the girl called mystery

• 4 •

"We've been circling the same group of trees for hours now. You should've just let me lead the way," I groaned in agony. Colin made me follow him back to school which makes no sense to me. I am the one who has been here before. People tend to disappoint me more and more with each action they take.

"I knew where I was going. I promise you."

I was on the verge of slamming him into a tree, "Keyword: knew. That makes it past tense. You have no idea what you're doing right now."

"I got it, Mystery. I can do this," Colin put his hands over my shoulders like he was giving me a pep talk.

I swiped away his hands, "Don't touch me."

"Okay, okay. I'll take note of that," Colin took a deep breath, "Can you please lead the way? It's very clear to you that I have no idea where I'm going."

"I thought you'd never ask."
My mind instantly flashed back to the first time I roamed these woods. I felt the uneasiness that I once endured when I made my first steps beyond those trees.

*flashback*

Dear diary,
Momma and Daddy are having another one of their arguments tonight. This time they're fighting about Momma leaving home for a while. She was going to take me, Kennedi, Andrew, and Alexander with her to Aunt Jen's house. My parents have been pretty unhappy for a while. I've been listening to some of their conversations and Momma brings up divorce a lot. I wonder how long she's felt this way.
- Write to you Later,
Mystery

"Get your fucking hands off of me!"

I shivered. Usually, my parents don't cuss because they know that we can hear. I can just feel that something is wrong, like really wrong. I walked over to Kennedi's bed in our room to make sure that she was still asleep. Once I knew that she hadn't woken up, I put on a jacket over my pajamas and slipped on my favorite pair of boots.

Momma and Daddy were in their bedroom, so I knew that I'd be able to leave without them noticing. My heart is pounding as I make my exit outside of the backdoor. The wind is howling which only makes my fear worse. My mind never seems to slow down to think properly about what I'm about to do.

"Okay, Mystery, you can do this," I took in a deep breath and headed into the dark cluster of trees.

*end of flashback*

"What are you thinking about?" Colin asks.

"Hm? What?"

"You just looked like you were in deep thought or something. You make a face when you do that."

"Oh, well, yeah I was thinking about something," I tried to play it off as if I was just daydreaming about something nice. But he said something that took me by surprise, "What do you mean by 'you make a face when you do that?' Are you watching me or something?"

Colin turned a bright shade of red, "Um, what? No, no, no. Of course, I don't watch you. I mean, you're pretty attractive so I notice you quite a bit, but it's not like I'm staring, you know?" Colin continued to ramble and I couldn't hide my smile.

My interest was sparked, "I know I'll regret saying this, but you think I'm attractive?"

"Yeah, who doesn't?"

I tilted my head to the side. This is all new information to me. From my experiences with the people at my school, I'd guess that no one saw me that way.

"I'm intrigued. Tell me more."

"Well, I don't know what you want me to say. But can we please get back to the problem at hand?" Colin's face returned back to its usual color.

I nodded, "Oh right. Yeah. Of course."
Inside, I anxiously wanted to learn more, but my focus shifted to getting us out of the woods.