No Happily Ever After

Chapter 32

Atthree thirty a.m. precisely, four Faraway Senior High students rosefrom their beds and dressed, quiet as church mice.

Together, Zoe andJennifer snuck out of the Tide home and into the numbingly cold windsand the twirling snow. They walked briskly to the end of the blockwhere Detective Piper waited in an idling black sedan. Stealing onelast look around, the girls got into the car.

Without a word,Piper slid away from the curb and slowly maneuvered the car throughthe treacherous weather. Both girls stared out their respectivewindows searching for any signs of life. Each and every house theypassed lay dormant and dark. The streets were entirely empty, thesidewalks bear. All of Faraway remained nestled snuggly in theirbeds in the obscenely early morning hour.

Piper navigatedthem outside of Faraway city limits, slowly down the highway, andturned off on a wooded lane. It seemed to take forever to reach thecottage of Hanley and Giselle Durand.

He pulled intotheir driveway and found they were already outside waiting. Hekilled the headlights, and they motioned for him to proceed. Whenthey'd worked out their plan, Detective Piper hadn't liked the ideaof leaving his car parked at their house. He didn't want theirfather to find a strange vehicle there and then discover his childrenmissing. But the Durand twins convinced him that their father workedsecond shift, and so he slept until afternoon each day. By the timehe would be awake to discover a car in the drive; they'd already longsince be back and have saved the day.

Zoe and Jenniferexited the vehicle and took in the sight of the Durand twins. Bothbrother and sister were dressed head to toe in black. They both worehoodies pulled tightly around their faces which were stony and pale,save the streak of cold scarlet coloring their cheeks.

A military gradecrossbow rested at Hanley's side, and Giselle gripped a machete.

Piper eyed theirweapons with one sharply arched eyebrow, but he didn't say a wordabout them.

"Are youready?" Hanley asked, addressing the group collectively. Jennifer and Zoe nodded hesitantly.

"Then let'sgo," Giselle said. "The Bar place is four miles east ofhere," she explained, gesturing with her head toward the trees."Walk fast and stay close."

The striking girlturned abruptly and stalked into the dark forest.

***

The group movedquickly and quietly through the woods. Fueled by fear and intenseadrenaline, they barely felt the cold as it crept into their bones. Despite Zoe's use of crutches, they covered ground remarkablyquickly.

And then JenniferTide tripped and fell.

The group came toan abrupt halt at the sound of Jennifer toppling to the ground. Theyeach turned to look down at her as she scrambled into a sittingposition. Hanley reached down to offer her a hand, but she didn'ttake it. Instead, she turned her attention to what she'd trippedover. A rather big bump in the snow.

"Come on,Jennifer," Hanley whispered harshly. "Get up, we gottamove!"

Jennifer ignoredHanley as an unsettling feeling sent a shiver up her spine. On handsand knees, she crawled to the bump and began digging at it with herhands. Just a few swipes cleared away enough snow to reveal thegreen fabric of a shirt sleeve.

"Oh no,"she murmured. The others all dropped to their knees in the snowaround the body and began frantically clawing at it.

It was Jennifer whocleared away the snow from Eric Prince's face. It was frozen in ablue, grotesque scream, and she could only imagine the horror thatwould've been in his eyes... If the eyes had been there instead ofblack, bloody, sunken chasms.

Jennifer began toscream.

***

They lost quite abit of time attempting to settle Jennifer.

Piper stoodsilently to the side, anxiously staring into the murky depths of theforest, while Jennifer's friends comforted her. Zoe settledawkwardly onto the ground despite her leg cast, and cradled Jenniferin her arms, holding her tightly as she wept. Hanley and Gisellecrouched behind the pair, stroking Jennifer's hair and comfortinglyrubbing her back. After what seemed like ages, Jennifer shruggedthem off and leapt to her feet.

"Let's go,"she snarled. "I'll kill them. I'll kill them with my barehands."

***

After the gruesomediscovery, the group became much more alert to horrors that could belurking in the woods. And as they neared the Bar property, a horrorthey found.

"Stop!"Hanley whispered. The five of them again abruptly stopped in theirtracks. Hanley pointed to the ground where they could all seeanother snowy mound that seemed out of place. There was a hesitationbefore they advanced on the mound, but morbid curiosity propelledthem once more to their knees.

It was anotherbody, as they feared. Another male and this corpse was missing itseyes as well. In fact, it was so badly disfigured, it was barelyrecognizable. They all stared at it, unable to rip their eyes away,desperately trying to place it.

"Oh my God,"Giselle muttered. "It's Benjamin! Benjamin Bar!"

A collective gaspmoved about the group. "Their own son?" Hanley wonderedaloud. He shuddered.

"These peopleare insane," Zoe whispered.

"Obviously,"Jennifer added bitterly.

Though nobody spokeon it, they all thought the same thing. They began to doubt any oftheir classmates were still alive.

Hanley rose to hisfeet once more, and slowly the rest followed suit. He turned towardDetective Piper, who once again remained distanced from the grislydiscovery, instead watching into the trees. "Piper, kill theflashlight," Hanley whispered trenchantly. "We're close. We can't let them know we're coming. We go the rest of the way indarkness."