Fog Lines

Chapter 8: Maddison.

I slid into the passenger seat of the dark purple Chevy truck and throw my bags into the back seats. Jack appears in the driver seat and starts the truck. He backs out of the driveway, carefully dodging the garbage bins at the end.

He stops at the end and asks, "You sure you have everything?"

I glance back at my bag and say,"Yeah. Let's go."

He starts down the road. Here we go, we're really leaving. This is the first time I've been out of Georgia since we moved. I can't believe Mom let me go. I watch the house disappear in the side mirror and sigh in relief.

"You okay? " I turn to look at Jack, his form was being silhouetted by the passing street lights.

"Yeah. It just weird to be leaving Georgia for the first time in a while."

Jack made a sort of humming sound before saying, "Right, you moved here a couple of years ago."

"Yup. Between 8th and 9th grade. We moved from Washington."

"Why'd ya guys move?"

"Mom wanted to be closer to her parents and Dad needed to come here for work, so we just moved here."

He hums again. I reach forward and hit the power button on the radio. The radio clicks on and starts playing. I sit back and look out the window, watching the passing streetlights and darkened houses. Everything looks so strange at night. I hope Mia's okay. I slide down in the chair and start to doze off. The world outside starts to blur.

"Maddison," Jack calls in a soft voice.

"Yeah?"

"Do you remember where we are going?" he asks, barely louder than the radio.

I mumble out the answer, "Ashville, right? Up through the national forests."

"It'll take us a few hours to get there, so go ahead and take a nap. I'll wake you up when we get near to the forests."

"Cool." I shut my eyes and finally doze off.

A soft sound pulls me from my sleep. A soft melody plays through the truck and a bright light shines on my face.

"Maddison?" the soft voice asks.

"What?" I ask, shielding my eyes from the light.

"We're here," the voice answers, now sounding more masculine.

Startled by the change, I shake my head in confusion and look to my left. Jack sat there looking down at me.

"What?" I repeat.

"We're here, in the forest."

"Oh... Oooh. Okay." I pull myself up and look out the windshield. We sat parked in an empty gravel parking lot surrounded by oak trees. The parking lot was fairly large, enough spaces for at least twenty cars or so.

"You ready?"

"Yeah." I hop out of the truck and walk towards a small gravel pathway. I stop at the entrance and stretch. "How long was I asleep for?"

Jack stops beside me and answers, "Like 4 hours."

"Oof. How big is this forest?"

"It looked pretty big on the map, and though they aren't the tree's from the west coast, it has a shit ton of tree's."

I chuckle and ask,"You do know we have oak trees on the west coast too, right?"

"Well, yeah, but isn't it mostly fir trees over there? Like, isn't that the main source of economy shit over there?"

"Pine trees, and not really. Logging is a big part of towns by forests and shit, but it's not the main source over there. Fishing is pretty common in Seattle and California has silicon valley." I start down the trail as I continue, "Oregon is well, Oregon. Nevada has the casinos and shit. I'm not that sure on California and Nevada shit, I mostly stayed in Washington and Oregon."

"Oh, well, that's more then what I knew. I've lived on the east coast for my entire, short, life. Is it nice over there?"

"In some areas, it really depends on where you go. I lived in a logging town, so there were lots of trees and not a lot of people. We also lived on a mountain, so, I didn't see many people."

He hums in response and we continue down the road. The forest is lit up by the sun, causing the area to almost glow. I miss the forests in Washington, they're so pretty and quiet. I can hear birds chirping in the trees and frogs croaking in the distance. We stop in a small circular clearing and look around. The clearing had a pavement floor which, unsurprisingly, was coated in dirt.

"It's strange that there aren't more people here. Usually, this place is packed, especially during this time of year." Jack points out.

"Maybe it's just too early."

"Madd, it's 10 am."

"Oh...."

A strange silence settles over the forests and the area seems to get slightly darker. I look to Jack, to see if he noticed the change. He glances around, looking worried, before making eye contact with me.

"Maddison." Oh no, he only ever calls me that when something's wrong. "We should leave, now."

"What? Why?"

He grabs my hand but doesn't respond.

"Um... Jack?"

He begins walking towards the area we came from, saying, "We have to leave."

I follow beside him, not wanting to be dragged, and ask, "Why?"

"Forests are never supposed to be quiet. Something's always wrong when a forest goes quiet."

"Okay... What? I don't think that's right."

"Trust me. When you went missing last week, the forest went dead silent. We're not taking any chances."

I understand his point and say, "Okay."

We continue down the trail, the silence of the forest following us. The farther we went, the darker the forest got. It's gone from looking like it was 10 am to looking like it was 9 pm. I glance around the trail worryingly.

"Jack? It's getting really dark?"

In a struggling tone, Jack mutters, "I know, I know. Just... Just a little bit farther."

I pull against Jack's grip, stopping him, and ask, "Jack, are you okay?"

Jack lets go of my hand and shakes slightly before slumping to the ground. I try to stop his fall but my vision cuts out and I feel the ground fall out of under me.