Lost

Chapter 10

Chapter 10

I moved deeper into the woods behind my house, concentrating on finding something to shoot at. We didn't have many deer back here, but squirrells were fair game.

I crept along the dead leaves and twigs, trying my best not to make any sudden noises. I stepped forward and Crunch! Crunch! Crunch!

I looked down and saw that my foot was on a dead raccoon. I'd crunched it's bones. The thing about this raccoon was that it was ravaged. It stunk to high heaven, too. It looked like half of it had been eaten and the other half chewed up and spit out. It was decaying, flies buzzed around it and a spider crawled out of its eye socket. Dried blood plastered it's fur down and it's guts were oozing out where I'd stepped.

It was so odd. The way it looked. It didn't die natural and there aren't any animals big enough or hungry enough to do something like this.

I kept moving, trying to get the image of the chewed up raccoon out of my head. I felt my phone buzz so I pulled it out and answered without looking, thinking it was Mom.

"Hey, Jake!" Bailey's annoying voice rang in my ear.

Shit.

"Hey, Bailey."

"I've decided to do the Ghost Town Of El Fantasma for our project. I'll need you to come over so you can help, because I'm not doing it all by myself." She said.

I totally forgot about that damn project.

"Why are you up at 5:45 on a Saturday?" I asked.

"I could ask you the same thing."

"I'm hunting, so I'll have to do that project thing later." I told her, leaning against a tree.

"No, you'll do it now. Please, because I'm leaving town for about a week. I'm not doing this assignment by myself." She repeated, "It's your grade, too."

"Fine, Bailey. I'll be there in an hour."

Good grief this girl was annoying.

As soon as I ended the call and put my phone back in my pocket, it started buzzing again.

"What now?" I said, expecting it to be Bailey again.

"Dude, chill." Timmy said.

"Oh, thought you were someone else." I calmed down and started retreating back to my house. Apparently nobody wanted me to hunt today. "What's up?" I ask my best friend.

"I-I got a call like 20 minutes ago. From Rebecca, Stacie's friend." He said.

"Okay?"

"She was trying to get a hold of you but didn't have your number so I told her I would pass along the message. You know me, just being nosy." I heard him give a short, sad laugh.

"What did she say?" I asked, stepping over tree roots and big spiders.

"Stacie's dead." Timmy said, his voice flat.

"Stop bullshitting, man. That's not funny." I stopped next to a half rotted tree. Ants and termites crawled along the surface, making the tree look like it was moving.

"I'm not. Rebecca found her this morning," His voice cracked, "It's crazy as hell dude. To think just last night she hosted a rocking party. Now she's in the morgue with half her face eaten off."

"What?" Half her face eaten off? What the hell? I started fast walking towards my house.

"I know! Rebecca told me and at first I was thinking I misheard her cause of this crazy hangover. But no, man. That's what she told me. They're having her funeral in a couple weeks."

I got to the house and bolted up to my room to change. I'd totally forgotten about Ginny as I stripped down to my boxers and searched for normal clothes. I turned and she was sitting up in my bed, watching me.

"Oh, shit. You scared me." I said.

"Me?" Timmy said through the phone.

"No, uh, meet me at Stacie's house, alright?" I said before hanging up.

I quickly dressed, feeling the blood rush to my face as Ginny continued to watch me.

There was something weird about this girl. She has no shame and she was making me do things I would never usually do. And for some reason I just went with it. Maybe because I was so attention deprived it felt nice to have a girl, other than Mom, tell me what to do.

"Um, I have to go somewhere. Can you stay here for a couple hours?" I asked, pulling my boots back on.

"Where do you have to go?" She said, rubbing her eye with the heel of her hand.

"I don't really know. Something happened with Stacie and I want to see if I can help." I said before Ginny looked away from me.

"Um. What happened?" She asked, not meeting my gaze.

"I'll explain when I get back." I said before leaving.

"Jake, oh my gosh. I can't believe it!" Bailey ran up to me and hugged me tight around the waist. I was still halfway in my car and had to lean on the doorway to keep from toppling is both in.

"What are you doing here Bailey?"

"I heard the news and came to give my condolences. Stacie was like a big sister to me." She began sobbing into my shirt.

I didn't want to push her away. She seemed genuinely distraught. I patted her back and whispered reassurances to her. Timmy stood in the doorway with his eyebrows pulled up. I gave him a 'help me' face and he nodded.

"Bailey. They need you inside." He yelled to her. She reluctantly pulled away from me and slunk back into the house.

I slammed my car door and walked up to Timmy. Anger was setting in along with truth. Stacie was really dead.

"I'm sorry, man." Timmy clapped a hand on my back. "They found her in the backyard. Said it was a bear."

"There are no bears here. You know that." I pulled my phone out and checked the date. April fools wasn't for another 3 weeks. This was actually happening.

"At least she died knowing how much you loved her." Timmy gave me a crooked smile.

"No, she died thinking I didn't like her and that I was with some other random girl."

"Nah, man. After you left, I talked to her. She was all sad and stuff, thinking she lost her chance with you. I told her everything. She was all excited and was gonna call you." He said. Nodding his head like a hero.

"She never did." I sighed. Stacie is dead. My father is dead. Who's next?