Blood Moon Lake

Chapter 13

The next morning, I woke up to someone shaking me awake. I cracked my eyes open and groaned. "Leo's missing!" Ella yelled. That got my attention. I shot up from the ground almost bonking heads with Ella. "What do you mean he's missing!?" I asked looking around trying to spot him. "I mean he's gone," Ella replied, "And he went through your bag before he left." My eyes widened, there was no way he would have ditched us, right? I mean he's injured, and even if he did leave, he wouldn't have taken our food and water. Right? He seemed trustworthy. "If he left, he couldn't have gotten far with his leg," Ella said, "I say we hunt him down and take our stuff back." "Did you check the bag and see if anything was missing?" I asked. "No," she replied, "But what else would he have taken? There's nothing else valuable in there." I sighed, "Why don't we check the bag first before we accuse him of stealing anything? We don't even know if he ran off, he could be doing something." Ella opened her mouth to reply only to be cut off by the sound of a snapping twig. Our heads snapped up toward the noise, Ella glanced at me nervously and I held a finger up to my lip. We sat there in silence staring at the trees waiting for something to happen. Suddenly, a mop of curly blonde hair appeared from behind the trees. I let out a sigh of relief and relaxed slightly, it was just Leo. Wait- Leo!? Before I had a chance to process what was going on, Ella leaped up from the ground, slammed into Leo, and pinned him to the ground. "WHAT THE FUCK!?" Leo shouted. "Where is it?" Ella demanded. "Where's what!?" Leo asked. "Don't play dumb!" Ella shouted. Leo flinched, "I'm not. Now get off me." "Ella get off oh him," I said standing up and jogging over to where they were.

"You're seriously going to let this thief get away!?" Ella asked shocked. "Thief!?" Leo squawked, "When was going to the bathroom a crime!?" "Going to the bathroom?" I asked, "What does that have to do with any of this?" "That's what I was doing before your friend tackled me," Leo replied, "Speaking of which can you please get her off of me?" I sighed, "Ella get off of Leo so he can explain what's going on and we can talk it out like civilized adults." Ella glared at me but got off of Leo, "Fine." Leo sat up and glared at Ella, "So you want to explain why you tackled me?" "Because you stole from us," she replied. "How did I steal from you!?" Leo shouted, "I didn't touch any of your stuff!" "Then why was the bag open?" She asked. "Because I was hungry!" Leo replied, "And last I checked I had one whole granola bar I could eat! So, I ate some!" "Then why did you leave?" Ella asked still not convinced. "Because I had to pee," He told her, "I didn't think you would appreciate me doing it near where everyone was sleeping." Ella glared at him, "I'm going to go check the bag." I sighed as she turned around and headed over to where I had set my backpack. "Sorry about that," I apologized. Leo shrugged, "It's fine. Also, I found some hand sanitizer in your backpack, I hope you don't mind but I used a bit of it once I was done since I couldn't wash my hands." "It's fine," I said, "I didn't even know I had any in there." "Well, you do," He replied, handing it to me and then walking back towards the others. I stared at the hand sanitizer in my hand and frowned. There was one question that was dancing around my head. Why did Leo flinch when Ella was yelling at him? All of the other times they argued it never happened. Did she say something that bothered him? Or was it just because she was so close? I sighed, who knows? I can ask about it later. Shoving those thoughts to the back of my head, I walked back over to where everyone else was. When I got there, I realized Anna and Jack were now awake.

I winced, I forgot they were still asleep. "Did we wake you up?" I asked guiltily. "No," Jack replied, "It was the leaf that fell next to our heads." "Right," I sighed, "Sorry about that." Jack shrugged, "It's fine, there's nothing you could've done about Ella's yelling." "We need to leave soon if we want to make it to the town, so we would've been woken up either way," Anna pointed out. Jack nodded, "True, but first I want food." "Me too," I agreed, pulling my backpack toward me. I pulled out the granola bars and passed them around, making sure not to touch the one that had already been opened. After we had eaten a small section of our food, I put the bars back in the bag in separate spots, so we'd remember who's was whose and we set off. We walked through the woods in silence, every once and a while someone would feel the need to fill the quiet with some chatter, but it never lasted for long. The longer we walked, the more I let my mind drift. People had to have noticed we were missing right? I mean hopefully, someone would notice our wrecked cabin and investigated it. You would think they'd notice that the door was ripped off its hinges. Right? I mean I would. But who knows some people might not care. Maybe they'll care about the dead bodies they find strew around the place. That would draw some attention and if the bodies themselves didn't the smell would. I mean no one would want to spend a week at a place that smelled like rotting corpses. People would be bound to leave bad reviews. Especially any Karens there, they would probably try to sue. 'Oh, that person's dead body offended me! I'm suing!' I smiled and shook my head. Those people have nothing better to do, do they? Oh well, whether they're looking for us or not doesn't matter. As soon as we get to that town, we're calling the police. Then all of this will be sorted out. I don't know about the others but after this, I think I'm going to stay away from the woods for a while.

