After deciding not to delve any deeper into each others' private lives (and Katie not wanting to waste any more of her phone battery), the group decided to call it a night, but this time they did take turns to stay awake and make sure that they were safe for the night.
Kyle woke up and checked the time on his cell phone, seeing that it was one-thirty AM. Initially he was surprised at how long his battery had lasted but then he remembered that the phones were basically useless out here and so they'd barely been used.
He had taken the first turn of staying up before Katie had replaced him. He had no idea who she'd chosen next or if she'd decided to stay out longer. Either way, Kyle couldn't get back to sleep after a meagre five minute attempt so he decided to leave his tent and keep whoever it was some company. Incredibly, despite everything they'd been through that day, he wasn't as tired as he probably should have been.
He unzipped the tent and poked his head out, seeing Jess sitting with her back to him.
"Boo!" He joked, making her jump and spin round. Her hand hit her chest and she began to laugh once she saw him.
"Asshole." She smiled.
Laughing along with her, climbed out of the tent properly and headed closer to her. She'd found a small log to sit on close to the fire so that the cold night air didn't send her into shock.
"How long have you been up?" He asked her.
"Just about a half hour," She answered. "Katie gave up about one. She was gonna wake up Matt but I was awake anyway."
"You can't sleep either huh?" He laughed, even though it wasn't all that funny.
"Not really a surprise is it?" She answered, and Kyle agreed. "I haven't seen or heard anything," She added. "Which in a way makes it worse."
"Look, if somebody wanted us dead out here then we probably already would be," Kyle attempted to comfort her, although he really did believe what he was saying. "Matt can't be the only one who knows everything about these woods."
Jess nodded but Kyle wasn't sure if she believed him or if she was simply acknowledging his statement.
It was only a few seconds until Jess did speak again, this time catching him off guard with a peculiar question.
"Do you think Matt was right?"
"About what?"
"When we were all talking about our problems," She replied. "Do you think I'm just worrying about nothing, compared to what he and Katie are going through with their families? Do you think that I shouldn't be worrying about it?"
"No I don't think so at all," Kyle smiled. "That's like someone saying "My disease is worse than yours". Everybody cares about different things so it's only natural that their problems are different too."
"I guess . . ."
"I actually think that's one of the biggest problems in the world right now. People can't accept that someone is going through a hard time without trying to compare. Maybe if we all stopped comparing, we'd be able to help each other more?" Kyle finished and began to blush. He wasn't sure if what he'd said sounded wise or foolish. Jess' smile seemed to suggest the first option.
"You know I really regret that we kinda drifted apart when we were younger. We used to be such good friends."
"To be fair, every kid in the neighbourhood was in our gang back then." Kyle answered modestly.
"I know but . . . you're such a nice guy. I wish I'd stuck with you instead of wanting to fit in with the cool kids so bad."
"Are you saying I'm not cool?" Kyle joked.
"You know what I mean!" She playfully punched his shoulder. "It seemed like a good idea at the time but now while I'm thinking about college and the future and everything, seventy per-cent of my friends group consists of girls who're still happy to vie for the attention of a football player, a basketball player or a soccer player. There are a lot of slutty girls at our school, FYI. A lot!" She laughed.
"Noted." Kyle nodded with joking intrigue.
"But seriously though, I do regret all of the time we've lost together." Jess' eyes began to sparkle with the reflection of the fire burning bright in them.
"You know, I don't think it's ever really too late to get to know someone." Kyle told her.
The next few moments seemed to stretch into minutes as the two stared into each others eyes before seemingly having the same thought at the same time and bringing their heads in closer together and pressing their lips together softly.
Although Kyle hadn't thought about this happening in years, he'd pictured it a million times before but nothing could prepare him for how good it felt. It was as if nothing could ruin this moment.
"Aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!" Shrieked a female voice from the depths of the forest.
Jess yanked her head away at the speed of light, but right now Kyle didn't care.
"You heard that right?" She gasped. Kyle nodded.
"Was that you?" Matt asked them sleepily, poking his head out of his tent.
"There's someone out there!" Jess cried.
"What are we going to do?" Kyle asked, not really expecting anyone to have an answer for him.
"Guys!" Matt cried, bringing the attention over to him. He had now left his own tent and was standing by Katie's, where the zipped tent entrance was wide open. "Katie isn't in her tent!"
"Shit!" Kyle cried before running towards where the scream was coming from.
"Kyle, wait!" Jess called after him but he didn't stop. Jess began chasing after him with Matt following close behind.
*
As Jess and Matt caught up to Kyle, they found him standing still, calling Katie's name.
"Sssh! What are you doing?" Matt asked. "Whoever is out there will hear you!"
"They already know we're here Matt!" Kyle pointed out before resuming his calls, only stopping for good when the trio heard a rustling in the nearby bushes.
"Something's there!" Jess whispered.
Frozen with fear, they stood still as the rustling became louder and louder until finally a shadowy figure leapt out of the bush, hushing them.
"You should see the look on your faces!" Katie chuckled after she'd fully emerged.
"Are you serious?" Jess seethed.
"Relax!" Katie sighed. "I thought I heard something so I came over to check it out. Whoever was on guard duty was obviously busy," She winked at Jess as she finished. Jess blushed and lowered her head, but Matt remained curious.
"Did I miss something?" He asked. No one answered him.
"Did you find whatever it was?" Kyle asked Katie. "We heard a scream."
"Not exactly, but I know where it went. I was just trying to scare it off."
"Where?" Jess asked for all of them.
Even though they shouldn't have been, none of them were unsurprised when Katie pointed back towards the path that led to the scarecrow.
*
"Are we really sure we want to do this?" Jess asked as the teens crept slowly along the path. It had looked menacing before but now their new fear seemed to cloak it in an even more terrifying haze.
"We tried ignoring this place, remember? Didn't work out so well!" Matt hissed the reminder.
Once again, the lack of response from anyone was enough of a reminder. The group had tried ignoring that something sinister was surrounding them but now they knew for a fact that they wouldn't be able to sleep knowing that something was in their midst.
"And you're sure you don't know what it was?" Kyle asked Katie for what felt like the thousandth time.
"No! I told you I just saw the shadow!" She groaned back. "It's probably just some dude walking his dog."
"At 2AM?" Matt cried.
"It's called optimism Matt, you should give it a try you fucking idiot!" Katie whispered in her predictably harsh tone, clearly rattled by whatever she'd seen, despite her earlier bravado.
Unfortunately for her, things were about to get much, much worse.
"Uh . . . guys?" Jess gulped.
"What now!?" Moaned Katie.
"The scarecrow." Kyle whispered.
"What about it?" Matt asked as he and Katie caught up with the others.
Kyle's response chilled them all to the bone.
"It's gone."
______________________________________________________________________________
Boom!
We finally have a new chapter! I can only apologise for it being so long since the last one and I hope I've still got some of the readers here on board.
Anyway, what did we think of this one? It's a bit short but that's exactly what I needed to get back into the swing of writing.
What are your thoughts on the direction that this chapter is taking the story to? Let me know!
As I seem to always be saying, any reads, votes and comments are greatly appreciated!