Everyone for Themselves

Chapter 9

January 12th, 1991 

Chapter 9- 

The harsh winds blew against Serenity's pale face, blowing her pretty blonde hair back towards the cabins. She did not want to go back there until she had seen this for herself.  

She had just gotten word from Marissa that Paul was dead. Yes, Marissa, the high-heeled freak show, whatever. She didn't care about any of that now; Didn't care about this camp, didn't care about the challenge tomorrow, and didn't even care about the evil smirk on Marissa's face as she said the words.  

Dead. 

Dead. 

Dead. 

She'd heard those words too many times lately. Heard them with Ashley, heard them with Lasmen, heard them with Charlotte, but she could not hear them about Paul, the only member on her team left. 

Paul, the only one she trusted.

Paul, the only one she might have liked. 

Paul, the only one she had left. 

She quickly turned the corner into the vast, empty clearing. She had been told to go to the river, which was just on the other side of it, in the opposite direction of the forest.   Usually she knew better than to trust Marissa, but right now she would have trusted anybody, and besides, it seemed that Marissa just wanted to torture her little heart out - She had seen the way she had looked into his eyes that time. That time, and countless times after. Serenity trusted her (vainly, of course,) to give the correct information about this.  

Closing her stinging eyes against the fierce winds, she made her way out of the forest. Suddenly a voice in front of her made her open them again.  

"Serenity?"

"Eric?"

Eric, a rather short boy with bright red hair, freckles, glasses, and braces, was the kind of boy that Serenity did not expect to actually kill someone... Especially the one she trusted so much. The one she NEEDED so much. 

Eric saw her pretty eyes narrow through his windswept bangs. He knew guiltily that she was teammates with Paul.  "Listen, I-"

"I don't want to hear it. I just want to know if it's true."

Eric paused hesitantly, not really wanting to tell her. He didn't have a crush on Serenity or anything, but he wanted to stay on as many people's friendly side as possible. Finally, guilt and shame took him over.   "Yes," He whispered so quietly you almost couldn't hear him over the wind. "And if you want to beat me up... To kill me, even... That's fine with me. I deserve that."

He closed his eyes, expecting a punch, a kick or, really, any pain at all... But it didn't come. He opened his eyes again to find Serenity standing just where she was before. "Well?"

"I'm not that kind of person," Serenity replied hotly. "I'm not going to kill, or even physically injure, someone for killing my teammate. I'm just..."

Her voice trailed off then, and Eric suspected it was because she did not want to finish her sentence in hopes of making him miserable. He knew what she was going to say anyway, and his voice only came out in a whisper as he finished her sentence for her. "Heartbroken?"

"Yes, a little." she admitted softly. 

"Look... I know this won't make up for anything, but... I'm sorry. I really am. I didn't mean to kill him, it's just that..." Serenity looked up as his voice trailed away, knowing that he wanted to say more.

"Yes?" 

"I... I get a bit out of control when I get angry. They made me furious... Calling me a prissy and all that stuff," Eric sighed, then looked up at the sky. "I'm NOT a prissy." 

"I can see that." Serenity muttered coldly, and Eric knew he had said the wrong thing. 

"Sorry." 

"Yeah, whatever. This 'game' IS about killing, right?" She said, smiling weakly. 

"I guess so." 

They both stood there for a minute in their own silences, looking and feeling very awkward, yet thoughtful at the same time. Suddenly Serenity looked up, eyeing him stiffly as she did so. 

"Where's the body?" The words felt like daggers in her throat, piercing her heart as she tried to swallow them. 

"It's... It's here," Eric muttered, gesturing to a black bag right beside the river.  

"Want me to... Err... Leave?" 

"No. I'll come back later." Serenity said.  

"I... Umm..." Eric stammered, finally sighing in defeat. "Ok. Sure." 

She turned on her heel, about to walk away, when Eric suddenly had the impulse to ask her...

"Hey, Serenity?"  She turned around sharply, a bit surprised at being called back.

"Yeah?" 

"We're... We're cool, right? I mean, you know it was an accident and all... So... We're cool?" 

She seemed to be considering for a moment, her eyes turning up towards the sky. Finally she replied heatedly, "I wouldn't exactly call it that."  And with that, she turned away, pushing back through the strong winds, leaving Eric to dwell on his thoughts, his guilt, his misery... all through the gloomy night ahead. 

*** 

Serenity shivered as the cold rain struck her face. She knew that it was windy earlier, but that was nothing compared to now. Thunder clapped in the distance as she walked briskly back towards the river; She probably was not supposed to be out here during this hour, but she didn't dare go back. She had to see him. 

She retraced her steps that she had taken before, but she also saw other footprints in the mud besides her own. There was no mud earlier, so they had to be new. But who could be down here at this hour? Serenity guessed that it was just Eric going back to his cabin. He must've just left recently. The only thing she didn't notice was that the footprints were not going towards the cabins at all. 

Pulling her coat up higher around her face, she exited the trees and looked around for the black bag Eric had mentioned earlier. She saw it just as it was before, the zipper zipped up very unprofessionally... It was only zipped up halfway.  

Trying not to think of Paul's pale face getting wet in this rain, Serenity slowly made her way towards the bag. She tried not to think of terrible thoughts as she went, but one kept sticking in her head. 

If only she had gotten to say goodbye. 

Kneeling down on the wet grass, she unzipped the black bag the rest of the way open... But there was something wrong. She gasped. 

The body was gone. 

She frantically looked around, trying to figure out where it might be. Had Eric given her false information? No... She remembered seeing his jeans through the little hole in the bag as she left. But who else was here besides Eric? 

Wait... Besides Eric? There WAS no one here besides Eric! He must've been the one who took the body! But why? Why? 

Tears streamed down her face without her realizing it, and she decided to leave right now. She ran past the bag and into the trees, through the clearing, and back towards the cabins, not even noticing the pair of blazing, mischievous eyes that followed her from the bushes as she went. 

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  Trent's Comments: It's getting to the point where the diaries aren't that interesting. This will be the new format.   If you like it, great. If you don't...   Too bad.