Wicked

Chapter Five

My feet crunched against the leaves. The air whistled around me. I looked up, the sky was mid-day blue with tiny puffs of clouds. It was the perfect scenery to draw in. I kept walking, attempting to find the right spot.

I was surprised at myself, that I had remembered the way to the path. Well, it wasn't really a path just grass that had been walked on enough to hinder its growth. My shoes padded against that old familiar feeling. Thankfully, I had changed into more durable shoes: my favorite combat boots.

With each step I took, I felt pressure. It was like someone touching your shoulder. It didn't scare me. It reminded me of my Gran trying to console me. Except it did raise the hairs on the back of my neck.

It's okay.

A voice whispered.
I kept walking, telling myself I was just hallucinating. Yeah, just hallucinating, like that's a real thing. How had my life become like this? Where hallucinations were normal, mundane parts of life? I scowled down at my feel, which was walking quicker.

Maybe it's someone following me. I froze. That thought hadn't accrued to me before. What if all of this wasn't in my head? But, someone tormenting me? Slowly, I turned around and every scary movie I had ever seen popped into my head.

Don't be stupid, it's most likely just Dara playing a trick on you. You know, she's always playing tricks. My sketchbook felt limp in my hand. The urge to run was almost too much. Instead, I stood my ground.

"Dara? Are you out there?" I felt stupid, calling out into the woods. I waited for an answer for what felt like hours but was honestly probably only a minute. Eventually, I continued along the path. I should have turned around and gone home, but I didn't.

After a few minutes, I dropped my guard a little. It had to have been just my imagination. I tried to focus on the scenery -- it was a beautiful day. There were birds chirping and flying about. Not scary crows, but birds that had a lovely song. I relaxed my shoulders, feeling silly about this whole thing. Maybe, I just need to relax. I took in a deep breath and slowly let it out.

I found a large rock that was big enough for me to sit on, overlooking the lake. It was a pretty big lake that a lot of houses were built around. It was peaceful. A change from the past couple of days. The lake was exactly what I needed. There were tiny ripples from the light breeze, creating an angelic ambiance. I started to draw.

As I drew, Daniel filled my mind. It seemed futile to try and fight that. I kept picturing his face when he walked me to class, after lunch. He looked so hopeful. I needed to borrow some of that hope. Addie had been right, it wasn't Daniel's fault. I couldn't judge him, especially when he hadn't judged me. Plus, he was being so nice to me. Other than Addison, Daniel was my only friend here. I couldn't and shouldn't be picky about my friends.

The drawing morphed into much more than just a pretty lake with the woods in the background. Suddenly, there was Daniel, standing at the lake's edge in his varsity jacket and his blue jeans. Then, I started to draw my favorite thing about him: his smile. It wasn't as blinding, but it was close enough. Once the drawing was finished, I tentatively touched the drawing. I was starting to really like Daniel.

Just as I was signing my name at the bottom, I heard a twig snap.

I closed the sketchbook and stood up so fast, I was surprised I didn't fly into the lake. There was no one there -- at first glance. But I saw an outline of a figure in the trees, hiding. My eyes darted to the lake as I thought about jumping in. Except, I wasn't a strong swimmer. I could probably run faster than I could swim. There was movement in the trees and before I could think about this further, the figure moved towards me and I took off running.