Secrets In a Small Town

Chapter 1~ The Lake

~GABY~

From the outside, we both looked like your average teenage girl. But in reality we were both hiding terrifying secrets.

I looked over at my best friend Alyssa. Her long dark brown hair swayed gently in the light breeze. We were walking around our neighborhood lake, which was our favorite meeting spot. It was usually empty, so we could talk freely here. We didn’t have to pretend.

 “It’s so hot,” Alyssa moaned, fanning her face with her hand.

“Let’s jump in the lake,” I suggested.

“Alright,” Alyssa replied.

We always wore bikinis under our clothes, just in case. If you lived inTexasit was pretty much a given that you would go swimming at least once a day. We tore off our tanks and jumped right in.

We swam around a bit and then found a large rock we could sit on in the water. I stretched out my legs and sighed.

“There’s pond scum in my swim suit,” I told Alyssa, frowning.

“Gross,” she said, wrinkling her nose.

“It’s like, really in there,” I said.

“Ok. Too much information,” she replied. I laughed at the disgusted expression on her face. She started to make her way out of the lake. I followed her to the shore.

“What should we do know?” Alyssa asked as we slipped on our shorts and wrapped our tanks around our necks.

“Let’s go to my house!” I exclaimed.

We started walking around the lake again, headed towards the trail that led to my neighborhood. Suddenly, a sound sliced through the peaceful aura of the lake.

Alyssa and I stopped in shock as we listened to the girl’s piercing scream.

~ALYSSA~

Gaby and I stared at each other, both of us wide eyed.

“Did you hear that?” I whispered.

She nodded. Her face held an expression of fear.

Then we heard it again. Followed by another girl screaming. And another. And another.

“What’s going on?” Gaby panicked.

I tried to stay calm. I was the one to keep my head in a situation like this, so I couldn’t let my fear show. I scanned the distance of the lake, looking for any signs of disturbance. Then my eyes locked on something in the distance.

A huge cloud of dust rose up from the hill leading down to where Gaby and I stood. As the shape drew nearer, I gasped in surprise.

Five familiar looking boys were sprinting at full speed towards us. The looks on their faces were ones of pure terror. Behind them was a huge stampede of screaming girls.

“Oh my god,” Gaby gasped.

I grabbed her arm and dragged her off towards our secret hiding spot, which was fortunately very close. Just as I was ducking into ditch, one of the boys caught my eye.

He had blonde hair and was sporting a red polo shirt and pants. Pants? We’re inTexas! You can’t wear pants duringTexassummer. Actually, they were all wearing pants. They must have been dying from heat.

He stared at me for a second, then motioned for the other boys to follow him. Before I could register what was even happening, the five boys had jumped into the ditch.

~GABY~

Everything just seemed like a huge blur.

I was just having fun with Alyssa and now we were in a ditch. The screams were piercing my ears, so I covered my ears and closed my eyes as I crouched into a ball.