Sworn to Secrecy

Chapter 14 - Guess Who's Back, Back, Back Again

Lauren's POV

We woke up at the crack of dawn the next morning. By we, I mean everyone but Lili; it sucks not having her here. Last night, while walking back to our dorms, we all agreed to meet back in the field. When Lola, Sophia and I get there, the boys have already beaten us there.

"Hey," Ty waves to Lola. It's crazy how they haven't gone out yet. Yet again, this is only our second day and we've been...busy. Lola's mood instantly changes from gloomy to walking-on-air.

"Hi," she walks up to him. They start up a conversation about who knows what. If they're not in love, then I don't know what love is.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Jason wave shyly at me. I smile and wave back.

"Any sign of her?" I ask Mitch. He stands on an abnormally large rock facing the forest. He doesn't instantly turn around like I thought he would, instead, he keeps staring at the forest.

"Nope," he murmurs. I feel bad for him, he's been hit the worst of the disappearance. "Maybe if I hadn't shown you guys the woods then Lili would be here.. Heck, maybe if I hadn't tried to be nice and offered to show you guys around..."

"Don't say that!" I tell him. Walking slowly to where he stands, I continue. "You were just being a gentlemen. You couldn't have prevented any of this."

His head jerks backwards and he turns around. "How do you know that? How can you be so sure that if I haven't done anything that Lili would still be missing? It's been a day and I've ruined everything... Everything," his voice echoes through the forest; bouncing off of the trees. Mitch doesn't exactly yell, but he doesn't mumble it either.

"Hey!" I snap. He looks shocked that I'd use that tone with him. "I'm tired of you making this about yourself! This is about Lili and Lili only!" He looks hurt but he stands his ground. "You've been taking everything bad that's happened and made it about yourself. 'What if I've messed up?'. 'I've ruined everything'. I know for a fact that Lili wouldn't have wanted it any other way. She loves being around you and you're awesome in her mind."

He narrows his eyes and starts to walk over to me. He towers over me by at least 4 inches and as menacing as it is, I don't step down from my position. Mitch is a few feet in front of me when something stops him. A scream. Lola's scream.

I turn to my right and gasp in shock. Lola is pinned to a tree by someone standing in front of her. Running over to her, I stop when I see who's pinning her.

How'd they get back?