Epiphany

Chapter 4~Hell

Unlike the carnival, the forest was dead. The only sounds we could hear in the woods were the crickets singing and our feet trampling on the leaves. The sound from the festival was now completely muffled, which caused my breathing to increase a bit. This meant we were far away from the carnival, and so from people.

Julia, you're dead. You're dead meat.

I glanced around only to be met with sky-scraping trees; branches protruded from everywhere, giving the woods the appearance of a sea of branches. And I had to bend my head to the side several times to avoid being slapped.

We wouldn't have been able to walk without stumbling if it hadn't been for our flashlights and the blazing enormous torches illuminating the sky.

I inched a little closer to him, observing him walk casually, as though in a park.

"Chase." I coughed on command to remove any saliva from my throat. "Do you know where they are? Or will you get us lost?"

He chuckled, pushing his hands deep into his pockets. "I won't get us lost."

I wanted to yell at him and tell him to tone it down a notch. This arrogance of his could hardly be trusted to get things done.

"I've been here a few times, so don't worry. Okay?"

I glanced at him. We'll see.

Ting.

My eyes widened, hoping it was Julia texting me back.

I opened my phone quicker than light and the message awaiting me wasn't what I was expecting.

'We're coming. Hope you're ready.'

I stopped dead in my tracks.

It wasn't Julia.

It was an unknown number.

I gulped as I quickly checked to see whether this was the same weirdo who had called me this morning or not.

It wasn't.

My breath hitched and I gripped my phone tighter. Normally, I would not have panicked, but given the circumstances, I was petrified. We were alone in the woods for God's sake.

"Hey, Alyssa?" I heard footsteps nearing me, boots clashing on the dirt. "What's wrong?"

I glanced at him to find worry engulfing his features—eyes.

"Eh..." Anxiety was now flowing through my veins, making it a little harder to think. I shook my phone a little and said, "Just some creep."

He hummed in question and stole a glimpse from my screen, only to furrow. "May I?"

I handed him my phone, and after a second of him completely processing the message, he snickered. "It's them, Alyssa. They're pulling a prank on ya."

"Them?"

"Julia and the others." He snickered again, as though he wanted to call me stupid for overreacting. "Isn't it obvious?"

I rolled my eyes, snatching the phone from his grip. Did he honestly believe I hadn't thought of that before?

"It's not them." I looked him in the eyes, desperation creeping over my face. "They couldn't have been preparing this prank since morning. Someone even called me—and it was a man's voice—and told me that they were coming. It's not them."

He stared at me for a second and my eyes lit. Was he starting to believe me? I dropped this thought when he reached his hands over my head, tousling my hair a little. I stepped back and gave him a weird look. What the hell was he doing?