Betrayed

Chapter 6

Natalia's POV

I groaned when Crystal called my name. "Do I have to be it?" I asked.

Everyone nodded and I could see that no one wanted to be it. I didn't blame them and turned my back on them. "One, two, three..."

As I counted, I could hear the sounds of their excited feet stomp across the grass and rocks. "Eight, nine..." My thoughts began to race wildly. What if the killer decides that they want to kill me next? What if the killer murders Andrew? I pushed the thought away. "Sixteen, seventeen, eighteen..." An image appeared in my mind of Andrew lying dead somewhere in Owen's yard and I tried to not scream. Then my thoughts changed to something else: What if Hayley isn't the killer?"

"Twenty-three, Twenty-four..." Who would be the killer if it really wasn't Hayley? Raphael gets mad quickly, but these murders were planned. Xavior likes to go hunting, but he seemed so certain that it was Hayley. If he was only trying to keep everyone from suspecting him, it was working. "Thirty-two, thirty-three..." Ashley couldn't have done it, but if she did, she more likely would have gone after Andrew. Owen did invite us to his house, but there is no way that he would try to kill us. I don't think that Andrew would have done it, but if it really was him, I'm surprised I'm still alive. Crystal cares for us too much to want to kill us. "Forty-five, forty-six, forty-seven..." The only likely option would be that Hayley is the killer, but I don't see why she would do that.

"Fifty-one, fifty-two," I pushed these thoughts away as I finished my counting. "Fifty-five, fifty-six, fifty-seven, fifty-eight, fifty-nine, sixty!" I yelled and turned around.

The darkness pressed in around me as I made my way to the play set. No one was there, so I walked towards the pool. Hot breath hit my foot and I glanced down. Nothing was there. I shivered and sped up. My brain imagined footsteps behind me and I turned around. Still, no one was there. I started to turn around and tripped over something. "Ow!" Raphael cried from under me.

"Nope, not Hayley," Andrew's voice sounded in the tree and I climbed off of Raphael.

"Sorry, Raphael," I apologized, "I forgot about your hole. "

"Clearly," Raphael muttered.

I smiled. "Well, I at least found you two alive," I said jokingly.

Andrew stepped out from behind the tree and said something under his breath. Raphael glanced at me and asked, "Did someone else die?"

I quickly shook my head. "No, but at least I know that my two good friends are still alive," I clarified.

Raphael met my eyes and my mind fluttered back to my thoughts on Raphael. He gets angry quickly, my brain repeated.

I shivered, and Raphael dropped his gaze. "Come on," he said instead. "Let's find everyone else." We climbed out of the hole and I noticed that Andrew was no longer standing there.

"Where did Andrew go?" I asked, fear and concern entering my voice.

Raphael dismissed my concern with a wave of his hand. "He went to find Hayley so that he could follow her," he told me.

My concern grew as he spoke. "Why did he go alone? Hayley could kill him!"

Raphael rolled his eyes. "He can handle himself. You don't need to follow him everywhere," he said.

"Right." I pushed my fears aside and started to walk away from Raphael. As the dark closed in around me, I stopped. "Hey, Raphael?"

"Yeah?"

I hesitated. "I don't like the dark," I told him.

He walked over to me. "Then we can look for the others together."