Blood Moon Lake

Chapter 9

⚠️Trigger Warning! Mentions of de@th and murd€r

We tore through the woods, hopping over roots and dodging tree branches. I was breathing heavily, gulping in air through my mouth. The longer we ran the harder it became to keep going. My legs were burning, and I felt like I wasn't getting oxygen. But I knew I couldn't stop. If I stopped the killers would get me. I continued to run ignoring my body's protests and focusing on the forest in front of me. After what felt like an eternity, we finally lost them. I collapsed to the ground and tried to pull more oxygen into my lungs. As I lay there, I heard someone flop down beside me. Turning my head to see who it was, I saw Ella laying on her back trying to even out her breathing. "I haven't run that hard since ever," she gasped. "You were running pretty fast," Jack said, "Maybe you should have done cross country." "Yeah no," Ella scoffed, "Only psychopaths run for fun." "Well guess that makes me a psychopath," I laughed. "That would explain a lot about you," Anna hummed. "Wow, thanks Anna," I muttered. "Are we not going to acknowledge what happened?" Asked the blonde. "No, not yet," Jack replied, still out of breath, "We still need to process what happened first." "That makes no sense!" the brit shouted, "There is nothing to process! We almost died!" "There's more to process than that," Jack argued, "There's the hiding in the closet, the creepy masks, the almost dying, the wrecked cabin, and then sprinting through the woods!" "All of which involve us almost dying!" The blonde exclaimed. "Stop yelling you'll lead them right to us!" Ella hissed, standing up from where she lay on the ground, "And now that I've caught my breath, I have a lot of questions for you." Ella walked over to the brit and glared at him.

The blonde glared right back at her, and at that moment I swear the air became ten pounds heavier. "What are your questions," the brit asked still glaring at her. "First one, what's your name?" Ella asked. "Leo," the blonde replied. "Okay Leo," Ella spat, "How did you know about the killers?" Leo tensed but replied, "Because they killed my friends and then chased me around the lake." "How come you didn't try to help your friends?" Ella asked still glaring at him. Leo bristled, "I did try to help them! The first two were killed in their sleep the other was caught while we were running away." "Why didn't you go back for the one that was caught?" Ella questioned. "He was already dead," Leo muttered looking down at his feet, "It would have been pointless." "How would you know he was dead?" Ella asked still glaring at him. "People get a look in their eyes when they die," Leo answered, "He had that look." Ella narrowed her eyes, "How would you know about that look?" "I just do," Leo mumbled. "Is it because you've killed someone before?" Ella asked. "I haven't killed anyone before!" Leo exclaimed, "How come you think I have? That's suspicious. Do you have something to hide?" Ella shook her head, "I have nothing to hide, but I think you do." "I think that's enough questioning," I told Ella. Ella rolled her eyes, "Fine but I don't trust him, and I don't think you should either." Leo glared at Ella, and I sighed. They are not going to get along. Good thing they won't be stuck together for long. Sitting up against a tree, I began to think over our options. We could go back to the cabin but then we run the risk of running into the killers. We could go to the town Todd told us about, but we have no idea how long it would take for us to get there and we have no food or water. Waiting in the woods would be just as risky as going back because the killers might look for us. I sighed, what should we do? "Do you think we should stay here for the night?" Anna asked.

"I want to go to sleep but I feel like it's too close and the killers will find us," she said. "Anna's right," Jack agreed, "We might want to go a bit farther if we're going to sleep." "I mean right here looks like a good place to crash," Ella stated. Anna rolled her eyes, "Any place looks like a good place to sleep to you." Leo looked mortified, "You guys are thinking about sleeping after all of that!?" Ella glared at him, "Yeah, is there something wrong with that?" Leo just shook his head in response and muttered something under his breath. "What was that?" Ella asked, "I didn't quite hear it." Leo rolled his eyes, "I said you were sick." "Says the murderer," she snorted. "I think we should go a little farther before going to sleep," I spoke up trying to avoid Ella starting an argument. Ella sighed, "Fine." I stood up from the ground and glanced around wearily, "You guys ready to go?" Everyone nodded. We took off through the wood walking farther and farther away from the cabin. We walked for about half an hour before we came to a clearing. "Does here look good?" Ella yawned. Jack rubbed his eyes and glanced around, "Yeah looks good to me." Anna laid down on the ground and nodded, "Yep this is good." "Finally," Ella muttered flopping down on the ground, "I'm going to sleep and forgetting any of this ever happened." "Me too," Jack murmured laying down near a tree. Anna, Ella, and Jack fell asleep in a matter of minutes. I stood there for a few minutes trying to figure out what to do. On one hand, I was exhausted, and going to sleep sounded like an amazing idea. On the other hand, a lot of stuff just happened, and I need to unpack all of that, or else it's not going to go well for me. I thought over it for a bit before I finally made a decision. Something I learned is that even though figuring out slightly traumatic events is important if you're in the right state of mind it's not going to end well. So, I would be better off getting some rest before trying to sort out what happed.

