Silent Night

Chapter Twelve

Chapter twelve

After Daniel left, Ginger and I both sat in silence. It had to been at least an hour of a seemingly never ending quietness. I stared at blood stains on the wall, thinking of who it could of belonged. My mind conjured up fake people and how they got here. I liked to think it belonged to horrible criminals and we were just the unlucky kids to stumble upon the land.

"I don't think it's your fault." Ginger broke me from my own thoughts. I turned my head to her, confusion written on my face.

"What?"

"What he said about Jackson." Just the name nipped at my heart. "I don't think it's your fault."

My head rested on my knees, looking at her from a weird angle. "Maybe it is my fault. I killed their guy Ken and now he's being punished for it."

She reached her hand over, I had no idea what she was up to until her hand collided with the back of my head. "Don't think like that. That guy was going to kill Lainey, you did what you had to do."

"Didn't mean you have to hit me." I rubbed the back of my head where she had hit. "Bitch." I mumbled under my breath. She reached up to hit me again. "Sorry." My hands went up in defense.

"That's what I thought." She smiled. A frown returned my face thinking of our situation of being stuck here. "Don't beat yourself up over it. I'm sure he's fine."

"And if he's not?" My mind couldn't help but think of the worst at the moment.

"Why are you being such a negative Nancy? I get we're in a pretty shitty situation, but just think about if we got out of here. You have to have the mindset of a positive person or else you won't get shit done."

I thought about. Why was I so negative? "I guess it helps keep away the disappointment."

"Doesn't mean you have to be so depressing to be around."

"What am I suppose to do?" I could feel the tears build up, my vision became blurred and I blinked it all away, small salty droplets of tears falling from my eyelashes.

She scooted closer to me, putting her arm around my shoulder. "Hope for the best, but expect the worst. Just because you expect bad to happen, doesn't mean you can't have hope."

Hope for the best, but expect the worst. The words instilled into my head, slowly becoming a motto to stay by until I got out of here.

"I have a question." Ginger looked at me, waiting for me to ask away. "What is the first thing you're going to do when we get out?" A grin appeared on her face as I spoke.

"That's the spirit." Then she thought about my question. "Like I said, hug my sister. What about you?"

"I'm going to get my ass home and hug my parents as tight as I can." I closed my eyes thinking of the embrace of my mom and dad. "Then I'm going to get these assholes arrested. I want to see them rot in prison."

"I want them to get the death sentence." She remarked. "Too bad they don't have the electric chair anymore."

"Maybe they can make an exception for these people." I thought of every single of them being electrocuted, it warmed my soul. "My parents think I'm here having the time of my life." The thought of them not knowing what was really going on made my heart tighten. "By the time they realize something's wrong, it may be too late."

"Watch the negativity."

"I'm just being honest. I want to get out of here, but I can't help but think I'm not going to make it out of here." My eyes focused on my feet, they were so dirty. The bottoms of my feet were close to black from all the running on the dirt in the forest I did.

"We'll get out of here." Her voice held confidence while her expression told a different story.

The creak of the door came again. Both of our heads snapped to the door to see Daniel bringing in some food. Until now, I didn't realize how hungry I was. My stomach growled at the food. "Step back. If you try any sneaky shit, you'll be starved. Or I'll kill you. Really whatever mood I'm in. Feeling a bit frustrated.. Maybe I can take it out on one of you girls with my trusty pocketknife if one of you girls decide to slip up. It's your choice." He looked at us both, seeing if we'd decide to challenge him. I backed up along with Ginger. "Good decision." He grabbed the keys, unlocking the door then shoving the food in before securely locking it again. "Eat up." He snickered then left the room.

We both stuffed the food into our mouths. It was just a sandwich, but it felt like a five star meal at a fancy restaurant. As my food came to an end, I felt sad and satisfied at the same time. A weird feeling hit my stomach and I began to feel tired.

"Are you feeling tired too?" Ginger asked, laying her body on the ground.

"The fucker.." I stopped to yawn. "The fucker drugged us." My voice drifted as I spoke and I fell asleep against the cold metal cage.

