troubled souls ~ Steve Harrington

*ten*

We wandered the forest for several hours, pacing through the small chunk of land on the map. Nancy and Jonathan were driving me insane, bickering like teenagers about Steve Harrington. Now they refused to talk to each other and walked five feet apart. As if that would prove something to each another.

It was dark out now, and cold as hell. My toes are icicles, and I had to hold my jacket closed to stay warm. Our breath could be seen in the ray of Nancy's flashlight.

She stops abruptly and swivels her head, eyebrows furrowed.

Jonathan sighs, "What? Are you tired?"

"Shut up," Nancy snaps, whipping her hand up in the air.

"Not this again," I mumble under my breath.

"No," her eyes widen, "I heard something."

Jonathan and I listen with her, only moving our heads to try and find the sound. At first, there is nothing but the rustling of leaves in the wind.

Chills rush through my body as a distant whimper sounds nearby. "I hear it too. I think it was over there," I utter in barely a whisper.

We carefully tread towards the noise. And were on the right track, as it seems to be getting louder.

Every twig snap sets me on edge. My brain screams for me to stop. Turn back. Run. But I am too determined to listen.

After searching for a few minutes, Nancy shines her flashlight on a tree coated with shiny fluid that drips down its leaves. I realize: it's blood. My breath catches in my chest as she follows the streak down towards the source.

Barely lifting its head towards us is a deer, whimpering in pain. There is a pang in my chest. To watch something so helpless cry out for relief was horrific.

Jonathan and Nancy kneel next to it, but I choose to stay a few steps back. I'm not sure why, it's not like the distance will change anything.

Nancy's face falls in the dim light, tears welling in her eyes. "It looks like it got hit by a car."

"Are we just going to leave it?" My voice quivers from the cold air.

Nancy lifts up the gun, despondently switching off the safety. Her lips tremble slightly, but she purses them together and aims.

"I'll do it," Jonathan volunteers, holding out his hand.

Nancy hesitates, "I thought you said..."

"I'm not nine anymore," Jonathan's eyes fall to the ground as he grabs the gun from her hand.

The two stand up and move next to me to create some distance from the animal. Jonathan cocks the gun and aims, trying to muster the courage to shoot it.

My body tenses in anticipation, awaiting the thunder in my chest that surely follow.

But the gun never sounds.

Instead, the deer is pulled out of our flashlight beam and swallowed in darkness.

All three of us jump back. Nancy clutches the sleeve of Jonathan's jacket, paralyzed in fear. Blinking rapidly at the same spot, my eyes adjust to the tousled grass where the animal once lay. Only a pool of blood remains.

We gawk at each other, dumbfounded. "What the hell was that?" I was not expecting an answer, but I hoped for one.

Jonathan lifts his finger to his lips, then points to the blood on the ground with the ray of light. He pulls the light over to show a pathway of gore that shows where the deer was taken. Nancy begins to follow the grisly breadcrumbs left behind without a beat of hesitation.