The Commune

VII. Niccolò.

Niccolò

I always knew Gwen was a little bit fucked up. Perhaps I was even drawn to it. For a time. But this, is next level fuckery. As relieved as I am to know that snake's corpse is rotting six feet under right now, he still left a big mess for the four of us to clean up.

I can't exactly relax and go on about my life when there's a complete stranger somewhere out there who knows dangerously intimate details about me and my friends. Some of these things we hadn't even known about each other. Until now that is.

Now's really not a good time to be keeping secrets from each other. There's obviously someone who's trying to fuck with us, and if we're not all on the same page, that'll make it all the more easier for them to succeed in that.

Even knowing all of that, I still can't bring myself to tell Alex everything. I can't. I just can't.

I can't tell her. Not after how she reacted to what Xena said. She hates her for what happened between her and Gwen. Even after finding out about all his treachery. She'll never forgive her for that. Which in hindsight wasn't even that bad. In comparison to what I did, she's practically a saint. If she can't even forgive Xena, there's no way she'll forgive me.

I'm fucked.

"So what's the game plan here? What are we gonna do about the creep that knows all our secrets?" Viv poses as she stares up at the ceiling of me and my late roommate's dorm.

"Yeah we can't exactly confront someone if we don't even know who they are." Alex chimes in.

"Well it's simple really. We may not know who they are, but we know that they'll probably want this box back. They were going through it for a reason and they wouldn't have just left it there in the middle of the woods like that..." I pause trying to think of why someone would do that. "Maybe something scared them away, I don't know." I admit. "But they'll definitely come back to look for it."

"So we stake them out then." Xena catches on.

"Exactly."

"So what, we're just gonna camp out in the backwoods of our school? I don't know..." Alex starts to recoil apprehensively.

"Lexi come on. We'll all be there, what's the worst that could happen?" I ask her.

"I don't know but the woods at night just doesn't seem like a good idea to me. Maybe that's just me..." she pauses, looking around to see if anyone else agrees. "What do you think Viv? Bad idea or no?"

"Fuck it, I say we do it."

Yes! Viv's in.

"Sorry Lex, looks like you're outnumbered."

"Great." Alex mumbles, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

We waited a couple hours until it got dark, and then we set up camp right by the lake on the other side of our campus. It was still within visible distance, a couple feet of the woods, but a much nicer view to enjoy while we're waiting for this asshole to show up.

"What are we even looking for? It's not like some random guy is just gonna show up and tell us he wants Gwen's box back so that he can have some blackmail on us. That'd just be absurd." Alex scoffs.

"No but if some creep does come around looking for something, then I'm betting that's our guy..." Vivian reasons.

All of a sudden, I hear rustling sounds coming from behind us.

"Shh!" I hush my gabbing friends. "I just heard something."

"Yeah it's probably just an animal or something." Alex suggests looking around in disbelief.

"Yeah we'll see." I turned around to get a better look at where the noise was coming from.

Nothing yet, just more creaking, rattling, and the occasional eerie whistles from the wind, I'm assuming anyway.

"This is pointless Nic. Whoever found the box before us probably knows we're onto them, why would they come back to the scene of the crime?" Alex argues.

"I hate to say it but she might have a point." Vivian agrees.

"Would you guys stop being so pessimistic, we've barely been here for ten minutes and you're already giving up. Unbelievable." Xena scorns  them.

"Thanks Xena, but they might be right." I surrender. "Maybe this was a dumb idea."

'Meow!'

"Of course. It's just a cat." I try not to sound so disappointed in this new revelation. "Yeah guys let's just go, this was obviously..."

Crash!

"Okay what the fuck was that then?" Xena panics.

Suddenly, the cat begins hissing into the distance. Probably at wherever that crash is coming from.

"Guys it's probably just more animals. Let's go, I'm freezing!" Alex complains.

"No one told you not to bring a blanket." Xena scolds Alex who just rolls her eyes at her remark.

"Ok I'm sorry but I have to know what's going on back there." I persist. "Hey that little cat's obviously bothered by it, maybe I'm delusional or maybe that's a sign. Either way I'm gonna check it out, with or without you guys."

"Fine, I guess we're gonna check it out then." Vivian backs me up while Alex lets out a loud groan to make sure we all know how much h she doesn't want to be here right now. Still, she joins us as we make our way deeper into the Haven Woods.

Woosh!

"Okay that's it. I know someone's out here, so stop hiding fucker!" I call out.

"Nic I really don't think that was the best idea, I mean..." Xena tries to lecture me on my approach to finding the creep in the woods, but I tune her out because something else catches my attention.

Maybe the others hadn't seen it, but I did.

I saw a dark figure abruptly pass by in the distance. One second it was there, and when I blinked, just like that, it was gone.

What the hell was that?

Well, whatever it was, it's surely long gone now.

It feels quiet and empty once again. How is that possible?

Just a second ago, I felt a strange, heavy presence here in these woods, like I could just sense in my bones that there was something else here with us. But now, it's gone into the night.

The winds are howling just as great as they were a couple minutes ago, but it still feels empty. Even the poor little kitten we came across earlier was now sitting calmly to itself, unbothered. But it seemed so anxious before.

I couldn't have made that up.

What the hell is going on? Is it possible someone could've vanished that quickly into the night?

I suppose they were a good bit of distance away from us. It's plausible.

But it's just... strange. Very strange.

"Nic, what happened, did you see something too?" Xena asks me. Okay, so I'm not crazy.

"Maybe." I answer vaguely. "I think the better question is what exactly did I see?"

"Hard to say. Do you guys believe in ghosts?" Vivian poses.

I don't know what to believe anymore. But I know I need answers, and I need to find a way to get them. Whatever it takes.