Chapter One
I laughed; my friends and I were recounting our sophomore year stories. We were at the carnival, bright lights everywhere we looked. People laughing, kids squealing with delight at all the rides they could choose from. I was eating cotton candy, the sugar filling me with adrenaline. Jenna, Lilly, Stacy, and I were sitting at a picnic table while our boyfriends were getting more tickets. Shane came over and wrapped his arms around my waist; I smiled up at him and kissed his cheek. Travis, Cane and Jesse had all come back and were ready to take on the rides again. We grabbed a hold of our boyfriends before they could run off and chuckling made our way towards the biggest ride, The Diablo, it was frightening, I whimpered and Shane tightened his arm around my waist. We waited in line; behind us Stacy and Cane were making out, Travis and Jenna were just holding hands, talking, and Jesse and Lilly were competing in a thumb wrestling contest, yes, thumb wrestling.
That's when I heard the crying, it was soft. A little girls crying . she had big brown eyes, ponytails and a cute little dress. She was walking next to the line, looking around as if searching for someone or something. She was slowly approaching us, she was playing with her fingers. She looked anxious. I felt sad for her, maybe she got lost or can't find her parents.
"Hey I'm going to check on that little girl she seems lost, I'll be right back." I told Shane, he nodded and gave me a small kiss.
"Lacey where are you going?" Jenna asked, drawing the attention of all my friends.
"Oh, I'm just going to help her." I pointed to the little girl.
"Oh, I'll go with you." She said, she kissed Travis on the cheek and crossed the rope.
"You guys coming?" I asked Stacy and Lilly.
"Yup"
"Hold up." Stacy said and said goodbye to her boyfriend, "Be right back" she told him.
We approached the little girl her face tear stained and pale. I knelt down at my knees and put a hand on her shoulder.
"Hey, um, my name is Lacey and I was wondering if you were lost?" I asked her, she looked scared, but finally she spoke.
"My mommy got lost" she spoke, her words fragile and shaky.
"Oh, where did u last see her?" I asked.
She shrugged her little shoulders. I sighed and took hold of her hands.
"Okay then, how about we go find her?" I told her and tried to smile and be optimistic. I stood up and holding one of her hands, we started walking around. We walked for what seemed like hours but it could only have been a few minutes.
"I saw her!" the little girl exclaimed her eyes wide. She started jumping up and down, a smile illuminating her small face.
"Oh, where?" Jenna asked, smiling at the little girl.
"Right there" she said pointing towards the dark woods surrounding the carnival.
I should have seen it coming, I mean dark woods, no one can see you there, the woods are so deep even if you screamed, you could not be heard. But, I went with her, I followed the little girl into the woods, having no reason to suspect of her.
"Okay, lets go" Stacy said, she sounded impatient, probably because she wanted to get back to her boyfriend.
The little girl led me through the woods, as we went deeper inside, the bright lights of the carnival, began to fade. That's when I felt it, in my gut, a bad feeling.
"Hey, where is your mom, are you sure she went this way?" Lilly asked, her voice shaky.
"Yes I'm sure." She said in a confident voice.
She stopped suddenly, she looked at me and with a sad smile and said, "Sorry"
