The Hunt: The Final Chase (3) (Edited)

Chapter 33

In the morning, nobody knew how to comprehend what had just happened. Clancy didn't even ask because Samuel had done nothing but lie in bed all day because of his back feeling like cracked wood. Jeff had to get a gash treated from stepping on a sharp piece of gravel, and Marceline felt like she'd had a personality change overnight, even though she went back to being quiet and depressed the next morning.

Alex didn't say a word, all she could do was sit outside in one of the lawn chairs and sneak a hard cider with her. Concerned, Marceline came outside a few hours later around eleven thirty. "Hey," Marceline said as she sat in the chair next to Alex. Alex glanced at Marceline, then looked back at the river, "Hey Marcy, you okay?" "I should ask you that, Alex, you've been really tired and sad, you alright?" Marceline asked. Alex rolled her eyes as she sipped the hard cider, "I can't stop thinking about Samantha, Isaiah, and K.C. and, even Johnathan. We were such a powerful bunch of teenagers, but once Samantha died, it all went to shit. And I don't want any of that to happen to us." "I know," Marceline agreed as she let a green leaf bug crawl on her hand. "I know what you mean. We had some shit happen back in Utah that almost made our little friend group fall apart." "What do you mean?" Alex asked.

 "To start off, I was friends with the theater kids because I was in the school play, and one of the kids lived in my neighborhood. Archie was his name. He was about my height, maybe around 5'8 really. He had light skin, dark brown eyes, black hair that was bleached, and he wore the same red flannel shirt to school. He would always walk home with me from school around the beginning winter, but I had no idea he liked me. Well I did, I just didn't give it much thought. But he did something that really pissed me, Isaac, Jeff, and Ivory off. He took me into the forest one day after theater practice because he wanted to tell me something in private. I didn't know that he was going to drag me there to try and make out with me though. We snuck under the broken metal fence behind the school, headed into the forest, and stopped near a large pine tree. I asked him what he wanted to tell me, but he just stood there, biting his bottom lip. I asked him if he was okay, and if we should go back, but that was when he pinned me to the tree and he tried to kiss me. I kept trying to shove him off him me, but his grip got stronger and he ended up kissing me several times on my cheeks and neck, but I tried to make him avoid my lips. But one he bit my lower lip, I told him to stop, but he didn't, and kept trying to kiss me. That was when he bit my lip again and I screamed for help. But then I remembered that we were in the middle of the forest.  I screamed again, and that was when Isaac and Archie's twin brother Vincent came sprinting to us. Once Vincent saw Archie, then the look of fear I had on my face, he socked Archie in the nose, kicked him in the gut, and threw him off of me. I hugged Isaac for what seemed like hours, just bawling my eyes out. Isaac walked me home and stayed until midnight just making sure I was okay. Jeff came over around six thirty that morning to see if I was going to school. I said no because I didn't want to face Archie in AP lit class. When Jeff and Ivory heard the story, they confronted Archie about it, he said it was true and he said that he really liked me. But trying to make out with me in the woods isn't how to say, 'Hey I like you.'"

"What happened next?" Alex asked. Marceline shrugged, "Nothing, Archie felt bad and tried to make it up to the entire group. But since I hadn't been social for a week with the group, they all thought he tried to rape me, but he didn't. So, to make a long fucking story short, Archie apologized to me personally that May and we made up. But of course Vincent was still concerned about if I'd been harmed when Archie tried to make out with me. But I didn't have any bruises or cuts because he wasn't trying to hurt me. But the group almost fell apart because of that one incident." "That sucks balls," Alex said, setting the cider bottle on the left arm rest of the chair. Marceline sighed, "Well, I got over it because I knew that Archie was an awkward person when it came to his emotions." "Like Samuel?" Alex asked, then covered her mouth remembering that Marceline didn't know that Samuel liked her. "What do you mean?" Marceline asked. "Nothing," Alex blurted, trying to keep anything spilling from her mouth. Marceline shrugged and got off the chair and headed into the woods near the bridge. "Where you going?" Alex asked. "To the bridge, I just need some time to be with myself for a while," Marceline called as she walked to the bridge.