You Killed Him

To The Rescue

I didn’t dare to find out whose footsteps I heard but instead, I pushed myself against the walls, unsure of what to expect.  I assumed it was close to midnight because the temperature had already dropped. Could it be Colin? Would he be in the forest at this time of the night?

I heard some leaves rustling, accompanied by the sound of twigs breaking. Then, total silence. The air was still, no sign of movement outside. I was completely alone again. I strained my ears to listen for more footsteps - nothing. I heard nothing at all, not even the chirping of crickets, probably because I was breathing so heavily.

 I assured myself that I was hearing things because I was sleep deprived. Relieved, I made myself comfortable and fell asleep, hugging my bag.

After I woke up, I packed my stuff and prepared to return home. “Enough of nature, I need to bring this thing back to life”, I thought to myself, clutching my phone in my hand. Just as I was about to step out of the tree house, I heard footsteps but this time, steadier and louder, approaching fast. I couldn’t be imagining it again.

The door to the tree house swung open before I could think of an escape plan. But really, there wasn’t any choice. I couldn’t have climbed out the window which was the size of an iPad. When I saw someone’s head entering the tree house, I slammed the door against it. There was a loud thud as the body reached the ground. Satisfied, I quickly climbed down the steps and took a huge leap over the unconscious person.

I wanted to run away as far as I could from that person but a part of me wanted to know who it was. I turned over the body which was faced down. “Nate?” I gasped.

What was he doing there? I felt so bad for slamming the door in his face. I rushed to the stream nearby to collect some water. After splashing it on him, he regained consciousness, choking slightly. “Kayla, what happened?” he asked, confused. I laughed nervously. “Are you okay?”

I apologized a few times for knocking him out, explaining that I really didn’t know it was him. “It’s okay. It was partially my fault for not announcing that I was looking for you”, he said, rubbing his forehead.

“What brings you here?” I asked him.

“You.”

I raised my eyebrows, expecting a longer answer.

“You didn’t go home last night. I was worried about you. So I went looking for you and I found myself venturing this part of the woods.”

“Was it you? Last night, I mean. Were you here in the middle of the night?”

“Umm, no. I just came this morning, right before this happened”, he said, gesturing to the swell on his head.

“I said I’m sorry”, I cried, feeling really guilty.

“I just had to”, he laughed.

“Back to the main question, how did you know I was here?”

“I didn’t. I just took a wild guess. Lucky me?”

“Yeah, lucky you”, I said. “Let’s get out of here.”

As we were walking along an uneven path, a slight breeze blew, causing my hair to frizz and tangle. By the time I was done putting my hair back in place, the wind ruffled it again. Frustrated, I pressed down on my head, making sure my hair doesn’t get messed up again and that was when I heard a giggle from Nate.

“Pfft. I’ll never understand – girls and their hair”, he said. “It’s none of your business, so you don’t have to try so hard”, I replied with a smile.

The whole time we were walking, something was bothering me, mentally. I had to get it out. “Nate, can I ask you a question?”

“Sure. Shoot.”

“How did you find me just now?”

“Like I said before, I was wondering around and I stumbled across that little place.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“Why not?” he asked. “What do you think happened?”

“You couldn’t have known about that place. Only 2 others know about it. You had to know where you were going. There is close to nothing else around here other than trees, a stream and more trees”, I said confidently.

“Really? That’s what you think?”

“Yes. So either you tell me what’s really going on and how you found me or I’m not taking another step”, I told him as I laid my stuff of the ground and sat on a short tree stump.

“So what if someone else told me where you’d be? What’s important is that you’re safe and you can go home now”, he said, avoiding my question. I raised my eyebrows and said, “That’s it? I didn’t get an answer.” I hoped I made it clear that I was ready to spend another night there if I didn’t get what I wanted.

“Oh for crying out loud”, he said as he squatted next to me, “Vincent said I might find you here if you ever ran away.”

“W-w-what? Vincent? He told you that? But how? When did you talk to him? Don’t mess with me, Nate. It’s not funny. If you think making things up like this will get me going, then you’re wrong”, I said, feeling confused. What did he take me for, a dummy?

“Okay, Kayla, you asked for it. So, Vincent and I, we know each other. I mean, we used to.”

“You knew him? How is that possible? Why haven’t you told me?” I said, feeling surprised and slightly mad that he kept it from me.

“Just hear me out, okay? We were really close friends. Sometimes, he would talk about you and how his childhood was with you. He told me about the tree house – that tree house, where both of you and Colin would hang out and play around when you were kids. He said you loved that old place and you felt safest when you’re in there. And that’s how I found you.”

-----This chapter is relatively short. Heh. It’s taking a little longer than I thought for my ideas to come together. But I’ll keep updating every 10 days (I hope). Thanks for reading tho.