood someone. The neighbor was just staring at me. I shut the window and closed the blinds. I crawl into the bed and pull the covers over my head. The person noticed me.