Not Today

Chapter 8

I made a list of who my characters are inspired by if anyone wondered and wanted to be able to picture them

*11:34pm*

'What is that?' Ruby yells point into the distance. I squint my eyes to get a better look to see a beam of light flicking in and out of the trees. 'Maybe they can help' she says and we all rush out of the car.

We run as fast as possible, leaving Josh in the car so we can get help fast. I keep my eyes on the flashes of light bending around the trees in order to know where I'm going. 'Hey!' I shout and everyone joins in.
'Hey excuse me!' We shout as we get closer and the light comes to a halt and shines at us. We begin to slow down now the light is shining directly in our faces, I hold my hand slightly above my face, shielding the intensity and squint my eyes to see the holder of the light. It looks like a man.
'Are you kids alright?' He says and we inch closer to him to get a better look. He sounds like an old man 'what are you doing out here?' He questions us again.
'Hold on' I whisper to them, now only a meter away from this stranger. I can now make out his face. He's an old man with white hair. His face looking slightly red, but it's hard to tell when being blinded by the light.
'Do you mind?' I say politely, gesturing towards the torch, he lowers the light from our faces and I can begin to make out that the red on his face is actually blood. My eyes widen at the sight of this man. Scratches and scars covering his face, resembling a Freddie Krueger. I look at Ruby and Tyler who have also noticed the same thing. Once the man catches on to us he raises the torch so it is shining in our faces again.
'Our friend' Tyler begins and gestures back to the car. The man shines his torch in that direction and nods his head in understanding 'he's really sick, an ambulance was called hours ago and they haven't turned up' he carries on 'we don't know what to do, our car has broken so we can't leave' he explains 'do you know where we can hire a car or something at this hour?' He asks desperately and the man just stares at us for a couple of seconds.

A silent couple of moments pass of us just awaiting the mans answer. He simply shakes his head and points his torch towards our cabin.
'Why don't you kids just go back inside and there will be a place open in the morning' the mans says
'We can't go back inside because-' Ruby begins making me nudge her to stop in potentially getting us arrested. We don't know who this man is.
'Because?' He presses and shines the torch back at us intensely
'We've locked ourselves out' Tyler says forcing a laugh 'you see, at home we all have non-latch doors and can just close it and open it again, we aren't used to a door like that' he says laughing again and me and Ruby join in on the forced laughter.
'Kids these days' the man huffs and looks around 'it's not safe in these woods for you' he says making me furrow my eyebrows in confusion. How is it not safe? I look at Ruby who is equally as confused 'there could be bears or anything lurking in the dark' he says, his American accent evident. 'I've got to get back, my wife is waiting' he explains and an idea pops to me 'can we get a ride with you to the nearest hospital?' That way we can get a paramedic to come back for Josh. The man shakes his head
'No can do' he says and turns around without giving us a reason and walks back to his car.

We are left in the middle of the woods, confused and scared of what's going to happen. We stand here for a couple of minutes before walking back to the car. As we get closer I begin to notice that Josh is no longer in there.
'Where is he?' I panic asking them like they would know anymore than I do. They both shrug their shoulders and furrow their eyebrows.
'This is way too much drama for one night' Ruby sighs and we begin to look for Josh.

*00:03*

After about fifteen minutes of looking for Josh we are on the verge of giving up completely. How could this happen to us? Haven't we had enough stress from A Levels. We are only 18, we don't deserve this!
'Get out of here' a familiar voice says from behind me. I whip around to see Josh stood there still, covered in blood. His eyes bloodshot and wide, his face scarred and bloody.
'Josh, oh my god' I say in relief 'what has happened to you?' I ask confused but he just stares back at me with a blank expression.
'Get out of here Danni, tell Ruby and Tyler that you found my body and leave otherwise you will end up like me and Georgia' he pleads with me and my stomach drops. 'Something strange is going on here, something out of our control, leave now, walk or something, you'll be safer than around the cabin' he continues. I want to hug him to say one last goodbye but I know that I can't. Tears fill my eyes at the last sight of Josh and I can tell his eyes become glazed over.
'I love you' I say and a tear rolls down my cheek.
'I love you' he says and sighs deeply.

I run out of the woods in floods of tears, my heart racing, my head pounding. I collapse on the floor next to the car and scream. Within seconds Ruby and Tyler are by my side questioning me about what just happened.
'I found him' I manage to say and Ruby jolts up and looks around.
'Oh thank god' she says, the happiest I've seen her since we arrived 'where is he?' She expels with so much hope in her eyes.
'I found his body Ruby' I say and more tears run down my cheeks.
'He's dead'