The killer raised his knife up. It glisened in the moonlight. Then he reached up and pulled his mask off.
It was just Dick Casablancas.
Some kids relized it was a prank and laughed while other just looked around, kind of shocked. Veronica and Logan exchanged glances. Then she let go of his arm, to her dissapointment.
Troy, Caleb, and Mitchel were also laughing. they're prank had gone very well. "What was that about?" one boy asked. Dick shrugged "Nothing...just funny as hell."
After about ten more minutes of joking around a large group of kids, including Veronica and Logan gathered around the campfire while other kids told scary stories. "I've got one." Dick said. "About eight years ago there was a cabin built somewhere right around here, in the woods. A family lived there."
He paused "A mother, father, and two kids, a boy and a girl. The father was a blacksmith while the mother stayed at home. One night the father was fired from work for being drunk, so he killed his boss, then went home and shot his wife before setting the house on fire. The man then killed himself inside the house."
Veronica, for some reason, had a hard time believing Dick's story. "Now," he continued, "they say if you go to the house you can see the ghost of the father. You guys know what else?..." Dick then paued for suspense. Veronica rolled her eyes.
"He's gonna get you!" he shouted, grabbing hold if Gia's arm. She screamed and some kids laughed. Logan gently grabbed Veronica's arm. "Come on, let's go somewhere else." he said. "Yeah." she agreed, saying bye to Mac and Cassidy before following Logan away from the group.
The two of them walked along the edge of the forest. "Can you believe Dick?" Veronica asked. Logan just laughed "No..not at all."
"Yeah he's...well he's just weird." Veronica replied, Logan nodded. Once thy were a good distance away from the others Logan stopped walking and looked at her. Veronica suddenly felt sort of nervous. "So i'm glad you came with me tonight." he said.
She smiled "Well i'm glad you came with me." Logan smiled slightly and leaned closer. But the two seperated at the sound of a tree branch snapping. Veronica turned just in time to see, or think she saw, somthing move away.
"What was that?" she asked. "I don't know...maybe an animal?" Logan suggested. "Logan...that was too big to be an animal." she answered, keeping her eyes trained on the woods, as if somthing would jump out at them any moment.
"Well half of Neptune high is here...it could be anybody." he added. Duh, Veronica thought, why didn't I think of that? "You're right." she said, nodding. "Yeah." Logan answred. She really hoped he'd try and kiss her again. He didn't.
"Let's go seomwhere safer." Logan said. Veronica agreed and followed him away from the woods.
9:21 p.m
The party was actually turning out to be fun. Veronica met up wth Wallace and the two began talking for a while. Then he said somthing about seeing another girl and wondered off. So Vernica was sitting alone until Logan saw here and walked over, almost looking shy.
"Hey, bored?" he asked. Veronica looked back at him "Yes, very." she admitted, watching other kids throw around a football. "Well so am I." Logan said, taking a seat next to her.
"So this really isn't as good as we expected, huh?" she asked, staring at Logan. "Nope...they never are." Logan responded. "So let's go do somthing." she suggested after a moment. Logan glanced up "Like?" he asked.
"I don't know..." she said, then saw an empty beer bottle. "How about truth or dare?" she asked. "Yeah, that sounds fun." he said, walking over to the bottle and picking it up. Ten minutes later Veronica, Logan, Wallace, Troy, and Caleb were playing. Gia and Duncan joined in after seeing the game.
Wallace spun first and the bottle landed on Gia. "Oky, truth or dare?" he asked. Gia thought about it for a moment "Aw come on, just pick." Duncan said. "Fine...um, truth." Gia said quickly.
"Okay, is it true that you had a crush on Casey Grant during freshman year?" Wallace asked. Gian smiled slightly before answering "Yeah..quiet a bit actually." she admitted. "Aw come on!" Duncan said and Troy laughed.
"Okay, okay. My turn." Caleb said, spinnig the bottle. It landed on Logan.
"Ha, okay dude, truth or dare?" Caleb asked. "Dare." Logan answered almost immediatly. "Okay, I dare you to kiss the hottest girl at this party." Caleb explained. "I can pick?" Logan asked. Leaning back in his seat and crossing his arms, Caleb nodded "Yeah, sure."
"Okay..." Logan was hesitant. Then he turned to Veronia and kissed her. The kiss lasted only a moment, but for her it seemed like an eternity. Veronica, surprisingly, didn't object, only kissed Logan back.
