One by one

|Art|

Art, 4:20 pm 6/7

Thursday

I ran as fast as I could. I'd never ran so fast in my life. It was going to turn dark soon so I had to get back quickly. Only, I knew that wasn't so possible. We'd been searching for Madi all day. For all I knew I might have been going the wrong way even.

When I was sure I wasn't being followed, I went behind a tree and took a rest, panting.

Turns out, two against one wasn't in our advantage. It turned out to be a trap after all. And I had fallin into it. Even worse, I left Collin. Well I didn't leave him, he was taken. Taken by that...thing.

I tried to replay everything that had happened. Tried to comprehend it all.

We'd been searching in the woods for hours so we decided to take a break. Suddenly, I felt like we were being watched. I was about to tell Collin when he fell into some booby trap. A net revealed itself from the ground and took Collin with it as it went up. When a tall slim figure appeared, I knew I couldn't fight it. Whoever it was, they had a knife. It was bigger than the one that was supposedly used on Alli and it was covered in red. The person had a long black cloak on and a creepy mask that made the person look as if they had no face. When I saw them, I ran. I left everything we had brought and ran for my life. I wasn't even thinking about Collin as I ran. It was selfish I know, but if I would have done anything different I would have ended up just like Alli and maybe even possibly Madi too.

I didn't feel watched now, not like I had before. I knew I was alone and yet, I still felt on edge. I didn't know what to do. I didn't know where Collin was or who took him. And I didn't know how to get back to camp so I had to guess.

I started walking again for what felt like hours. The sun had almost completely set by now, then it would be dark. I didn't want to be alone in the middle of the woods with some murderer, that was for sure. For all I knew Collin could be dead already. I tried not to think of that though as I kept walking forward.

Once I had walked for about an hour or two, I decided that I would have to rest since it was so dark. I didn't like the idea of lying on the ground where bugs and other things crawled but it was life or death.

Friday 7:10 am 6/8

I managed to get through the night and slept surprisingly well, besides the fact that I slept against a tree.

I walked until my feet had blisters and my legs were wobbly. I was so thirsty and so hungry. I knew I would be fine though since I read somewhere that you can live 3 weeks without water and 3 months without food. So I had 3 weeks to get out of this place. It wouldn't be a very fun experience though.

My thoughts began to wander off to a different place. I began to think about how Collin could be dying right now, or dead. How Alli, Madi, and Collin never got to say goodbye. How I was the last one from the friend group to see Collin. That would be suspicious though, wouldn't it? I realized. If I came back one person down, what would everyone think of me? I shook my head. Kendall would be there to tell everyone that I'd never hurt anyone. Just like I'd do the same for her or any of my friends.

I also remembered that Collin might never make it to his 16th birthday. And maybe I wouldn't either.

Up ahead of me, I saw what looked like water. A whole river of it. I ran in spite of my blisters and hurting legs. I leaned down to the river and scooped water into my hands. I drank it so fast I didn't taste it until I felt something swish in my mouth. When I reached in and took it out, it was something long and green. I nearly fell into the water but I regained myself just in time. I stepped back from the water. I realized that in front of me wasn't a long clear river. It was a dirty swamp. And I was drinking from it. The thought made me vomit. Literally vomit.

I started back on the trail after that set back. My mind must have been playing tricks on me. I remember reading about that. If you're dehydrated enough, you could hallucinate. But it had only been one day without water. How would I survive 3 weeks then?

A few hours later I took another break. I managed to find some unknown berries in a bush. If they were poisonous, I was going to find out very soon.

I stared at the trees ahead of me. I was getting sick of the sight of them. I wanted to go home so badly and see my dog, Otis. I wanted to hug him and tell him everything that had happened. He would understand. He always does.

Movement caught my eye. I've learned to be more cautious since seeing that cloaked figure. Straight ahead was what looked like a figure. It was so far away I couldn't tell if it was a tree or a person.

I relaxed a bit when they didn't move. It was a tree. That's what I told myself before the figure started running towards me. I struggled to get up. When I finally did, they were close enough that I could see it was the cloaked figure that took Collin. I started to run but it turned into pathetic limping. I fell to the ground and shielded myself with my arms as if that would do anything.

When the figure came close enough to me, they pulled out the same knife from before. it was covered in what I guessed was blood. Except it was covered with more blood than yesterday. In fact, it was dripping with blood. The figure was holding a small black garbage bag. The same type used to carry Alli's body parts. I shivered at the sight of it.

They opened it and pulled out a gray headed boy. It was just a head. Collin's head.

The figure dropped his head and came closer to me with the knife. They held it up and I watched as the knife went into my heart.

I gasped. I opened my eyes and looked around me. The cloaked figure was gone. Collin's head was gone. The knife wasn't in my heart. I was alive. It was another hallucination. I struggled to fill my lungs with air again since apparently, I hadn't been breathing through all of that.

I set off again. As I was walking, I couldn't help but think that the part about Collin's head might've been real.