Hidden Beauty

Chapter 3

-Chapter Two- Katrina After last night I'm pretty sure none of us wanted to get up today, but somehow we still did. Obviously, though we didn't do it alone we had a little encouragement from Kit who seemed more excited than she was when she realized she was going to Disneyland for her 12th birthday. Quickly she shoved us out the door and we were on our way to The Jumps before anyone could say, "Hey this is stupid. Every heard the saying knocking on heavens door, well this is knocking on death's door."We reach The Jumps and for a second we all stop and look around. I know that Kit's bravery is wearing off if not already gone, into a pile at her feet."You know maybe this wasn't a good idea, after all, we should just go home and the police do their job," Kit says turning on her heel but Davina grabs her arm and pulls her through the trees with us following.We walk slowly, the fast, then slower, like a recurring pattern. We enter the circle connecting all the paths together. It's darker than usual because the sun isn't out and the trees already hid the sky in general, not to mention it was rainy"I'm starting to agree with Kit," Davina says with a nervous giggle. "I'm having flashbacks," She says, becoming dizzy and needing to sit."Um, if it's okay we were wondering if you could tell us what exactly happened here when Ailen went missing because of that thing?" I ask."Ya tell us." Kit adds obviously not realizing what Davina has to do. She basically has to relive the whole thing."Ok, but it's long." She says making herself comfortable on a log that was half buried in the grass. "We were discussing why she wanted to do The Jumps so bad and she said she just didn't want to be left out of the project because if we did do the River then she wouldn't have much information on it, we had spent a half an hour talking about this and then we decided to just do the River cause she didn't want to remain fighting with you. That's when she saw it, the demon. she said he stood there hiding behind the tree, thinking she couldn't see it. Ailen didn't look scared though like she had seen it before and was taken aback that it was here. Then she yanked me out of my trance and pulled me towards one of the trails we like to call it dragon's tail because of all the curves and bumps. I was so confused, I had no idea what she was talking about, what demon? She pulled me faster than faster than faster until we couldn't see where we had entered the trail, she wasn't even gasping for breath. She looked at me and said, 'Davina, we have to get out of here, that thing I just saw is after you and your friends.' I was confused. How did she know that? Why wasn't she as confused as me? I didn't have time to ask her a question because she yanked my hand towards the other direction and start running. 'Okay, Davina I need you to scream to warn them and bring them here so they can help us,' she said no even facing me. Knowing whatever she saw would hear me I replied, 'But the monster will nowhere we are, it will come faster and take us and-,' I didn't finish though because the demon came out of nowhere and took Ailen, I saw it, Big black, and scary. Not knowing what to do I screamed, as loud as I could, with as much energy as I could give. Then you guys arrived, and I was too scared to move, but you guys weren't you charged at it without even knowing what it was and why it had Ailen. But you guys weren't enough, it vanished with Ailen and then we went home told our moms that Ailen is gone and we don't know where she went and they called the police, and that's it." She finished talking and knowing the whole story it all made sense. The reason for the scream, where Ailen was, why Davina was standing frozen near the tree."Well, now we know that Ailen was hiding something from us about The Jumps and we have no idea what, and also she was going to come and apologize, and for half the time we were at the River you guys were here running for your lives," Kit said staring into space. We were all shocked, well except Davina who had witnessed it all."Um, why on Earth are we still going to go look for Ailen after hearing that," Celeste says honestly. Davina shakes her head."I know all of us want to leave because we have no idea what will happen here, or if we'll see the monster or not. And we definitely don't but..." She pauses and glances at the trail where she and Ailen had run down, and where Ailen had been hidden from the monster, and then where the monster had taken Ailen. She signed."I think we all want to bring Ailen back," Kit says quietly in a hushed tone. "And we have to do whatever we can to bring her back," We all stand there for a minute in silent then Celeste stands up and picks up a stick."Let's find this Son of a Ditch," We all laugh, and pick up a stick and go into the dragon's tail trail."So, Davina do