I wonder if my sister is worried about me. She texts me every day and gets worried when I don't reply. Maybe she just thinks I'm busy. I mean she knows I'm on vacation. What about my friend's parents? Have they been texting their kids? If people were looking for us, would they even know who to contact to inform them we were missing? If we die will our parents ever find out? I shook those thoughts out of my head. I don't need to be thinking about that. I need to focus on the positive. My friends are alive and that's all that matters right now. I need to keep it that way. Their safety is the most important thing right now. It always is. I turned my attention back to the present; Anna was talking about some sort of fan theory for a show she and Jack watch and Ella kept interrupting and asking who the characters were. I smiled; my friends are such idiots. I listened with a grin as Anna rambled on about characters I had never heard of and theories she either came up with or found on the internet. Jack chimed in every once in a while, sharing his opinion and some of his theories. I let my friend's voices fill the silence and wrap around me like a warm blanket. Even though we were traipsing through the woods with a limited amount of food and water I still felt safe. Because my friends mindlessly chattering was familiar, it was normal, and it was cheerful. And for a moment it felt like we were back home in my room talking about anything and everything that came to mind. I smiled to myself, they would never know how much they meant to me but even if they don't, they are still my whole world, and I am never letting them go. "Luke! Ella called, "Do YOU know what these two are talking about!?" I shook my head, "No, why?" "Because!" Ella replied frustrated, "They keep talking about this Malissa character and I have no idea what they're going on about!" "Sounds like a you problem," I laughed. Jack and Anna cackled, and Ella just flipped me off.

We took a break sometime in the afternoon so we could sit and stretch a bit. Unfortunately, our muscles were still sore from all of the running we did two nights ago. We didn't rest for long; it was still light out and since we had woken up later in the day we wanted to cover as much ground as possible. "Remember that one time we got lost in the woods while we were at Ella's aunt's and uncle's house?" I asked as we walked. Anna's eyes widened, "Oh my gosh yes! We were out there for like four hours!" Jack smiled, "Our parents got so mad." "And then we begged them to let us go back out the next day and we got lost again," Ella laughed. "Yeah," I grinned, "This reminds me of that, except this time it's longer." "Hm," Anna said thoughtfully, "I can't tell if that's a good thing or a bad thing." "Probably both," Ella smiled, "Either way we'll probably be in trouble again." "You think?" Jack chuckled, "With the way the cabin looks they probably think we had some sort of wild party." I snorted, "Yeah, the four of us had such a wild party we were screeching like banishes and trashed the whole cabin." Jack thought for a moment, "You're right, I can't see that happening either." "Hey guys," Leo called. "Yeah?" I asked looking over at him. "It's starting to get dark out," he pointed out, "If any of you need to use the bathroom, I'd do it while you can still see." "That's a good idea," Jack said, walking away from us "I will be right back." "I have some hand sanitizer for you when you're done!" I hollered after him. "Okay!" he shouted back. After a minute or two Jack came back. "Before I put the hand sanitizer away, does anyone else need to go?" I asked. Ella sighed, "Yeah, I'll give it a try." Not long after she walked away, I heard a very long and loud string of curses. "LUKE!" Ella shouted. "Yeah!?" I hollered back. "Do you have anything for those special occasions!?" She asked. "What!?" I questioned. "THOSE SPECIAL OCCASIONS WOMEN GET!" Ella shouted.

It dawned on me, and my mouth formed a silent 'O'. "Let me check!" I hollered back, rifling through my bag until I found what I was searching for. "Yeah, I have some!" I informed her, "Do you want a diaper or a torpedo!?" "How many of each do you have!?" She asked. "Um, I have five diapers and three torpedoes!" I replied. "I'll take a diaper!" Ella said. "Okay!" I replied, "I'll have Anna bring it to you!" "Thanks!" She shouted. I handed the needed item to Anna, and she took off in the direction Ella went. "Why do you have those things in your bag?" Leo asked after a moment. I shrugged, "After being friends with two girls who never have that stuff on them for a year you just start bringing it for them." "That's so weird," Leo muttered. I smiled and shook my head, "You get used to it. Oh, also you know how much Ella hates you right now?" "Yeah," Leo said. "Expect it to be much worse," I informed him. Leo groaned, "This keeps getting worse and worse." I rolled my eyes and ignored him. "I'm assuming we're staying here for the night," Jack said. I nodded, "Probably."

Hi! I hope you enjoyed the chapter! If you don't get the bit at the end, don't worry about it it's not that important just know Ella will be moodier for a while. Anyways, make sure to eat something. It doesn't have to be anything big but just make sure it's something. Have a great day! Bye! 🙃