chapter three

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Sawyer was about to run after Lucy and the person in the cloak but Justin grapped his wrist causing him to pause. "Let's go! We'll die if we stay here!" Justin begs pulling on Sawyer's wrist.

"We can't just leave Lucy!" Zachary yells just as his phone dings. He digs it out of his pocket frantically and looks at his unread messages.

Jacelyn; Mom's drunk again. Come home!

Zachary looked at Sawyer then at Justin who was still holding onto Sawyer's wrist as if his life depended on it. He needed to be there for his sister but his sister's best friend was just abducted in front of his very eyes. His brain was going haywire, he just didn't know what to do.

"Just call the cops! We need to get out of here, right now!" Justin yells while he tugged Sawyer's wrist even more.

"Who texted you Zachary?" Sawyer asks, ignoring Justin.

"It was Jacelyn, my mom is- um, Jace is worried." Zachary lies but finally comes the conclusion of what he needed to do in this moment. "I'm going to go find Lucy, Sawyer take Justin home and check on Jacelyn for me." Before Sawyer could say anything else or protest Zachary ran the way Lucy was carried away.

Justin released Sawyer's wrist and the boys turned and ran out of the cabin trying their best not to look back. Sawyer didn't want to leave his friends but he felt like there was nothing he could do here. All he could do was make sure this traumatized sophomore got home safe and sound.

When the two reached the main road they stopped to take a breather, that's when Sawyer realized that Justin had been hurt, badly. Blood poured from the boy's side and soaked his shirt.

"Hey, what happened? Your side is bleeding." Sawyer tried to get a closer look at Justin's sliced abdomen but the sophomore slapped his hand away.

"I'm fine, it's just a scratch." He shrugged and continued walking. "You don't have to walk me home you know, I'm not in grade school."

"Yeah well you're traumatized and you shouldn't be out here alone." Sawyer said as he fell into step with Justin. They were silent for a moment. Sawyer could almost sense that Justin wanted to say something but just didn't know how. He seemed to be struggling with his words. "Are you okay?" Sawyer finally asked.

Justin hesitated, "I don't think I'm legally allowed to tell you the answer to that."

"What does that mean? I'm good at keeping secrets." Sawyer almost grinned pridefully but stopped himself.

There was another minute of silence before Justin replied. "I was the guy that took Catherine to that cabin. The cabin has been my hangout spot for years, I had a few beers stashed and the party was dying, I thought we'd have fun."

"Justin please don't tell me I'm walking home the guy who murdered Catherine Murphy." Sawyer had moved away from Justin slightly now.

"No, no, I didn't kill Catherine. I left to take a leak outside, I heard her scream and when I ran in she was dead." Justin was visibly shivering even though it was probably eighty degrees Fahrenheit outside.

"If you were there why didn't you tell someone immediately? Why wait until she was found two weeks later?" Sawyer's heart was pounding and he wasn't sure if Justin could hear it or not. His hands were starting to sweat as his nerves started to become more prominent.

"I freaked out, I thought I'd be arrested on the spot. I can't go to jail dude." Justin shoved his hands in his pockets as they reached his house. "Tell anyone what I just said and I'll hunt you down and give you the worst wedgie of your life."

Sawyer nodded, "Understood."

Sawyer turned to leave but as soon as he did, he heard a loud thump behind him. He turned and saw Justin unconscious on the steps of his house blood pooling around him abdomen.

***

Zachary cursed under his breath. He walked through the dark cabin with only the light from his flashlight leading the way. The cabin was huge, you would never think it was this big just by the exterior. He could hear voices, the louder the voices grew the closer he knew he'd come. Suddenly he heard footsteps coming his way. Zachary quietly cursed and ran into a room and shut off his flashlight. He held his breath and listened to the door creak open, he closed his eyes as tight as he could. Until he heard the door close once again. Zachary released a relieved sigh and opened his eyes. Then, at that moment Zachary felt as if he was in a horror movie. Something or someone was staring right in the eyes before everything around him went black.

***

Zachary woke up with a horrible headache. He groaned and opened his eyes. He's laying on a bed. He rubbed his eyes with the palm of his hand and looked to his left. He noticed a blonde girl laying in a rusty bed unconscious. Zachary quickly came to the realization that the girl was none other than Lucy Hunter. He started to whisper-yell to Lucy and wake her up. The door creaked open and a cloaked person walked inside and held up Zachary's cellphone as if teasing him. Zachary noticed that Pheobe was trying to facechat with him.

"Give it to me." Zachary growls holding out his palm.

The cloaked person shrugged and shook his head.

"Seriously dude, that's my girlfriend! She's probably freaking out, wondering where I am." Zachary plead . "If you don't let me answer she'll get suspicious."

The cloaked person hesitated but humphed and tossed the phone at Zachary. He quickly picked it up and answered the call.

"Zachary! Where are you? Jacelyn is about to go insane!" Pheobe says immediately. Her voice was filled with worry and her eyes looked puffy.

"Pheebs, look I'm in that cabin where Catherine was killed. Lucy is unconscious, and this person keeps staring at me creepily." Zachary says and glances up at the person out of the corner of his eye.

"I told you not to go to that stupid cabin! The police are about to be there, Sawyer called them this morning and reported you and Lucy missing." Pheobe says frantically and ran her fingers through her hair.

The cloaked person tapped his wrist as if motioning for Zachary to hurry up.

"I have to go. I love you, and I'll see you soon I promise." Zachary says just before the cloaked person pulls the phone away and slams it on the floor. Lucy sits up startled.

"Dude! That was my phone!" Zachary yells. "How am I going to pay for another one?"

"What's going on?" Lucy asks looking around the room fearfully.

Zachary looks at her and immediately noticed her shivering. Zachary slides his hoodie over his head and tosses it to Lucy. She slides it on almost immediately and smiles at Zachary. Zachary suddenly heard a loud crash from another room. The cloaked person runs out, slamming the door behind him. Zachary turns to Lucy.

"Are you okay?" He asks quickly.

"I'm okay." Lucy says and pulls Zachary's hoodie over her knees. "Why are you here? I thought you three left."

"I stayed to find you and Sawyer and Justin left to call the police and check on my sister." Zachary says. Lucy nods and the door creaked open, a grinning man walked in.

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