I laid down on the ground, got into a comfortable position, and closed my eyes. When I closed my eyes, the smiley face mask the killer wore popped up in my head. I felt its eyes staring through me and I began to shiver at the thought of the cold smile. My eyes snapped open. Okay, maybe I need to unpack what happened before I go to sleep. I sat up against a tree, took a deep breath, and closed my eyes. Okay, let's break this down. I was about to go to sleep, Leo showed up at the door being chased by murderers, we barricaded the doors, woke everyone up, hid, listened to the murderers tear apart the cabin, and had one staring directly at us for about a minute, and then we ran away. We have that done; what part scared me? Well, that would be the screeching, the mask, and the fact we almost died. Why does that scare me? The screeching scared me because of how loud and echoey it was. The mask scared me because it made me feel uncomfortable. The fact we almost died scared me because death is scary in general. Is what makes it scary something I should be afraid of? Well, the screeching being loud and echoey can't harm me if anything it tells me they're coming. So, I shouldn't be afraid of it, I should see it as a good thing. The mask made me uncomfortable, but why? Probably because I felt like it could see everything about me, and knew all of the things I've done. Can it see that? No, it can't it's just a mask. I don't need to be afraid of it. For the last one, I'm already afraid of death so this shouldn't change anything. I already fear dying it's not new. I opened my eyes and smiled. That should be all taken care of, now I can go to sleep. I was just about to lie back down when a voice interrupted me, "You can't sleep either?" Looking in the direction of the voice, I realized Leo was still wide awake. "I was having troubles," I told him, "But I have a thing I do that helps me fall asleep if I'm scared."

"Oh, well I'll let you sleep then," Leo muttered. "Are you going to bed anytime soon?" I asked. Leo shrugged, "Probably not, but don't let me keep you from sleeping." "I'm not going to sleep knowing your up all by yourself," I told Leo, standing up from where I sat and moving closer to him. Leo rolled his eyes, "You don't need to stay up all night with me. We just met." "I know, but I think my trick might help you sleep too," I told him. Leo gave me a skeptical look, "Really? What does this trick do?" "Well first you break down the event that happened, then you ask yourself what about the event scared you, and after that, you ask why it scared you, once that's all done you need to figure out if that's something worth being scared over and why or why not," I said. "What are you? A therapist?" Leo muttered. I rolled my eyes, "No, but it works. So, if you give it a try you might fall asleep." "Not happening," Leo snorted. "Why not?" I asked. "Because," he said, "It's not going to work." "You don't know that if you don't try it," I hummed. "I do," Leo replied, "Because if you saw what I saw you wouldn't be sleeping either." "What did you see?" I asked. "Why should I tell you?" Leo questioned, "For all I know, you could use it against me or something." I sighed; Leo has trust issues. I wonder why. "Think about it this way," I told him, "After this what is the likely hood of me seeing you ever again? It's probably one out of a hundred, so you are going to be telling someone that you will never see again something traumatic." We sat there in silence for a few minutes before Leo finally responded. "Fine," he muttered, "I'll tell you, but you better not tell anyone else." "I won't tell anyone else," I assured him. "If you do, I'll end your life," Leo threatened. "If you do that Ella will come after you and make sure you never see the light of day again," I chuckled. "Guess I'll have to kill Ella too if she comes after me," Leo replied. "You can try," I laughed, "But I think she would get you first." "Nah," Leo said, "You underestimate me." "Maybe," I agreed, "But I do know stalling when I see it. Are you going to tell me what happened or not?" Leo sighed, "Fine, I'll tell you."

Therapy! I had no idea Luke would turn into a therapist but here we are. Just wanna say I have no idea if the thing Luke did works or not so don't take that as fact.