The Cold Ones

Chapter One - Hike

‘Hikes are the worst thing ever. Like, really.’ Regina, my best friend moaned.

‘Yeah, totally,’ I said, joining in with her raging complaining.

‘Oh, don’t lie, Goldstone. I know you’re enjoying this. You haven’t even worked up a sweat yet!’ Regina yelled.

Well, it wasn’t my fault that my dad was a health-freak. He makes me and my siblings go on these Sunday hikes. I don’t know what the reason is. He just made us to do it. Even in bad weather. Which is very inconsiderate of him.

‘Just because I do it every Sunday doesn’t mean that I enjoy doing it, Regina.’

‘Right. Why don’t we just go and catch up with the rest of the group?’ Regina said annoyed at how ‘good’ I was at hiking.

We caught up with them, within in the next half an hour.

‘Alright everyone, settle down, settle down!’ Miss Reddy exclaimed over the bunch of us under-achievers who had to come on this stupid feel-good hike through the woods. Which includes me, and my best friend, Regina. Although, Regina chose to do this. She’s actually an over-achieving cheerleader. Euw, but you know, since she’s my best friend and stuff, I look past it.

‘So,’ Miss Reddy continued, ‘as you all know we gathered here today, to go on a hike through the forests of Earnest Peaks, our beautiful town. We’ve completed three miles! Now let’s walk back up north and get a taxi ride back to school. And from there, you can proceed to the bus stops. And go home, of course. Thank you everybody, for making this day a huge success! Good day!’ she finished off with a bright smile.

Miss Reddy was a short plump woman, with mousy brown hair, and dark chocolate-y eyes. Very mom-like really.

‘Well, let’s go, Goldstone.’ Regina said, hitting my shoulders.

Regina and I have been best friends ever since the third grade, but yet ever since grade school, we’ve both changed so much. I don’t even know how our friendship lasted all the way till our junior year.

We hiked up towards the roads, but we suddenly stopped, when we heard a spine-chilling scream. It was a girls’ scream, no doubt.

‘What happened?’ I asked panicking.

‘Well. I wouldn’t know because I wasn’t there, now was I?’ she said sarcastically.

‘This isn’t a time to joke around!’ I yelled.

I ran back towards the forest. My feet were hitting extremely hard against the soft, mushy forest floor. My heart was pounding in my chest.

I heard very faint screaming, so I ran towards it.

‘Help meee.’

The voice was practically a whisper.

I saw long, blonde curls a couple of feet away.

‘Help!’

‘Sadie!’ I exclaimed recognizing Sadie Rancher’s thick blonde hair up close.

I ran towards her as fast as I possibly could. I could feel my cheeks heating up from all the movement.

I reached Sadie’s body, and was extremely horrified. Her entire stomach and legs were ripped to shreds. You could actually see the organs, it was mortifying. How she was even able to scream for help, let alone breathe, was beyond me.

‘Sadie, oh my gosh.’ I said looking grossed out at her large intestine. I was always very squeamish, and being in a situation like this, didn’t really help much.

‘SOMEONE HELP!’ I yelled, as hard and as loud as my voice would go. I prayed that someone was on their way. In the meantime I called for an ambulance, saying that it was an emergency and that they should hurry up.

I saw a boy with dark brown hair, headed our way. Josh Staples, Sadie’s boyfriend.

‘Oh my god, Sadie,’ Josh said dropping to his knees, and holding Sadie’s hands.

She whispered something that sounded faintly like ‘Josh’.

‘I called an ambulance. They’ll be here soon.’

I walked away, because it was pretty clear that Sadie wasn’t going to make it, and her last few minutes she wanted to spend with her boyfriend, not with me hovering over her shoulder watching their every move.

I also needed some air after witnessing all that blood, and parts.

I saw Regina looking extremely confused, with two paramedics carrying a stretcher behind her.

‘They’re looking for an injured person. The caller said it was an emergency.’ She said squinting her eyes hard at me.

‘She’s right over there,’ I said pointing towards the area where Sadie and Josh were.

‘What’s going on?’ Regina asked, irritated. She hated not knowing what the happs was.

Just then, the two paramedics walked away with Sadie’s remains. Her eyes were closed, and she looked like she was at peace.

‘She’s dead,’ Josh said, and then burst out crying.

It was like something out of a drama movie.

I crouched down on the ground beside him. ‘It’ll be okay, Josh. She’s at peace.’

‘No, she’s not. Didn’t you see what she looks like? Her body was completely messed up.’ He said, sobbing into my jacket.

I rubbed his buff, meaty shoulders. This was so weird. In all my life, I have never been this close to a boy, let alone, an over-achieving jock.

I pushed away the thought, and continued to calm Josh down.

I noticed that Regina had just stood as still as a statue the entire time.

‘Regina?’ I asked looking hard at her.

She blurred out of her daydream, and looked down at me.

‘I think I should alert everybody about what just happened.’ She said, and then walked off.

I kept on telling Josh that things were gonna start looking up, and that he shouldn’t worry, because Sadie was out of pain and in a much better place.

But no matter what I said, he just kept on sobbing into my hair. And I wasn’t a cold heartless person or anything, but I don’t like having my hair cried into. Even if the person who was crying into it was the very dreamy Josh Staples.

 The sky started to darken, which was normal for a town like Earnest Peaks. It rained often, and we experienced storms every second day.

‘A storm’s coming, and the worst place to be during a storm, is under trees. Let’s start walking back to town, and then we can catch a bus home. We better start moving, if we wanna get out of here before it starts to rain.’ I said looking at Josh, and at my poor wet hair.

‘I have a car. Let’s go home.’ He said, wiping the dry oak leaves off of his jeans. His shoes were covered in mud, but he trudged on.

I stumbled over my feet and followed the burly jock to his car.