Riddle Me This

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

I followed Blake through the thick mass of forest trees. Blurs of brown and green passing my vision as he tugged tighter on my sweaty palms. I retightened my hold of his hand, afraid that I would be lost in here if he moved to quick. The cold February air tickled my bare neck, sending shivers up my spine. In the distance, I could hear the small roar of cars as they zoomed across the highway.

It was weird to me. All those cars, those people, they were going on with their lives, not even aware of what is happening to us. Well, almost everyone was oblivious to this. All except the asshole that sent the letter, setting up this cruel game.

If there even was a game. Part of me hoped that this was all some sick joke. I hoped that we could all just wake up tomorrow and find another letter with ‘Just Kidding’ written on it. But another part of me, a much stronger part, knew that this wasn’t some joke. Somehow, I knew that whoever wrote these letters made their intentions clear.

He wanted us dead and he was going to have a hell of a time doing it.

After I got over the initial shock of what the dreaded letter brought me, Blake took me home. That's where we found it, on my front porch, wedged between the small cracks of the wooden bench to the right of my mom’s ceramic frogs; my very own letter. Apparently this Mr. Anonymous guy sent the same letter to everyone involved, and now we were going to meet with Cody and everyone else.

"Do you remember where it is?" I asked Blake as I scrapped past a tight space, between two bushes.

"Yeah, he said in the clearing, which is just up ahead." He said back to me.

I tightened my grip as we continued through the forest in silence. The only noise was the crunching of our feet, landing on the twigs and fallen leaves. I focused my attention on my feet, my smudged up Converse stomping across the forest ground, which looked like a swirl of orange, red, and green. 

The wrinkled piece of paper in my back pocket felt as if weighed an extra one hundred pounds. It made my short legs move in slow motion compared to Blake's fast pace. 

Up ahead, I could barely make out the four figures of my friends. I could barely differentiate them from the other.  They were just faceless figures dressed in pure black. Except, I immediately spotted Jessica, who was in her usual bright colors. It was nice to see that she still had her style despite the situation.

"Blake? Is that you?" We heard a gruff whisper ask. The voice sounded as if it next to Jessica's bright figure.

"Yeah it's us," Blake answered.

All of a sudden I felt arms wrap around my waist and before I knew it, I was lifted up into the air. I could feel the arms tighten around me and I could feel my lungs loose air.

"I...can't..." I tried to say.

"Dude, let go of her." I heard Blake yell.

"Oh, sorry, Alisha." The husky voice answered, which after a couple of seconds until I caught my breath, I realized that it was Jericho. "I was just glad to see you both."

"It’s ok, Jericho. I'm glad you cared." I patted him on the shoulder. I heard Blake snort next to me as Jericho walked back to Jessica.

Once I got used to the lighting, my eyes adjusted. Small lights were shining from the distance, which I assumed was from the highway. On top of the lights the highway was providing for us, our only other source of light was from a flashlight that Jericho was holding and cell phone lights.

I took a look around and saw the figures of Quinn and Cody sitting close together with their heads almost touching. They were talking furiously, while Cody kept pointing to the piece of paper clutched tightly in his hands. Cody's dull brown eyes looked worried and his usual russet hair was in a total mess. Quinn on the other hand, still looked the same. Her dark hair fell against her shoulder in small waves against her porcelain skin. A couple feet from Cody and Quinn, stood Jericho, who was now hugging Jessica in his strong arms. He was gently stroking her blonde hair in small pats.