Sunlight beamed on my skin, warmth covered me as I woke up on the ground of the forest floor. Everything seemed more vibrant, the trees danced in the wind, the wind sung as it passed by me. My lips curved into a smile. I didn't care where I was, but I was out of the cage that made me feel like a wild animal.

"Marla." I could hear my mother's voice. "Marla, come here sweetie." I turned around trying to find where she was.

"Where are you? I can't see you." My body turned in circles not seeing a single person.

"Stop." She ordered. I did as she said. "Now walk forward." My feet moved, but it didn't feel as if I was walking. It more so felt like I was floating my way to my mother. "Keep going, you're almost there."

Her voice encouraged me to keep going. The tight squeezing feeling on my heart released, I felt real happiness at the thought of seeing my mom. It kept me going.

"Stop." She said once more and I did. Silhouettes stepped out from behind the trees, walking towards me.

The faces were familiar. Daniel. Ken. Leo. Jace. Maria.

My heart stopped.

"Aw, what's wrong? Got you all excited to see mommy and look.. No mommy." He laughed at my disappointment. Anger flashed through me, I ran at him. He brought out his pocketknife, my feet unable to stop before my abdomen penetrated the knife, sinking into my skin as smooth as a butter, but more painful than anything I've ever been through.

My body fell in front of them, they all laughed and taunted me, taking their turns stabbing the bloody knife into me. Before I knew it was I dead, just a ghost looking down at myself all soaked in the liquid that left my body as I was stabbed.

"Marla. Marla. Marla." They chanted.

Suddenly, my eyes snapped open being awaken by the sound of someone saying my name. "Marla!" Through the drowsiness, my eyes focused in a blonde girl. A blonde girl by the name of Mouse. "She's awake." I looked around, sadness hitting me as I seen I was in the cage again. Stupid dreams.

Mouse, Ginger, Lainey, and Charlie sat around me, watching me emerge from my sleep.

"You were caught." Disbelief laced my words. They nodded their heads at me. "How?"

"They surrounded me when they found me by the big tree we took a picture by." Mouse started to sniffle. "I failed you guys."

"You tried your best." Ginger rubbed Mouse's arm. "These psychos know the forest better than us, they had the advantage. It wasn't a fair chance to start with."

"But I was so close." She frowned.

"They cheated." Lainey blurted. "I won, but they didn't let me get away.

"What happened?" I asked her, ears open for her story.

"They were chasing me and I found my way out. I was out of the forest and I kept running down the side of the mountain. I didn't have the keys so the car was useless. As I got halfway down, I stopped to take a break. They weren't near me anymore, I had won their stupid fucking game and they didn't like it. They captured me while I took a break and brought me back. Why.. Wh-why c-couldn't they let m-me go?" She began to hyperventilate.

"It's okay." My hands rubbed her back. "Breathe. In, out. In, out."

As her breaths turned back to normal, she started to speak again. "It's not going to be okay. We're stuck here. No one knows where we are and I'm exhausted. I want to cry, but I can't. I'm too frustrated to cry." Her hands ran through her hair, hands shaking. "And I don't know if my brother is okay or not."

"I'm sorry." I tried to calm her down. Truth is, she just needed to let it all out before she could remain calm.

"No. I'm sorry.. It's just, I'm not good at dealing with bad things." She stood up. "I just need a hug."

That's when I stood up and hugged her tightly. "I do too." The hug lasted until we both decided it was time to pull away. Mouse looked over at me, her eyes filled with fear. I made my way to her, also bringing her tiny frame in for a hug. She cried on my shoulder, letting all the tears out. I wanted to cry with her, but kept it all pent up, she needed the embrace of someone she thought was strong, emotional-wise. I wanted to be that person for her.

After the hug, I looked down at Charlie, he hadn't spoken a word since I was woken up. He stared past us, looking directly at the wall.

"Charlie." He looked up at me. "Are you okay?"

He looked away, expressionless. "You want to know how they got me?" All of us crowded around him, curious of his story. "It's kind of a fucked up story."