The Devil's Circle

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Kayla's POV

After breakfast, we all sat around the fire ashes.

"Whoa, Michelle, did you actually eat that?!" I ask in shock. She hates bread, therefore, hates sandwiches.

"Yes.. I was hungry.." She states.

We all laugh over the light breeze.

"Whatcha guys wanna do today?" Kareana asks.

"I vote we walk through the woods and explore some," Aly offers.

"I second that motion!" I say like I was standing at an official meeting.

"Oh, Kayla," Kareana says, shaking her head.

"No, but seriously. We have to go back in a few days. I want to look around before then," I explain.

"Is anyone else creeped out over the fact we parked and started our trip in the middle of an abandoned park?" Michelle questions.

"Not really," Cole says.

"I think it's cool," Aaron states.

"Ditto," Aly agrees.

"I never really gave much thought to it," Kareana admits.

I stay silent.

The park is the last of my worries. I want to know more about what's going on here. And why I have a bruise on my leg from a 'dream'. I woke up, didn't I? But the bruise. It just doesn't add up.

I'm in the middle of my thoughts when I realize everyone is staring at me.

"Kayla, are you okay? You've been awfully quiet since we foun- um I-I mean w-woke you up this morning," Michelle stutters, with a worried look on her face.

"Guys, I'm fine. Seriously. Just drop it," I snap.

They all look at me in shock. I'm usually not like this. Rude. I don't know what came over me, but I'm tired of them asking. I know it's because they care, but I don't even know what's going on myself. I'll tell them when I know, and when I'm ready. Until then, they need to let it drop.

My head starts pounding out of nowhere. One minute I'm fine, and the next I'm grabbing my head due to extreme pain. I let out a yelp.

"Are you okay?" Aly asks.

"Yeah, just a headache," I say.

My lies are extremely obvious. Everyone knows I'm lying. I know they know I'm lying. But, I don't know the truth myself, so I have to pretend a headache is all of my troubles.

"Can we go explore the woods now?" I ask, impatient.

"Sure," Cole answers.

We put the non-ice filled, blue cooler back into Cole and Aaron's tent. They whined to get the biggest one, so we made a deal. If we let them have the tent, they had to leave the food in there.

We started walking toward the woods in silence. All that was heard was the occasional crunching of our shoes, crushing fallen twigs and leaves.

We got to the edge of the trees. I'm shaking and scared. I look over at my friends and catch them studying me. I take a deep breath, and step in.

So far, nothing looks odd or familiar. To the left is a creek, running deeper into the woods. I'm guessing the stream goes out to the lake somehow.

***

We've been walking for about 40 minutes. Still, nothing seems out of the ordinary. There have been a few rabbits that have jumped out, therefore making some of our heart rates increase for a few seconds, but that's pretty much it.