Learning A Lake ✔

- Fifteen -

♢ Laura ♢

"Shit, she's waking up, let's get out of here." I heard a voice echo. The voice was followed by footsteps which became gradually distant until they were completely gone. Then it hit me. The pain. Everything throbbed.

I gradually came to my senses and realised my feet were not touching the ground and I couldn't move my body. I was upside down.

The next thing I noticed was something warm dripping off my face and hitting the floor. I squinted one eye open, which for some reason hurt my face and I noticed that the sun was now setting. I wanted to scream, but nothing came out. My mouth was taped shut.

The warm liquid that was dripping from my face was blood. I became light headed just before everything went distant and I slipped into darkness once more.

♢ Ryan ♢

"What do you mean, she's missing?" Rhi stood behind her desk in the camp office.
"I was going down the mountain bike track with her, I got ahead of her and she never came out after me. I got worried and wet to find her, all I found was her bike and some fresh blood droplets." I showed her the photos on my phone. I was still panting after sprinting to the office. I was starting to really panic.

I wanted to find Laura myself and make sure she was okay but the girls said otherwise and made us go and speak to Rhi first. Laura could be in real danger and Rhi needed to get a search party together. 

"We need to find her!" Katie said with urgency.
"I know, I know." Rhi said with a frown before smashing the fire alarm button, causing every alarm in camp to go off. "Get to sports pitches and I will deal with this." She finished before leaving the room, carrying florescent coats and mobile walky talkies.

We did as Rhi said and walked to the pitches.

I knew exactly who was behind this, but there was no way of proving it. That girl always knew how to cover her own back and it really fucked me off.

---

"One of our fellow camp members has gone missing." Rhi announced through the mega-phone. All the campers fell silent. "Our main priority is finding her and making sure she isn't hurt. Her name is Laura Weller and was last seen on the mountain bike track around half an hour ago." Rhi said with a serious tone.

Rachel and Katie were getting really worried about their best friend. I tried to reassure them.
"We will find her." I said sternly with emphasis on the 'will'.

I watched as Rhi said something to Harley, he replied with a nod before Rhi lifted up the mega-phone again. "Everyone else is here right now and has been accounted for. All of the other staff members will be searching the grounds to see if there has been an intruder and to see if they can find Laura. You all need to go to the sports hall and stay there with Tony until further notice." She finished and then put the mega-phone down.

Everyone started to file towards the sports hall. I stood still in hesitation.
"Come on, Ryan?" Oscar asked. I shook my head and walked towards the camp staff who were putting fluorescent jackets on.

I couldn't just sit there when she could be in danger, she is too important.

"Ryan, we don't need your assistance, please go to the sports hall." Harley said before I could get a word in.
"Please." I begged. "I want to help find her, Laura means a lot to me." I said with hurt in my eyes. Harley looked towards Rhi who said. "Fine, put one of these on." I was thrown a fluorescent jacket.

Everyone had disappeared into the sports hall and we all set off with torches In hand, the sun was nearly set so it was getting hard to see.

---

Harley and I went back to where I found her bike, I showed him the branch that was through her wheel.
"This was definitely done on purpose." He said with a frown and walked off between the trees.
"Where are you going?" I asked. He was walking and starring at the ground.

"It looks like somethin- someone was dragged through here." He pointed towards the ground in front of him where the dirt and surrounding shrubs had been disturbed.
"I guess she isn't as good at covering things up as I thought." I mumbled under my breath.
"What did you say?" Harley turned towards me.

"I think I know who did it." I blurted out. "But, I have no way of proving It."
"We can sort who did it later, our main priority is to find her, yes?" Harley said. I nodded and continued to walk with him.

Worried is an understatement right now. I've broken my promise to Lacey already. I let Laura get hurt. I'm such a fucking idiot, why didn't I stay with her! I wanted to kick myself for being so stupid.

My train of thought was cut off when Harley's walky-talky buzzed to life.
"Harley, you need to get here now." I stopped in my tracks and paid close attention to the voice on the other end of the walky-talky. "At the high ropes."

After hearing those four words I don't think I have ever ran so fast in all my life.

It took us around one minute of flat out sprinting through the trees before we made it to where a few of the camp staff were standing. They were all looking up and when I followed their gaze I froze. Was she hurt? Was she dead? I zoned out from the shouting that was occurring around me and I fell to my knees.

She was hanging there, tied up, upside down, lifeless, covered in blood.

"Harley, you need to get her down!" Tasha, the nurse shouted in a panic, and with that, Harley climbed up the tree nearest to Laura with ease and made his way onto the high ropes course, which she was hanging from.

He loosened the ropes that tied her to the wood planks and lowered her towards the ground. I still couldn't move.

Rhi and Cody took the weight of her body and set her down on the floor before cutting all of the ropes and tape from around her. There was tape over her mouth.

I came to my senses and ran over, practically pushed the staff members away from her. I knelt down and held her blood stained head in my shaking hands.
"I'm so sorry." I was actually crying now. I stroked her cheek. "You're going to be okay."

Tasha came over and checked her pulse. "We need to get her to hospital." She snapped towards the other staff members.

For a moment her eyes glinted open and looked directly at me before slowly closing again, almost as if she had heard my voice. She relaxed and drifted into unconsciousness again. 

That's when I realised something, I'm falling for Laura Weller.