The others laughed. Logan stopped kissing Veronica and smiled. She, still not belieing how lucky she was, smiled back "Oh my God!" Wallace said, laughing. "Ookaaay then." Gia said, taking the bottle and spinning it. The bottle landed on Wallace. "Dare." he said right away.
"Okay, Wallace, I dare you to go into the woods and don't come out until I say you can." she instructed. Wallace glanced back into the woods. Veronica also took another look at them.
Most of the trees were dead and looked as if they'd fall over if the wind blew too had. The brush was so thick you could hardly see around it. In other words, it was the ideal spot for a horror film.
"You serious?" he asked, looking back at Gia. "Yeah, it's not scary. What could happen?" she asked. So Wallace stood up and walked away from the group. He stopped a the edge of the woods and then went inside. He quickly walked behind some trees, dissapearing from view.
Veronica held her breath and waited. And waited. The group watched the woods for a while until suddenly Wallace ran out and didn't stop until he reached them again. "Whoah, dude what's up?" Logan asked.
"there is sombody..they're..in the woods." Wallace managed to say between breaths. "Some kids from this party." Logan suggested again. "No way, this guy was too tall...to different" Wallace told them. Logan stood up as well and Gia gave him a confused look "You're joking right?" she asked him.
"No, seriously." Wallace said. For some reason, Veronica believed him. Caleb snorted "Sure dude." he said, taking drink of beer. "Well then if you don't believe me, then go see for yourself." Wallace insisted. Caleb shrugged and finished his beer. "Sure." he said, throwing the empty can aside and standing up.
"No, don't." Gia spoke up suddenly. They all looked at her "Aw..tell me you're not afraid to." Caleb said. "Um...yeah, I guess so." Gia admitted, looking over her shoulder. "There's nothing to be afraid of." he pointed out, walking off towards the woods.
"Caleb, just forget about it, dude." Troy shouted after his friend. "I'll be right back." Caleb shouted back. Veronica shook her head and turned around to see Mac standing around alone. She walked towards her. "Hey, where's Cassidy?" she asked.
"Oh he's over there talking to Dick about...drinking..I think." Mac explained "What's Caleb doing?" she asked. "Trying to disprove Wallace." Veronica replied. The two watched as Caleb went into the woods with no hesitation. For a moment everything seemed okay.
After about ten minutes though, Veronica began to worry. "Where is he?" Gia asked, joining the two girls as they sat at a picnic table. "He'll be back." Veronica said. "That or this is another one of Dick's stupid jokes." Logan added, stepping behind Veronica.
"That's probably all this is." Veronica assured Gia, who seemed slightly afraid. Gia nodded, then after about five more minutes Veronica gave up. "That's it, he needs to stop playing around." she said, walking to the woods. Mac and Logan followed. "What are you doing?" Mac asked her friend.
"Looking for Caleb." Veronica replied. "Want us to come with you?" Logan asked. "Yeah, that would be a good idea." Veronica said. They got to the woods and went inside. It was darker than she imagined, and creepier. Much creepier.
It reminded her of a horror movie or somthing. "Where'd he go?" Mac asked, following Veronica and Logan further into the thick brush. "Probably just trying to freak us out." Veronica answered, struggling to see through the darkness.
"Yeah." Logan agreed. Veronica felt herself becoming increasingly nervous as they went even further into the woods. She reached down and found Logan's hand, holding onto it. his hand felt reasurring.
"Okay we get it Caleb. Come on, let's get back to the party." Logan shouted, then waiting for an answer. Nothing. Not even the sound of Calebs footsteps. "Nice joke dude, now come on." he said again and once again they go no answer.
It's okay, Veronica assured herself, he's just trying to freak us out because he had nothing better to do. Still, she was afraid.
"I give up." Logan said. Almost right after he said that there was a rustling sound behind Mac. Not just the wind, somthing louder. Heavier. Veronica froze but immediatly thought it was Caleb trying to scare them. Logan turned around and walked towards the sound. It was so dark that Veronica could hardly see in front of her.
But they got into a small clearing. Trees hung over it and dead leaves along with twigs covered the ground. But the one thing that caused Veronica to scream wans't the scenery. It was Caleb.
He was laying on the ground, his throat was sliced wide open. His eyes were completely blank. The once white sweater he had on was now stained with his dark blood and the bottom of his shirt had holes in it, as if he were stabbed.
Caleb was certainly dead.
