Something in the Woods

Chapter 21

The past few weeks were a blur. Katie met the entire Martin family at the funeral but their faces were all blank to her. She was supposed to mourn for a woman she barely knew with people she didn't know, yet Katie felt a heaviness within her heart any time she thought about Angie, she didn't deserve that fate. But why did she have to freak out like that? Everything could have been avoided if she didn't freak out!
No, everything could have been avoided if Byssa didn't rat them out! She was always jealous of Barrett because he was way cooler than she could ever be!
"YOU KILLED HIM!" Katie had screamed on that horrible day. Although Tymere tried to reassure her that Barrett wasn't dead, just incapacitated and taken to the base, but it was too late. There was no fixing the friendship that she and Byssa once had.
Rumors of a woman dying in the woods by a beast trickled around the town. The mayor of Claymore tried to make a statement claiming said rumors were false but kids in school still spun stories about the beast that waited ten years for its next meal and finally got its prey. It hurt to hear such lies about Barrett being spread around by people that never knew him.
Her home life wasn't that great either. David became a shell of the former man Katie once knew, his short hair grew out into a disheveled mess and he consumed most of his time at work. He had brought Katie in for questioning but she refused to say anything unless she saw Barrett. David never allowed her to see him; she wasn't brought in for questioning anymore. Byssa probably told them everything they needed to know anyways.
She expected David to be enraged with Katie and throw her out of the house or send her back to Ms. Doris' home but he didn't. He didn't hurt her or comfort her, he just stopped talking to her. Sure, there were a couple short responses but other than that, it was just silence. Neither of them could look each other in the eyes anymore. She was back to being alone again but this time it felt so much worse.
Some nights, Katie would lock herself in her room and listen for David to talk on the phone, hoping he would mention Barrett. He usually kept details scarce but it was really late one night, he must have thought Katie was asleep when he mentioned the plans to transfer Barrett over to Nevada! Katie's heart broke, that's halfway across the country! If Barrett went there then he would never be able to go home. He would probably be stuck on Earth forever being experimented on by the government!
Katie wept onto her pillow, she had to do something, if Jean and Vix from Galactic Territories were here, they'd fight the military and bust Barrett out! But Vix was an alien princess warrior and Jean became a real sharp shooter, Katie wasn't special, she was just a seventh grader trying to take down the military!
An azure light shined outside the window and broke Katie out of her thoughts. A knot formed in her stomach as she walked over to the window. There her eyes laid upon the blue beam of light that began forming in the woods. Dread fell upon Katie like a sack of bricks, how could she have forgotten that the winter solstice was tomorrow?! There was no way around it, Katie would only have one day to bust Barrett out of Fort Clemmons and get to the portal before it closed.