Charles Alblice has always led an ordinary life in Birchtowne. He enjoyed the company of his cousin, Quinn, and their best friend, Michael. The three lived their lives as carefree as any other teenager would.
But life in Birchtowne gets messy when...
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The longer Charles ran, the less he wanted to stop. To run through the woods with no worries of being seen was a freeing feeling. He may have been afraid initially of becoming stuck invisible, but now, that was all he wanted to happen.
His hands were red and raw. Lea had done that to him, but had she meant to? Did she even know she had?
Charles only came to a stop when he reached the edge of the woods. He now stood on the shoulder of an old, seemingly abandoned one-way road. Walking to the center of the road, he could see the bare trees of the woods framed the road like a picture-perfect horror story. In the distance he could just make out a rickety old bridge. It offered crossing over a sudden drop to an empty riverbed.
A chill ran down his spine as he slowly approached the bridge. Upon getting closer, he could see the riverbed wasn't empty like he initially thought. It had to be at least a twenty-foot drop before the water. The water rushed by, and it looked deep. If he had to guess, he figured a fall from that height into those rapid waters could kill someone.
Glancing back, the branches of the trees closest to the bridge seemed to be growing away from the river. Even nature was encouraging Charles to run now.
But he didn't deter. The grass on the side of the bridge where he stood reached his knees. He placed his hand on the railing of the bridge, seeing just how burnt raw they were for the first time. He sucked in a small breath and tried not to focus on it, beginning to step closer to the bridge when a strong gust of wind blew at him—strong enough to knock him backward into the tall grass.
He was just regaining his bearings when a windowless white van came speeding down the road. Charles scrambled away from the bridge, staring after it as it passed over the bridge before disappearing behind a hill. The ground sloped up a couple yards beyond the bridge, and if he had to guess, Charles assumed the hill began to decline a few hundred yards beyond that.
He couldn't see anything past the hill, so he had no idea what the van was doing. All he knew was he probably didn't want to find out. He rose to his feet, brushing dirt and grass off himself. Just as he was turning around to head the way he came from and find Lea again, the sound of shouting reached his ears.
People were running to the bridge from beyond the hill.
He seized up for a moment before booking it into the woods. He slid behind a tree, double and triple checking his arm for the glimmer that told him he was still invisible. He took a few moments to steady his heartrate as the footsteps drew nearer. They couldn't see him. He was safe.
A figure ahead caught his eye. They sat against a tree, head down and limbs pulled as close to their body as possible. The shouting drew nearer. He could make out a man barking orders to find the girl.
Charles crept to the figure. It was a girl—the girl? She breathed heavily, entire body shaking with each inhale.
He took a half a step backward, and a leaf crunched underfoot. The girl stumbled to her feet, holding her hands in fists in front of her.
