After All These Years | ✔

24 - CARLIE

"Not so long ago, near this very lake –" Ashley spoke softly to the group, setting the mood with her voice. If it wasn't for the full moon, the night would've been pitch black, but in the glow of the small fire they had made Carlie could make out the faces of her friends sitting in a circle. Ashley, with her legs crossed and towel draped over her shoulders, Olivia and Matt sitting together under the cover of a blanket, Sarah who was standing and drying her long blonde hair along with Jess, and of course; Louis – sitting on the same towel as her, the flames of the fire reflecting in the dark of his eyes.

"This isn't going to be a scary story is it?" Olivia interrupted, "If it is, I'm sitting somewhere else." She stood up and motioned for her boyfriend to follow her.

Matt protested. "I want to hear the story." He moved over and opened the blanket for her, "Come on, you'll be fine."

Olivia reluctantly sat down under the safety of Matt's arm just as Ashley continued with the story, "In this forest... deep, deep within the trees... lived an insane man." Everyone settled down, listening, "He had hair that was always wet, and it stuck up against his forehead. He always carried around two wooden sticks, hitting them together as a warning to anyone passing by." Ashley searched around her and picked up a stick to be used for the fire, then broke it in half and tapped them together ominously. "He sat, day after day, sharpening his sticks, threatening to stab anyone who came near to his house... right through the heart.

"One day, a young woman approached the house, unwary of the danger she was in. Zachary Marshall jumped out and was going to stab her, when he realised she was pregnant." Ashley looked around for shocked expressions. There weren't many but she continued anyway. "So, seeing the potential in the unborn child, he kept her captive in the small, abandoned shack. Legend says the shack is still there, but no one's ever found it. They'd be too scared to, with a murderer living in it."

"A murderer?" Fear rang in Jess's voice.

"Just wait, I haven't got there yet. Anyway, there, in the abandoned shack, he kept her, for a whole four months. Then, after she had the baby, he took the stick and stabbed her in the heart." At the word stabbed, Ashley picked up one stick and forced the end of it into the fire, causing ashes to fly crazily. Carlie looked around the circle to see many of her friends jump or wince. "People say he was sick, not physically, but mentally. He kept the child and raised it as his own little killer."

Everyone was silent for a minute. Matt speaking up once to simply say, "That's messed up."

"What happened to them?" Carlie spoke up, not initially scared by the story, but knowing Louis would definitely have to walk her home later on. She didn't take it seriously though. You could tell Ashley was exaggerating whenever her lips were moving.

"Who knows? That's as far as the story goes."

The group came back to life. Liv shook off her daze, "Nope. No ghost stories ever again."

Ashley responded, "I have many more up my sleeve if you want to hear more, Livvy."

Olivia didn't say anything, just gave Ashley a look of mock hatred, masking the fear underneath.

The group let the story dwell, each making comment on the fate of the wild man. Carlie remained silent, starting to feel the fear in her when she focused on the darkness and shadows around her. Louis moved closer and spoke in her ear, his voice barely a whisper.

"Want to go for a walk?" Carlie turned to look at him and nodded, thankful for the distraction. She heard Ashley tauntingly knocking the sticks together again as she grabbed her towel and took Louis's hand.

They walked in the direction of the town's main beach. The one with the playground just beyond the sand and the jumping rock jutting out of the headland. It was quiet and eerie now though, but she could still see the jumping ghosts if she tried hard enough. They walked lazily, kicking at the sand beneath their feet.

"Do you reckon it's true?"

It seemed the question caught Louis off-guard and he snapped his head to face hers, "What, the story?"

"Yeah. It's weird to think that it happened in this very forest."

Louis breathed, "You can never believe everything Ashley says."

Carlie stopped to admire the moon's reflection on the water, "Still." She spread out the large towel and slowly lowered herself to the ground, "I've always hated scary stories."

Louis let out a laugh next to her, sitting and bringing his knees up to his chest, "Me too."

They sat like that for a while, looking at the lake and the moon's reflection like it was a work of art. But it wasn't awkward. It was comfortable. After spending the week with him, it was almost like they could sit without saying anything and it was totally okay. Just being with each other seemed like enough. Their personalities were like that.

He was like that.

"My Dad used to tell them. Scary stories I mean. Only they were about Vampires and Werewolves and Ghosts. Rarely about humans actually. It's easy to believe monsters can do the things they do, because they have no humanity. A scary story about humans it the most frightening because it shows how much we're actually capable of."

"Yeah, but we're no monsters." She frowned at him mockingly. "At least I know I'm not one."

He gave her a challenging look from the corner of his eyes, let the silence fall for a heartbeat, and then he let out an exceptionally loud howl towards the moon that echoed across the lake.

The sudden noise made Carlie jump in surprise, but he didn't stop until she buried her elbow into his side. "Stop, you'll wake people up, you idiot!" He lost balance and toppled to the side, laughter replacing the wolf's sound.

Carlie fell back onto the sand. As she did, she caught a glimpse of the full night sky and the billions of stars above them. "Wow..." Her whole vision was filled with the shining lights. So many, she couldn't comprehend it.

"I know." Louis collapsed next to her, letting out a breath, "Bet you didn't get this view in the city."

"Nope, and hated it. Now I know that I was just homesick for a place I never knew existed."

Louis agreed, "I love it. The stars have a way of getting your brain to tick."

Carlie turned her head to look at his profile, "What do you mean?"

"It just makes you think deeper than you normally would, you know. Take chance for instance, there are so many stars out there, let alone galaxies. Earth is just this tiny blue sphere in the midst of all these massive exploding stars and just... space. Yet we are the only planet they know of that can support life."

Louis used his hands dramatically and Carlie smiled as he tried to explain his thoughts, "If God was the one who created everything up there, those huge galaxies and supernovas, meteoroids, the works; it makes you wonder why he took the time and effort to create us when we're so tiny in the scheme of things." Louis turned his head to face her, smirking, "Why us monsters actually matter."

Carlie nodded, "Well, I sure don't know what He was thinking, you know, creating you..."

"He has a wicked sense of humour, that's for sure" Louis rested his hands on his stomach, "I don't know, I just think about these things."

"You thought you were the only one? You should hear my theory about aliens. Seriously, by the end I'd have you convinced that every president is in on it and they're planning to take over the world."

Louis opened his mouth to speak, and then closed it, perking up at the sound of the joyful screaming of the group down the shoreline. The group was noisily running after one another, splashing back into the cold lake. Carlie sat up, smirking at Louis.

"Well, you know what this means..."

Louis looked at her questioningly before reading her thoughts. He stood, beating her at her own game. The towel was pulled from underneath her, sending her rolling onto the sand and stumbling to chase him towards their midnight fire.

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