Murder in the woods

Chapter 1

Beep, beep, beep, beep. My alarm blares it's hideous noise into the silence of my sleeping room, startling me awake. It's two in the morning and the day of my residential trip. Shaking off the grogginess of sleep, I grin at the excitement of my holiday. We've been waiting forever for this day, and it's finally come.

My fluffy carpet tickles my feet as I get up, ready for the big day. It's still dark outside and a thin sliver of moon slices through the inky pool of blackness, scattering stars in its wake. Isn't nature truly beautiful? Hurry up and get ready, Skyla, you don't have time to daydream, I scold myself, quickly pulling on the outfit at the foot of my bed. I'm wearing a black t-shirt with a pale blue skirt. Apparently the skirt matches the colour of my eyes, I like it.

Grabbing my suitcase, I haul myself downstairs, snatching up my phone and hairbrush on the way out. "Could you be any louder? I was trying to sleep." Katy moans, coming out of her room. "Yeah, Skyla, you sounded like a herd of elephants!" Hannah, my younger sister and Katy's twin, agrees. "Come on you guys, I'm excited, you can't blame me!"
"Well, we do!" They say in unison, then laugh at each other, finding it hilarious that they said the same thing at the same time. It doesn't take much to amuse nine year old girls, does it?
"Is Mum up yet?"
"Dunno, you can go check."
"Thanks so much for your help, I'll really miss you too."
"We never said we'd miss you." Hannah giggles.

Shaking my head at them and trying not to laugh, I continue downstairs where my parents are sipping coffees, still half asleep, "Morning! Are you nearly ready to leave?"
"Yes, honey, I'll be five minutes, ok?"
"Yay! Thanks, Mum!"

Less than fifteen minutes later, I'm sitting on the back row of the bus, waving goodbye to my Mum who smiles up at me, waving back. "I can't believe we're here!" Lara squeals.
"I know!" Chloe replies, ripping open a bag of sweets, "Anyone want some Harribos?" she asks, chewing noisily as her face is stuffed with the sweets.
"It's not even three in the morning yet, Chlo!"
"So?"
"Have you even brushed your teeth?"
"Ummm...yeah?" she giggles.
"Chloe!" We all exclaim, laughing at our sugary sweet friend who blushes pink. Collapsing into a fit of giggles, Chloe squirms with embarrassment as we tease her.

Once we've all stopped laughing, Jonny checks his watch and reaches over me to Chloe, saying  "Pretty please can I have a sweety now?" Smiling up at her through his thick eyelashes.
"No way! You can't laugh at me and then expect me to feed you!"
"Nah, we only teased you as it was before three. It's now one minute past three, so eating sweets can now be accepted as a reasonable activity to pass the time."
"Ugh, quit being annoying! I'm only giving you these to shut you up!" Chloe laughs, chucking a handful of the sweets in his face.

It's not long before it's only me and Lara who are left awake. "Aren't you tired?" I whisper.
"I can't sleep on buses, you?" She answers.
"Same." We chat quietly for the last few hours of the journey, watching everyone begin to wake up and laughing at the snorer two rows in front. "He's so loud!" Lara says, stifling a laugh.
"I know! I bet he'll be so embarrassed if anyone tells him that he sounds like a pig!"
"Skyla! That's so mean!" Lara says, but she can't help laughing.

"What are you two laughing at?" Chloe mumbles, stretching her legs as she wakes up.
"Ah, nothing much, Chlo. Did we wake you?"
"Mmhmm" she replies, before laying her head on my shoulder and dozing off again.