Blood Moon Lake

Chapter 31

Trigger Warning! ⚠️ Mentions of $u!cide, and @lc0hol @buse, implied @buse

The journey through the woods was much more pleasant than the night before. Now that the sun was out, and we were able to see where we were going it was much easier to navigate through the trees. And now that we were away from that town there are animals again, so the woods aren't eerily silent. Which makes our silence less awkward. Chase is in a bad mood and everyone else either doesn't feel the need for conversation or doesn't want to make him any angrier. Which is probably a wise decision, I don't want him going on a rampage and leading the demons straight to us. The birds sang as we walked and I could see insects scurrying around on the ground and trees. The trees provided decent shade from the sun but it was still quite hot. I looked around as we walked enjoying the fresh air, it's nice but I think I'll stay inside for a while after all of this.

"Um, so, do we want to talk about anything?" Carmen muttered, "The quiet is kinda unnerving." "Yeah," Jack nodded, "I agree with Carmen." "What is there to talk about?" Chase grumbled. "Um, I don't know," Carmen shrugged, "But I'm sure we could find something." "Well we don't know much about each other," Amelia pointed out, "Everyone could share a bit about themselves." "What would we be sharing?" Anna asked. "I was thinking we could do the basic stuff," Amelia said, "Like your favorite color and all those things." "Oh yeah 'cause that tells us more about people," Ella scoffed. Amelia glared at her, "What would you suggest?" "Telling a bit about our lives," she stated, "Important stuff that happened in our past. That's the best way to get to know someone." "Seriously?" Amelia questioned. "Yeah," Ella nodded, "Best way to get to know someone is to know what they went through."

"I meant to learn more about each other," Amelia stated, "Not dive into our life story." "We will be learning more about each other," Ella replied, "If it makes you feel better I'll go first." "Why don't we take a vote?" Amelia suggested. Ella rolled her eyes, "Fine. Raise your hand if you wanna share life stories." Carmen, Leo, Jack, Anna, Ella, and I all raised our hands. Chase glared at his brother and Ella smirked. "Looks like you're outvoted," she said, "I'll go first." "Wait," Jack interrupted, "What are we sharing?" "Home life, parent status, and how we met the people here," she listed. "Okay," he nodded. "So," Ella began, "My parents got divorced when I was six my dad cheated on my mom. I can't blame him she is a bitch but at the time I was mad at him.

My mom didn't want me so my dad took custody the only time I saw her was once a month on a weekend. I was pissed at my dad and I took it out on people at school, I was a total jerk and picked on people who were socially awkward, and shy. Jack and Anna were two of my targets, until middle school when Luke transferred. One day I was messing with Jack and Luke stepped in and put me in my place. After that whenever I would try to pull something on people Luke would stop me. Eventually, I realized how much of a blockhead I was and started to make amends and the next thing I knew Luke had adopted me into the group and I've been with these idiots ever since. Around this time I also began to realize how awful my mom was and stopped seeing her, and now my dad and I get along pretty well." "Wow," Leo laughed, "Who wants to see if they have a more tragic backstory than Ella?" "Seriously," I snorted, "We're turning this into a competition?" "Why not?" He smiled, "It'll make it more fun." "I like Leo's idea," Ella grinned, "We'll vote at the end." "Oh my gosh," I muttered rolling my eyes. "Who's going next?" Ella asked. "I will," Jack volunteered, "But it's not as dramatic as Ella's."

"Hurry up!" Anna exclaimed, "I want to go next!" "Okay, okay," Jack said, "So I met Anna in elementary school we were in the same kindergarten class, and everything with my parents is fine nothing big ever happened. Anna and I continued to be friends throughout elementary school and into middle school where we met Ella. Ella relentlessly teased me for being a "sissy" and "nerd". One day Luke started going to our school and when Ella came along he chewed her out for her behavior and deterred her from messing with us. Eventually, Ella stopped being a problem, apologized, and became part of our group." "Wow," Chase scoffed, "You guys have such normal lives." "I think that's a good thing," I told him, "Anna it's your turn." Taking a deep breath, Anna launched into a summary, "My mom had me out of wedlock and my dad ditched her. I met Jack in elementary school and Ella in middle school, she bullied me too but not as much as she did with Jack. Luke came along and stopped her and after apologizing, she joined our group. My eighth-grade year I went for a walk through the woods, my mom got married to her new boyfriend and we all started living together, then they decided to have a kid and I got a little brother."