The Wishing Well ✔ [1]

14: a clearing

Campsite, Evie & Lane

"Where the hell is he!?" shouted Lane. He couldn't have stayed at the campsite, there was barely any place to hide.

The trees surrounding them however were thick enough to stuff the body of an adult.

Could he have? No, no obviously not. Staying here was useless. If they wanted to find Easton they would have to wander off to somewhere away from the campsite.

Evie reassuringly placed a hand on her shoulder, rubbing it softly in a circular motion like how Evie's mom used to do when she was upset.

"We'll find him." From the sound of it, she doesn't seem to believe her own words.

The path they took was untracked. It was overgrown and no signs of any human beings ever being out there which was an odd decision considering the person they were looking for was a human boy.

Evie insisted they took this exact way, saying something along the lines of it being a good way to sneak up on him if he actively ran away from the campsite on purpose.

None of their stuff was missing, and running away all of a sudden felt too random. Lane agreed to it anyway. It was no different than the track they would have taken otherwise.

Still no reception and still no signs of another human being, only animals.

When they awoke this morning there was no sunlight to greet them with a warm hug, there was only the cold lighting that illuminated from the moon.

Thankfully, Easton had put off the fire sometime that morning. Seeing as they could see the smoke, Easton hadn't left too long ago and if he were out there running, they would've been able to catch up to him rather easily.

That is if he had taken the usual way. Unfortunately, that was not the case for Easton. His bag was still lying on the dirty ground soaked in a puddle of water and his belongings stayed as they were before he slept.

Lane questioned the holes dug around the tent, but looking for more clues on why he was missing made them more confused than they originally were.

Their first instinct was to look for him near the campsite then the well. However, they didn't end up checking the well after noticing that there were no footprints—the dirt was still damp so a trail of footprints would've been there if he had gone.

"Hey, isn't that him?" Evie patted Lane's arm, moving past her to sprint away to the shadowy figure that resembled a boy.

Something was wrong. A sense of absence lingered over the forest atmosphere. Lane extended her hand to reach Evie.

"Evie, this doesn't..." seems right, Lane desperately wanted to let those two words spill out.

"Lane?" Evie gave a confused expression, waiting for Lane to continue her sentence. "Doesn't what Lane?"

It's not him, Lane thought, I can't say anything. It'll hear me.

Instead, Lane showed her. She didn't know what she was trying to show, or why she heard a voice telling her 'No, it's not him' Hands reached into her back pocket pulling out her phone.

She fumbles with it for a bit before the flashlight turns on, shining in the direction of 'Easton'.

He looked exactly what she had seen in her vision. The creature, with horns as ears, devoured his gutted body. The stomach area was ripped open, and intestines spilled onto the sharp blades of grass, glistening in the light.

Instantly the flash turns off. Her phone is dropped to the wet ground with a splat.

"Oh my-"

"Go! Evie run!" Lane grips Evie's hand, she is not going to leave her only friend behind with a hellish monster.

They scurried out there, running like their life depended on it (it did) their hearts racing almost pattering out of their body.

Her ears couldn't tell if the sound of twist crunching was caused by them or the creature after them.

Either way, it amplified her fear.
Lane wasn't sure which way they were heading anymore, she was just darting for safety anywhere.

Her feet stumbled over rocks and roots.

"Sh-" She didn't dare to scream out in pain, the only thing pushing her forward was the adrenaline pumping in her body.

Each step she hoped was closer to an area she was familiar with to be more aware.

"Lane!"

She didn't stop running.

"Lane, please-!"

Lane pushed past the odd-looking branches, one of them scuffing her skin earning a small yelp.

"Lane!" Evie pulled back dragging Lane along with her.

Lane hastily got up again, not wasting a moment, "What the hell are you doing!?"

"It's gone!" Evie took a second to stabilize her breathing.

"It's gone, Lane."