Deep Waters

Chapter Seven

"What about a lighter?" Holden asked, scanning our lighter options. We were all currently in Walmart, picking up everything we needed for a short camping trip.

"Grab matches instead," my brother replied. "I want a challenge."

"Please keep in mind that we only need things for one night," I said, already seeing that they were overpreparing for this.

"Um, no. We are camping for two nights," Gavin told me.

Holden grinned excitedly. "I'm down."

"Good because I wasn't going to take no for an answer."

I looked to Kason for some help, but he just chuckled and shrugged, obviously not minding to just let them do whatever they want.

Aria looked between her boyfriend and Gavin before grabbing mine and Marla's hands. "We are going to go get all the food and drinks we will need," she announced before she started leading us away.

"Goodluck!" I called to Kason over my shoulder.

He laughed in return. "Thanks, I think I'll need it."

Sooner or later, Aria let go of our hands when we reached the food section of the store. "We need a cart," I realized. "We won't be able to carry all the snacks and drinks we are going to need."

"I'll go get one," Marla offered. "You guys can go ahead and make a list of everything we need to make sure we get."

"Sounds good." With that, she turned around and headed toward the front of the store.

"Well we could get sandwich stuff and just get a packet of bottles of water," Aria said. "Then we could get a few big bags of chips to eat with the sandwiches and then a bunch of bacon and eggs and stuff that we can cook over a fire in the mornings."

I nodded. "That sounds good," I told her. "The water is the only thing over on the back side of the store so I can go ahead and get that," I offered, "Then all three of us can look around for snack and food ideas."

She bobbed her head. "Alrighty. I'll go ahead and get the bread. We can meet Marla back here."

With that, we separated, and I went to retrieve the water. When I found it, I grabbed a case of bottles of water, with a little struggle may I add, and turned to make my way back to my friends.

"Charles!" someone screamed. It sounded like one of the girls. As a warning, maybe?

I immediately dropped the case of water in my hands, somehow missing my feet by some miracle, and took off running to where Aria had told me to meet them. The voice had come from that direction. Charles was here. "Aria!" I yelled, reaching the aisle she was in the last time I saw her. She wasn't there anymore. "Marla!" I yelled next.

Everyone around me turned their attention to me—to the girl who was screaming for her friends in the middle of a Walmart. Panic sailed through me as I turned, looking in every direction but not seeing them. I couldn't find them. With that, I took off running past a few more aisles, looking for their faces and praying that I would make it to them in time. Surely Charles wouldn't do anything here in the middle of public right? Or was he just that crazy?

"Delilah!" a voice yelled behind me.

I spun around faster than lightning, only to find Marla and Aria rushing up to me. Marla was pushing a buggy with nothing but a loaf of bread in it and Aria was scanning me up and down, worry filling her expression. "What is it? What's wrong?" she asked immediately.

"You screamed his name. He's here, isn't he?"

Both girls shook their heads. "It wasn't either of us," Marla said, scrunching her eyebrows. "We heard it, too."

"I think it was just a mom calling out for her son," Aria added. "Your Charles isn't here."

My heart was still racing, and I had to take deep breaths in an attempt to calm my nerves. I found myself still looking around. But he could still be here, right? My phone vibrated in my pocket, so I pulled it out and read the text message. "Everything okay?" It was from Officer Brandon. I quickly returned a text that said. "Yes, everything is fine. False alarm."

Shoving my phone back in my pocket, I sighed loudly and pushed my loose hair behind my ears. Aria placed a hand on my shoulder. "Hey, it's okay." I didn't respond.

"How about you go find the boys? We will get the food and then swing back around and get the water," Marla assured me.

With a single nod, I turned and walked away, heading toward the other end of the store where the boys were in the outdoors section. Do I overreact in every situation with Charles because I am so paranoid? Am I too paranoid? Is that even a thing? Should I be less paranoid?

Just then, I collided into something a bunch of things tumbled onto the ground. "Oh! I'm so sorry!" I apologized, realizing I had just run into a man, making him drop everything he was carrying. "I should have been paying attention to where I was going," I said, kneeling down to help him pick everything back up.

The man just slipped me a small smile and brushed off my actions with a wave of his hand. "It's okay. Lost in thought?" he predicted. Nodding in embarrassment, I picked up the rest of his things and handed them to him. "I understand," he told me.

For a long moment, he just stared at me. He was probably in his early thirties and had green hair that contrasted with his striking blue eyes. "I better get going to...where I was going," I rambled a little, feeling slightly unnerved under his stare. "...Sorry...again."

"It wasn't a problem, Miss," he replied.

I just bit my bottom lip and nodded a couple of times before quickly turning away from him. As I walked away, I turned back to look over my shoulder after a long moment of feeling quite skeptical about him. Maybe he was just a creepy dude. When I looked back, he was still standing there, watching me leave. At that, I just picked up my pace until I reached Kason, Gavin, and Holden.

It took a few minutes, but when I finally got there, I was still unnerved and just ready to leave. Gavin and Holden were looking at fishing poles. "You don't need those," Kason told them, standing back at the shopping cart and watching them argue about which one to buy.

"Yes, we do," Holden said. "We will be camping on a lake."

I walked up to Kason and stood beside him as a way of silently announcing my presence. "Where are the girls?" he asked me.

"Grabbing a few more snacks," I replied. "They'll be done in a few minutes."

Kason looked at me for a long minute before the look in his eyes softened. "Is everything okay?"

I just nodded and took a deep breath. "Yep. Everything's great."

***

Is Delilah being too paranoid? Is she paranoid enough?

Predictions?

Opinions?

I know this is a short chapter! A longer chapter will be posted on Saturday!

Thanks for reading. VOTE if you enjoyed this chapter:)

~Emily