The Eventers Club

Chapter 31:

Evelyn's POV:

The ride back to the barn was mostly silent, the wind filling the empty void of sound in the rusty old pickup truck that rattled like it was about to fall apart at any moment.

After the bear had scared me, I made a run into the woods, where I had managed to find a road and waited for a passing car I could flag down, if anybody would have been crazy enough to drive in this weather at 2 am.

I had turned when I heard the sound of snapping branches. I was worried the bear may have followed me from the cabin, so I grabbed a branch from the road and lifted it over my shoulder, ready to bring it down on whatever came out of the woods.

But I dropped the branch instantly when I saw who it was.

Hugo...

I had run to him and hugged him tightly, not caring if I got more soaked than I already was.

With another few snaps of twigs, Ashleigh had emerged from the woods on Beauty.

The guilt hit me hard after that.

After a short exchange of words, a woman named Jackie, who's property we were on, showed up in the old red, rusty pickup with a horse trailer in tow.

I was surprised to see Blair in the back of the truck, as well as another girl, who Ash explained, was her older sister Alyssa. She had talked about her a bit when we had first met, but after she had just stopped. I wondered what Alyssa was doing here anyway, but I kept quiet.

" This storms gettin' worse, " Jackie told us as she turned off the main road. " We'll have to wait until morning to get you girls back to your barn "

The truck pulled up beside a small house, similar to the cabin I had found in the woods, only this house had a barn behind it.

" I've only got one room in the house, but the barns heated with insulation and I can find ya'll some sleeping bags "

" Thank you, Jackie, we can manage with that " Alyssa spoke.

Jackie's eyes met mine in the rearview mirror. " I've also got some dry clothes you can change into, they were my daughters when she was about your age "

I smiled at her, still shivering after several failed attempts to ring all the water out of the fabric. " That would be great, thank you... "

We got settled into the barn quickly, in between the break of the storm, before it came back down, twice as hard as before.

The horses happily ate some grain and hay while we set up our temporary sleeping quarters, pulling up a few hay bales and laying out sleeping bags across them one by one. It wasn't the most comfortable, but at least we were out of the rain and somewhere warm.

" Navarre ran back to the barn " Ash spoke up after a few minutes of laying down. Blair seemed to be asleep and so did Alyssa, but I was positive since she had her back to us.

I felt a weight being lifted off my chest once I knew Navarre was safe, but the guilt of what I had said to Ash still made me feel sick to my stomach.

" ...That's good. I'm glad he's safe...I was so worried that my stupid, childish act of running off had gotten him hurt "

Ashleigh shook her head as she stared at the ceiling of the barn. " Darla checked him out. Besides being a bit shaken, maybe a permanent fear of storms now, he seems okay "

I smiled with relief.

" Ash... " I spoke up.

She looked at me. " Eve... "