The Cave

Day Seven: Elle

“Are you absolutely sure?”

I leaned back against the fence, burying my face in my hands. This was completely unbelievable.

Amber and Tyler had just informed me exactly why they’d been acting so funny all day. First Amber had moved into Tyler and Jared’s tent, then warned me against Beth, telling me to stay away from her. When Annaliese and I had gone to the beach everything had been fine, and I had to assume that Amber was simply paranoid. She said she’d been trying to get me on my own all evening, but it was more difficult than it looked, and in the end she’d woken me up at six o’clock this morning, saying she and Tyler needed to talk to me urgently.

Irritated from being woken up so early, I listened in shock to what they told me; that Beth had tried to drown Tyler, and strangle Amber. At first I didn’t believe them at all. I may not be Beth’s biggest fan, but she wasn’t evil. But their expressions changed my mind. Amber wasn’t showing it so much, but Tyler looked genuinely scared, and I remembered how shaken he’d been after his incident. What reason did they have to lie to me?

Amber nodded. “We’re sure. Elle, you have to believe us.”

“I do believe you,” I said hesitantly. “But...why would she do something like that?” My voice was almost a whisper.

Amber glanced at Tyler, and from the look he gave her I could see that they were still hiding something.

“What?” I demanded.

Amber picked up a book that I hadn’t realised she had with her, and gave it to me. “You need to read this,” she said. “Page 17.”

I flipped to the page and started reading. It only took me a minute, and when I was done I gave it back to Amber.

“What’s this got to do with Beth?” I asked, very confused.

“Well...” Tyler cleared his throat loudly. “Do you remember the other day, when Amber and Beth went to the caves? We, er...we kind of think that...Beth was sort of, like, possessed, or something...by the ghost of that girl, Evangeline.”

I stared at him.

“I know it sounds mad,” he continued nervously. “But that’s what we think. Beth’s been acting mental, literally, and...” Tyler trailed off.

“So you think she’s been possessed...by a spirit?” I said slowly.

Tyler and Amber nodded.

“Oh my Lord,” I muttered. Unlike most people, I was perfectly aware that ghosts were real. It wasn’t a belief; that’s like saying you “believe” you have brown eyes. I had never seen a ghost, nor did I ever wish to, but I knew they existed in some shape or form. But this...this was crazy. The ghost bit, I could deal with, but I didn’t think I’d ever heard anyone claim to be possessed, at least not in real films.

“But she’s not acting any different,” I said, thinking of The Exorcist.

“Elle, she strangled me,” Amber said plainly.

“I know. I meant other than attacking both of you, she doesn’t seem any different.”

“So she was perfectly normal at the beach yesterday?” Amber prompted. “She didn’t say or do anything even a little bit weird?”

I was silent for a moment, trying to think hard. Annaliese, Beth and I had sat at the top of the beach, quite far away from the shore, for a couple of hours. We’d bought fish and chips for lunch, then had ice cream. We went to the arcade and played on the two p machines for a bit (I won a tacky-looking, car-shaped keyring) and then went back down to the beach as it turned into evening. I could think of anything Beth had done that was even vaguely out of the ordinary, except...