Forest

Chapter 2- Trees

          I woke up from my alarm with my head on Chris's chest. I was happy but surprised that it wasn't just a good dream. I smiled to myself as Chris got up from the sound of my alarm.

"What time is it?" Chris said groggily while stretching.

"4:30am you dork, Sorry about my alarm by the way, I usually wake up early to take a shower and get ready." I replied, yawning and stretching myself.

"No don't worry about it, it's fine. Anywho, I should probably be heading home anyway, before my mom goes to wake me up and freaks out when I'm not there." Chris tells me with a smile.

"I'll walk you." I tell him with a smile, "I don't want you walking all that way by yourself."

"If you insist, madam," He replied in his morning voice with a small smirk.

As I reached the bottom of the ladder, I noticed that it was very foggy and gloomy, like it had just rained. Chris noticed too as he reached the ground, and we both got chills because of the eerie vibe.

Chris broke the silence of us just standing there by saying, "Come on, let's go.... Wait, no. Ruby, if you walk me, then you'll walk back by yourself. I don't want you getting hurt."

"I'll be fine, I can kick ass if it need be" I retorted, "Besides, I've walked this path so many times, I could sprint all the way to my room with my eyes shut, so if anything does happen I have an advantage." I conclude, and while Chris tries to protest I just ignore him and continue to stroll on the oh-so familiar passage to his house.

As we approached his doorway, there was a sudden breeze of cool air that just added creepiness to the whole situation. Chris and I shivered as a chill ran down our spines; a sudden feeling of misfortune fell upon me.'Something doesn't feel right, again. I still have to talk to Chris about it,' I thought.

Chris unlocked his door, then turned to look at me. "Hey, be careful getting home, alright? I still want to have a best friend whom I can chase around in the woods and do stupid British accents with," Chris told me kind of sadly, but then he perked up and said with a smirk, "Besides, who would I have to spray soda on?"

We both laughed. It felt good to laugh with Chris, he always knew how to make you forget all your problems while also making you forget how to breathe.

"Yeah, that's true, I'll be fine, don't worry," I told him, but I also wanted to hear it myself.

"Whatever you say, Ruby. I'll see you in a few hours, goodnight...or morning....or whatever," Chris replied with a small chuckle.

We hugged each other goodbye, and I was on my way back to my house to get ready for school.

I was walking up the driveway to my front door, when I heard a rustling in the bushes to the right of me. I stopped and shivered as another chill went down my spine. I felt the blood rush from my face. I slowly turned my head towards the noise, mentally preparing myself for whatever it could be. Finally, as I looked down at the bushes, I saw a rabbit hop out and head towards the forest. I let out the breath I didn't realize I was holding and chuckled as I realized what had just happened. I stood in the driveway giggling for a few more moments before I headed inside to start getting ready.

I entered the house, locked the door behind me, then made my way to the bathroom and turned on the shower. I headed to my room while it was warming up to grab the clothes I felt like wearing to try to impress my crush at school. I know I shouldn't go out of my way to try and impress him, I mean, I have known him for a long time and knew he would like me for me, if he felt the same way of course.

I decided against over analyzing anything and just got my clothes and headed to the shower. I put on my Pandora just before I got in so that it wouldn't be quiet and I would be able to sing to some of my favorite songs.

Just as I was rinsing the strawberry scented shampoo out of my long, wavy, blonde hair and singing the chorus of my favorite song, my phone started to ring, making the music I had playing stop. I sighed in irritation as I wiped my face free of soap, so that I could open my eyes and see who was calling me. As I stuck my head out of the shower curtain and looked over to where my phone was, I noticed I already had 2 missed calls and 10 messages from Summer. I was quite surprised to see she was up this early, but figured something had happened considering she was calling me non-stop.

I quickly finished my shower, wrapped my hair and body in a towel and headed to my phone. After seeing I had 5 missed calls now, I shook my head and called Summer back. When she picked up, I couldn't understand a word she was saying, she was speaking so fast and jumbling her words together, so I just let her rant like that for a few minutes so that when she was calmed down a bit she could tell me again, but this time so I could understand.

Finally, when she was calm, I asked her to tell me what happened.

"I don't know, I just woke up from a nightmare and it was so realistic. I had to call you to make sure you were okay. I still have to call Chris and make sure he's alright. Oh man it was bad," Summer said with a few cracks in her voice, "I don't even know. Anywho, off that subject, I'm sorry if I woke you up. Also, thanks for telling me you and Chris weren't going to be at school yesterday." She concluded with sarcasm, going back to her normal self.

I let out a short chuckle, "No, you didn't wake me up, I was in the shower and I would have but it was a last minute kind of thing. It blanked from my mind if I'm honest with you," I half lied, I would have told Summer the whole truth, but then she would have ended up questioning Chris and it would have turned into a big mess.

After another 5 minutes talking with Summer, I told her that I was going to go finish getting ready and that I would see her in a few hours. I continued the music and quietly sang along as I got ready. I put on my clothes then went back to the bathroom to do my hair. I decided to wear it natural, so I dried it then put a few frizz ease products in so that it wouldn't get too crazy. Once I finished my hair, I put on my beanie, mascara, went and grabbed my bag and phone, then headed down stairs.

When I got downstairs, I put my bag on the ground near the door and headed to the kitchen so that I could make myself some pancakes for breakfast. Once I finished making the pancakes, I grabbed myself a glass of milk, noticing a note on the fridge from my mom stating that shed be gone for the next 2 weeks for business and that she's sorry but she loves me and she'd be back as soon as she could. I sighed as I sat down and ate. Just as I finished my breakfast, I looked at the time and realized I would be late picking up Chris if I didn't leave soon, so I got up, put my dishes in the sink, then went to quickly brush my teeth. When I had finished brushing my teeth, I ran out of the bathroom, put my phone in my pocket, put my bag on my back and ran out the door closing and locking it behind me. I ran for a good 5 minutes before slowing to a walk, so that way, I would still be able to look halfway decent, and not be late picking up Chris.

When I arrived at Chris's, I noticed that he was sitting on his front steps. When he saw me he got up with a smile on his face and headed towards me. I smiled back at him and decided to tell him about everything I've been thinking and feeling the past few days.

10 minutes later

We were at my locker so that I could get my books when I continued the conversation, "...I... I don't know, all I know is that I feel something is wrong, like I know where you stand... Where everyone stands. It's hard to explain, I mean it's like, you're all silent. You all want to be found, but you're all hiding, standing in the trees...I know where you stand, silent in the trees." And that was the last thing I was able to say to Chris before the bell rang and we went our separate ways to go to class.