OddityVille: Harrowing Hills (Book Two)

Chapter Three: The Restless

Ashley and James lay awake, listening to the others snore in their neighboring tents while the fire outside hisses, pops, and starts to die down. Too many thoughts pick at the couple, but no two thoughts are alike. Ashley jumps at every sound she hears, but her intoxicated mind dulls these motions to almost nothing as she fights against sleepy eyes. James's head swirls as his concerns wrap themselves around Ashley's well-being but also beg for some shut-eye. It isn't until another loud pop sounds out from the charred wood and makes Ashley perk up that James speaks.

"What's gotten into you today?" Ashley listens to the outdoors a moment longer before speaking herself.

"Something just isn't right about this place."

"Like what?" James props himself up on an elbow and lets his head fall back as he talks.

"I don't know." Ashley hisses in a whisper.

"I think you're scaring yourself with the stories of this place. Just let it go, close your eyes, and get some sleep. Okay?" Ashley nods and rests her cheek against James's bare chest, pulling the edge of the two-person sleeping bag up passed her nose. "We'll be out of here in the morning."

The chilly night rolls on, bringing in winds that whistle through the branches of nearby trees. Ashley feels alone in the dark with only the embers of the fire left to light the base of her tent. James had gone limp hours prior and breathes almost silently into his pillow as he sleeps. Ashley wishes she can do the same, but the knocking of branches and rustling on the ground forbids her from it. Even in her tipsy state, it doesn't seem right that the tent isn't moving with such winds outside. She forces her eyes closed when the sound of a snapping branch splits against the ground as it falls. She is thankful their camp wasn't set up under the trees and eventually dozes off.

No more than an hour or so later, the sun was rising, and a misty cloud forms over the river. She awakens again as the morning rays pass through the screen that makes up the roof of her tent and finds that James is already gone. The zipper that holds the front flap closed is undone and she can see empty food containers from the night prior to laying out in the damp grass through it. She rubs her eyes and presses her palms against her temples, trying to ease the sleep-deprived migraine she is getting. Nobody else seems to be awake yet as she crawls out and James is nowhere to be seen. Eager to leave, Ashley gathers up her clothes and starts getting dressed in a hurry. In this time, she realizes that the other tents are open too. Curious, she inspects them and finds that everybody is still there, but also that each opening has human footprints in front of it, including her own.

"Morning." Ashley shoots up straight and spins to find James with a shovel in hand. "What are you doing peeping on them?" He points the shovel at the strewn-out forms of Cody and Linda as the flap drops back down, hiding their exhausted bodies.

"What are you doing with a shovel?"

"What else was I supposed to cover it with?"

"Cover what wi- oh." James grins and starts back towards their tent. Ashley watches him do so, taking in that he is wearing shoes and couldn't have produced the markings. "Was somebody else up?"

"Not that I'm aware of, why?" Ashley points with her eyes at the bare tracks that litter the ground, traveling in almost a perfect circle around the camp before stopping at the pit in the middle. James studies them and raises one eyebrow higher than the other as he follows the trail.

"Huh."

"I want to go home, now."

"What?" James looked back at her with a serious but understanding expression on his face. "We can't just leave without letting somebody know we're going."