Odd One Out

CHAPTER 28

Naya
Sunday, November 9

"What the hell happened?" Ellis questioned as Bailey wiped at the tears. Viktor stayed put by her side, his forearm leaning against his leg.

"It was him," she suddenly blurted out, her voice shaky. She was trembling all over, her hair dripping wet. Actually, her entire body was dripping wet.

The sage green sweater I had remembered her wearing earlier was gone, and her black long-sleeve clung onto her body like a second skin. Her jeans looked almost as dark as the mud, streaks of dirt smeared all across. Since she was looking down, her hair covered part of her face but I could see the slight redness on the left side, looking almost like a scratch or scrape that ran from her temple to her jaw.

She looked so sad and so small, hunched over and shaking the way that she was.

No, wait a minute...

She wasn't sad. She wasn't crying because she was sad. Bailey was livid.

"He tried...he tried to kill me...how could I have been so stupid?" she sneered out through chattering teeth.

"Wait...first of all, why did you leave?" Jake questioned, followed by Ellis who said, "When we all came busting out of the woods, I saw someone run away — we can probably still catch his ass if we run fast enough—"

"It's too dangerous for that," Viktor said.

"Dude, it's like five of us."

"It's dark out, and I'm pretty sure whoever it was, he knows the woods much better than we do. He has the advantage."

"Did you see his face?" I asked. Jake gave me an incredulous look before saying, "Wow, you should be a detective, Naya. What a great question."

"Well she hasn't said if she did or didn't see him!" I protested. "I was just making sure!"

"I didn't," Bailey interrupted, still shaking. Viktor suddenly stood up and walked over to pick up his jacket, wiping away some of the mud on it before going back to Bailey and leaning on one knee, wrapping the jacket around her. She gave him a look of appreciation before clinging onto it, wrapping it closer to her body before her gaze fell back down to the mud below her.

I thought I was the only one who had noticed, but then I turned to look at Ellis, my mouth slightly agape in surprise. He apparently had also noticed, his lips pursed in slight amusement as we both looked back to the two in front of us.

Viktor was so particular about his jacket that it was strange to have him voluntarily lend it to Bailey. It was almost as strange as Francisco giving his pen to Jake; it was his trademark, and he defended that thing with his life. But he was willingly giving it to Bailey?

It's probably nothing.

Trying to keep my thoughts from flying over the place, I forced myself to tune back into the conversation.

"...probably into the woods, like a cabin or something," Jake speculated. "Maybe if we look hard enough, we'll find something."

"Doesn't Daniel Patrick live nearby?" Viktor shot out. There was a silence before Ellis answered with, "Yeah...he does."

"It would make sense if it were him," Jake went on, "since he lives so close to the woods."

"But wait, Bailey," I interrupted. When she looked up at me, I took this as my sign to finish my sentence. "How are you so sure it was a guy, if you didn't see him?"

"It just...I don't know, their demeanor," she answered, shaking her head as if that would help her remember.

"And of course he'd know these woods," Ellis followed. "It's literally his backyard. That son of a bitch."