The Z Files

Chapter Eight

I opened my eyes to a dark room, where I appeared to be in a corner. I surveyed my surroundings enough to tell there was no door before I spotted her. There, in the opposite corner from mine, stood a blood soaked Aria. Her soulless black eyes dug into me and her rotten jaw hung loosely as she stared at me. She flickered a moment and reappeared closer to me, her tattered white dress shaking with her movements. She flickered again, this time appearing directly in front of me. She opened her mouth and began to speak.

"Why, Skylar? Why did you hurt me?" She said drawing closer and closer, her breath smelling as foul as death.

"I'm sorry, Aria. I-" she wrapped her hand around my throat and dragged me up against the wall.

"I thought you loved me." She squeezed tighter, and escalated her voice, "If you loved me you would have left. You could have left!" She continued screaming, her mangled hair flailing with her anger, "I felt everything! Everything!" Her cries grow more shrill and she starts crying, "No one could hurt someone they love like that!"

"I'm sorry, Aria! I'm sorry!" I choked as my vision blurred, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry." My words fade and soon everything goes black.

I shot awake and fumbled for my lantern. Unzipping my sleeping bag and crawling over to the tent door, opening that as well. From the looks of it, it was around four in the morning and Meliny and I were the only ones awake.

I went back to my tent and began to get ready, since the hopes of me going back to sleep were long since lost. I rolled up my sleeping bag and folded my thermal blanket, then took them to my car, grabbing my suitcase before heading back to my tent.

After quickly throwing on a shirt and jeans, I put the suitcase back and enlisted the help of a groggy Meliny to help me inpitch my tent. We moved on to hers, then took care of the stuff for the fire.

By seven we were sitting in the bed of Luke's truck with food and drinks, waiting for the others to get up as we talked about nothing in particular.

We looked over, hearing a strange sound.

"What the fuck was that?" Meliny asked almost dropping her food.

"I don't know. Should we check it out?"

"Have you seen any horror movie ever? No. we stay here. If it gets closer we have guns."

"Right."

"What are you two doing with all of this gun talk?" Luke asks, emerging from his tent, where a sleeping Mack lays in a sleeping bag.

"Just a strange noise." I say, taking another bite of my cinnamon bread.

"Ah. Scoot over I want food." He climbs into the bed of the truck and grabs a sandwich from the cooler next to us.

By nine everyone is up and ready to head out. We double check for our things then start the long drive out to Anarosa.