The Devil In Disguise

CHAPTER 52: Short-lived Happiness

***

"Maybe we should get a head start," Simon suggested.

Corina nodded. She had a newborn hope that made her feel happy, helpful, not hopeless. They would find Lorelei. She knew it.

Sadly, what she didn't know then, was how.

"I don't think we should," Xander mused. "We should wait for the police. It'll be a lot safer, just in case we actually find the place."

Grace nodded to that, agreeing with Xander. "Yeah. We know what this man is capable of. And we're just four teenagers. I mean, if our loyalty to Lorelei was enough to overpower him then I'd be up for it, but unfortunately, the sad truth is, he could kill us with ease. He's already killed more than ten people; we'll just add to the body count. Going after him alone is stupid."

Corina felt her stomach sink. She hated feeling so useless, but Xander and Grace were right. This wasn't a movie, where they went after their best friend all alone and faced challenges that they overcame with just a scratch, in the end saving their friend and living happily ever after — this was, literally, life or death. And Corina admittedly didn't want to be in the 'death' part of that phrase.

Reluctantly, Corina nodded. "Okay," she shrugged, sitting down on the soil, leaning against a tall tree. The others sat down too so that the four of them formed an irregular square of some sort, and for a few moments they were silent, breathing in the fresh air and listening to the peaceful sound of rustling leaves.

"Even if we were to find him, what would we do then?" Simon asked. They all stayed silent, but the air was thick with thought. After a minute, Xander said,

"Well, if the police were with us, he'd be easy to deal with."

"I mean without the police," Simon replied.

"We'd call the police," Xander said, closing his eyes, his head against a tree trunk. Simon grunted in frustration.

"Okay, fine, if this was a movie, what would we do?"

Xander's eyes flew and open and their green depths were filled with mischief.

"Well, why didn't you say so?" he grinned, leaning forward. His mischievous air was almost contagious and Corina found herself leaning forward slightly too, a light smile decorating her face.

Xander whispered dramatically, "First, we'd look around the corner. Usually, in films, it's a corner of a building, where the characters' bodies are obscured by the wall and you can only see their heads peeking around, but we're in the woods so we'd do that — but with a tree."

Corina snickered. "But you'd be able to see our bodies too, we'd look like idiots and we wouldn't be hidden at all."

Xander waved that off dismissively. "It's a movie. Green screen that shit."

Grace giggled, and the air lightened as they all became more lighthearted and giddier as they imagined an impossibly silly scenario.

"What would happen next?" Simon asked, grinning. Xander reflected his grin, then looked around at them dramatically.

"We'd tiptoe to the bungalow. We'd be absolutely silent. We'd have to mute the sound of the leaves, though."

They laughed, and Simon added, "Oh, yeah, and the sound of our breathing. Or just don't breathe."

"Finally! My time has come," Corina exclaimed, and they all sniggered again.

"We'd reach the bungalow," Xander continued, in the same deadly dramatic, hushed tone, "And we'd knock on the door."