you know why the monster showed up out of nowhere?" I ask her who is standing near the edge of the trail dragging her stick in the dirt. She'd been quiet ever since we'd set foot on the trail. We were all quiet."I have no idea, I wish it hadn't appeared at all," She whispered."Wow, no kidding, of course, we didn't want it," Celeste says rolling her eyes. She's that type of person that would say anything that comes to her head, without thinking what she's gonna say."Celeste." Kit says in a firm voice. "Sensitive topic, watch what you say," She continues. Celeste rolls her eyes and throws a pebble at Kit's foot, while Kit dodges it but glares at Celeste."They can never stop fighting, can they?" I whisper to Davina who chuckles in response, "I know right, they've known each other than anyone else." She answers, which is true because they did know each other for 13 years. "I know but only by a year," Davina shrugs, "I've known you for 12 years, known Celeste and Kit for 8 years." She says as she takes a break from walking and slumps against a tree. Celeste and Kit are pretty far back because they're still having their mini rock war. I laugh and Davina looks up surprised."What's so funny?" She asks and I point at Kit and Celeste which just confuses her more. "I don't get it, Katrina, what's so funny?" I stop laughing and then spill out, "Look!" I say between gasps for breath. "WHAT? Just tell me." I stop laughing and get serious, "You don't see it?" I ask looking over at Kit and Celeste who stop and start walking towards us occasionally kicking a pebble at each other here and there. "Nevermind," I say looking away. "Let's just keep moving," Davina losing interest gets up and goes over to Kit. I wonder if she really saw what I saw, and she's pranking me or if I was actually the only one to see the demon playing monkey in the middle with rocks. I'm sorta thinking the Monster isn't as bad as it is, but right as the monster came it was gone, with a smile on its face."I can't believe we didn't see the monster once!" Kit says discouraged. I bite my tongue to stop the words from spilling out of my mouth."I know right. I wish we had but at the same time I'm happy we didn't." Celeste says. I nod silently. Davina glances at me obviously knowing I know something she doesn't. She nods signifying that we should talk later. I nod in return. I don't actually want to talk to her but I'm afraid I have no choice. We walk home for lunch and then decide to stay home from the rain."Hey, Katrina meet me in the kitchen, I need to ask you something," Davina says glancing at me towards the kitchen. I grimace and nod slowly. She gets up and follows me while getting weird looks from Kit and Celeste."What did you actually see at The Jumps when we were just there?" She asks folding her arms across her chests."Nothing...." I say while smirking and standing from one foot to the other. She doesn't look impressed."Tell the truth, Kat." She says looking more defiant. I nod slowly than say, "Nothing." She frowns, "Friends don't lie." She smiles, and I collapsed into the chair that was placed on the kitchen table and sighs. "Okay, okay...." I say, "I saw the demon. But not in a bad way, it was being funny, it was playing monkey in the middle with Kit and Celeste. I pointed it out to you but you didn't see it for some reason, I'm starting to think that the demon is nice." I shrug and Davina's mouth drops open."WHAT WE WERE PLAYING WITH THE DEMON!" Kit's voice booms from the kitchen doorway, I wince. I should've known they would've followed."No but he wasn't hurting you he was goofing around, didn't you guys see?" I ask standing up. They step back, are my friends afraid of me?"You can see the demon? But we can't," Davina says. "I guess so," I reply. Kit's mouth drops open. "This is GREAT! Now we can find him easier. You can take us to him." She says."Oh my god your right. We can get Ailen back." They start jumping up and down then Davina stops."Guys, we don't know where Ailen is how are we gonna find her?" She asks looking at the floor."She's also right." Kit says clunking back against the wall. "He's defeated us and we haven't even started. Davina stands up and starts pacing back and forth to the point where we're afraid the ground is gonna open up and swallow her."What are you doing Davina?" Celeste says point to the ground where Davina's walking on. "The ground has feelings, don't just walk all over it." We all laugh."I have a plan, to get Ailen," Davina says through biting her nails. We all sit forward in our seats, waiting for her to spill the plan out of her mouth."What is it?!" I ask while shaking Kit's arm, who isn't quite pleased with it and shakes my hand back.She stops walking and says, "We wait for the monster to take us." We all stop talking and look at Davina. It's silent for a few minutes and then Kit says, "I agree."