Dark Woods Academy

Chapter 23

Chapter 23
Where had Elliott gone? I knew my mother was still sorting through paperwork concerning the Academy and my leave. I was also aware that Elliott was still my lawyer even though he was my friend, somewhat?
I shook the thought off as my mind thought of Blaze and his words to me. I felt giddy at the thought of him returning my feelings. My heart warmed at the thought of it and a bubbly feeling in my chest washed over me. He was everything that I wanted and needed. Everything else faded away when I was with him, my problems, the hurt, pain and even the hole in my heart seemed to get smaller when he was around. This was what love felt like I thought smiling to myself. It occurred to me that he and Elliott were around the same age I hoped. He didn’t see that much older, I was twenty and he was like early twenties, fairly young to be the head of security at the academy but I was sure he was capable. He was smart, intelligent, funny yet serious, loving and he was my heart. I couldn’t wait for this crap at the Academy to finish so that I could really get to be with him and be a part of his life. The thought of that alone gave me the strength to push through the days no matter what they held or would hold.
As I thought of him, my mind shifted to the woods and what we had seen and even what I had found in Webster’s office. Things didn’t really add up. I wasn’t sure where to even start in trying to explain the things that had happened, to try to make sense of it.
A sudden thought from earlier entered my mind and I tried to remember what the grief counsellor had said. Reoccurring dreams were indeed significant. I tried to think of the dream, the one about my friends and I in the woods. Was my subconscious trying to reveal something to me? I ran my hands over my head trying to think of the dream and single out anything that seemed significant. It was always in the woods, we were always in the same spot. Maybe that’s it? Or maybe not. I sighed rethinking it. It was always the same conversation with James telling us of a spooky graveyard somewhere off campus daring us to go and telling us the story of security guards that heard noises from it and were spooked and even students who saw shadows in it. It was scary tales he told us never knowing that a real monster would one day be out there and get them.
Shit. Holy mother of God. Realization dawned on me and goosebumps rippled my arms at the thought. It couldn’t be, right? I shot up from the bed where I was sitting and flipped through the code words I had deciphered from the message left on Ashton’s phone.
I may have been sitting on the biggest clue from the start. I hurriedly got dressed in durable clothing, throwing on a jacket and sneakers. I grabbed the map and switch blade and rushed out of my room in a hurry needing to know if it was true.
I grabbed my phone and texted my ex, Jason. We hadn’t spoken since we broke up even though there were no grudges or feelings of animosity between us. He agreed to meet up with me and I waited at the library for him replaying the dream that I had of my friends. I hoped that this wasn’t too good to be true.
Jason arrived a few minutes later and I waved to him from a seat tucked away in a corner to get his attention. He spotted me and came over sitting down next to me. God I hope that this wasn’t going to be super awkward.
“Hey,” I said.
“Hey back,” he said his voice soft, his eyes red, maybe from crying. His boyfriend was dead.
“I’m sorry about Bailey,” I said.
He nodded swallowing at the sound of his name.
“Sorry about you friends,” he said back and I nodded in response unable to talk about them.
“You said it was important?” he said and I breathed a silent sigh of relief that we could just cut to the chase.
“Yeah, look its something that I need to check to make sure that its not a lead,” I said.
I could see that I had caught his attention.
“He wouldn’t kill himself like that,” he said through gritted teeth.
“We picked out an apartment to move in together after graduation, we had plans,” he said his eyes pooling with tears.
He turned away taking a deep breath before he found a bit of composure and turned back to me.
“Look I’m not sure.” I said not wanting to get his hopes up that there could be a lead about Bailey’s death. He didn’t deserve to be let down.
“I know, lets still look into it,” he agreed.
“Tell me something, is there a graveyard in the woods?” I asked as I retrieved my map unfolding it.
“Yeah, its off campus though,” he said.
“Can we check there?” I asked.
“I’m not sure where exactly it is,” he said frowning as he thought about it.
“Its supposedly haunted though, no one likes to go there,” he continued.
“I’ve heard that too but humour me,” I said.
He nodded and got up, “come on I know someone who has been there,” he said.
I followed him to the café where we had something to eat while we awaited his friend.
“Ace, this is Dwayne, he’s been there,” he said introducing me to his friend.
“Look I would take you there myself bro, but I won’t lie, that damn place is haunted,” he said seriously.
“You can believe me or not but I ain’t going back there, been there once on a dare and what I saw… well lets just say I’m not into wandering off into those woods again,” he said seriously.
My mind ran with endless possibilities, I wasn’t exactly superstitious so I had my doubts yet I could tell he was seriously spooked by whatever he found in the graveyard in the woods.
“Why would you want to go there?” he asked.
“We’re not,” I said glancing at Jason to give him a warning to not spill our plans to anyone.
“What did you see there?” I asked steeling myself for the answer.
“Its usually misty, there’s thick fog on most days but what’s creepy is the creaking noises like someone’s opening the coffin to get out,” he shuddered and I refrained from telling him that was ridiculous because I still needed his help to get there.
“There’s also shadows in the mist,” he responded.
“Never in the day though, only at night,” he said his mind seeming far-off as if recalling the memory.
“Can you show us where on this map?” I asked as I unfolded it.
“Sure,” he said taking a look at it.
Was the darn graveyard haunted? His description of the things he had seen fit with the rumors and even the stories James and Ashton had told us.
He took a moment studying the map, never asking questions and then he started drawing a route from the Academy through the woods and to the graveyard.
When he was done, he handed back the map and Jason gave him some money which he thanked him for and left.
“Ace, can you tell me what we’re looking for?” he asked.
“I’m not sure,” I replied honestly.
“Ashton’s cellphone was recovered and what I got off it was a string of numbers. However, it took me a while to realize that it could be a coded message and so I got a book with coded language and tried to figure it out, messed around with the words and found grave as one of the words,” I explained.
“Let’s go take a look then, it won’t kill us to check,” he said and I nodded hoping that what he said was true and that it wouldn’t kill us to find out.
I gathered the map and grabbed a bottle of water ready to hatch a plan to evade the guards that were patrolling the woods and the perimeter for our safety.