Unity [Book 3]

13. After Images

LINDSEY DUNBAR

"No. No. No!" Mason exclaimed, Liam laughed. "You swear you weren't cheating?" Mason asks, "I swear to God," Liam chuckles.

Mason and Liam were playing video games while I just laid on Liam's bed watching them and studying for the test, "Fine. One more game," Mason tells him. "I have to get back to studying," Liam says as he reaches over to get his history book, "Uh, you need any help with anything?" Mason asks.

"What, you wanna help me study?" Liam asks, "I'm your best friend, I can help you study," Mason replies. "Nah, go home, dude. Plus, Lin can help me if I have trouble with anything," Liam tells him as he opens his book, "Uh, you guys mind if I- I mean is it cool if..." Mason trails off. "You wanna stay over?" Liam and I ask, "Yeah, is that all right?" he asks. "Yeah, if you tell us why," Liam says looking over at me then back at Mason, "What do you mean why? Maybe I just wanna hang out," Mason says.

"What about Corey?" Liam asks, "Yeah, what is he doing?" I ask as well. "He's at a library study group," Mason replies, "We haven't had a sleepover since we were 10," Liam says. Liam and I close our books, "What's going on?" Liam asks. "Is everything okay?" I ask, Mason sighs. "You remember that body that we found? You know, the one without the face? I can't get it out of my head," Mason says, "Yeah, me too," Liam responds.

"No. Dude, I'm... I mean, I literally can't get it out of my head. You know what after images are?" Mason asks, I furrow my eyebrows. "You mean, like, when you look at a light bulb and when you look away..." I trail off, "You still kind of see it?" Liam finishes for me. "Yeah. Well, there's this more extreme version called palinopsia. It literally means 'seeing again'. The image just stays with you... and you see it again. And again," Mason explains, "So, where are you seeing the body?" Liam and I ask.

"Everywhere..." Mason whispers.

*****

We were at the woods, according to Lori, Brett went missing and she found blood on his lacrosse stick.

Liam and I were worried, so we were ahead of everyone and found an arrow impaled on a tree trunk. Malia, Scott, and Lori finally caught up to us. "Here. I think he set a trap," Liam tells them as Lori picks up Brett's phone from the ground, "He's fighting back," Scott says. "And now we know he's alive," Malia said, Lori takes out the arrow from the tree.

"But he's still hurt. We need to find him, he needs to know we're here," Lori says, and right as she was about to howl Malia stops her. "You want the hunter to know we're here too?" Malia asks her, "He's new. We can take em'," Liam responds. "What if Brett howls back? He'll lead the hunter right to him," Malia says, "No, we could find him first. There's no human that can track sounds faster than we can. And we've got the advantage, we've done this before. We know what we're doing, guys," Scott tells us.

Liam grabs the arrow from Lori's hands and inspects it closely, "How come I can't catch his scent?" Malia asks. "He's masking it," Lori replies. "Can someone tell him not to?" Malia asks, "He went this way," Liam says and starts running. Lori and I follow right behind him, we then all stop once the trail ends.

"The trails gone," Malia sighs, "Uh, maybe he just stopped bleeding," Scott wonders. "I think we should split up," Liam suggests, "Lori, Lin, and I go this way, you guys go that way," Liam says. "Or maybe we go in five directions?" Lori suggests, "Nope, not doing that," I shake my head. "Yeah, we should stick together," Malia says, "We have the advantage, it's five against one," Liam tells her.

"Not if we split up," Malia says, "She's got a point," I say. "I've been doing this the past three months without your help. I think I can make a decision," Liam says trying to convince Malia, "Well, if you're deciding to do something stupid and die, then go ahead," Malia tells him. "It's one hunter. One amateur who doesn't know what they're doing," Liam argues, "Scott," Malia calls. Scott was squatting on the ground and looks up at us, he then looks back down and uncovers a footprint.