Leader

Chapter 1

-Saturday, May 15th-

It's early Saturday morning in a small town in Virginia. While most kids were fast asleep in their bed, one particular 5th grader was awake. Lizzie Devine had woken up at 6 o'clock this morning and was currently making her way deep into the forest. She seemed to be on edge as if she had something to hide, and truth be told, she did. It all began about six months ago.

-Six months earlier-

It's around seven o'clock at night, and in a local café, Lizzie was sitting in a small booth near a window. She pulls out her phone and sighs impatiently. Nigel, her boyfriend, was supposed to be there an hour and a half ago. They had planned on meeting in this café since his parent's job wasn't to far. Lizzie was wearing a light-yellow sundress with sandals. Her hair was straightened and parted on the right side of her head. She had a little makeup on, not full glam but enough to extenuate her best features. The waitress assigned to her table came by for what seemed like the thousandth time since Lizzie arrived, and she did her best to stall the waitress until Nigel arrived.

"Are you ready to order now ma'am?" the waitress asked again, still with a warm and kind smile.

Lizzie gave out a small sigh, then smiled up at the waitress as she nodded.

"Yes. I am ready to order. I'll start off with a glass of water and a small salad please." Lizzie said, trying to hide the disappointment in her voice. It was Nigel and Lizzies six month anniversary, and they had both agreed, without Lizzie's persistent nagging, to meet up at this cafe, which held significant meaning to both of them. This was the very cafe they had first met in a couple of years ago. Lizzie tried her best to hold it together because she didn't want to make a scene here. However, when the love of your life doesn't show for an important dinner, it really messes with your head. After a few minutes, the kind waitress comes back with Lizzie's water and salad.

"Is there anything else we can get you?" she asked cheerfully. It was very clear she was attempting to make Lizzie feel better, but it would all be in vain.

Lizzie gave the waitress her best fake smile, not to be rude of course, but because she simply didn't want to talk about her issues.

"No thank you. I think this will be all, thank you." Lizzie said, making her sadness and disappointment. The waitress gave a kind smile and nodded, then she walked away to attend to other customers. After the waitress left, Lizzie sighed as she silently drank her water and ate her salad. After Lizzie had finished and paid, she left the cafe and began to walk home. She thought about texting Nigel, but lord knows the last thing she wants is to come off as needy. The last thing she wanted was for his friends to accuse her of being bossy or needy, so she decided just to walk home.

Lizzie looked at her phone to see that it was almost eight o'clock at night, and it was pretty dark outside. For some strange reason, she started to feel weird. Almost like someone, or something was following her. As she walked home, she took notice of an opening in a local forest. Lizzie walked past this forest almost every day but never had she seen the opening, and for some reason, this just made her stop. The more she started at this opening, the more it seemed to call to her. Lizzie looked around, then once she confirmed that she was alone, she started to walk towards the opening in the forest, and as she entered the forest, something unexplainable happened. The same opening that she came in started to close, and she immediately felt an immense amount of fear, and then suddenly everything went black.