21:17
"Is anyone out there?" Sam asked impatiently, rubbing her arms. After a long ride up the mountain, we had arrived to the elevated station, yet the door was locked from the other side. Chris stated that this door didn't require a key. I really was in no rush, but it sucked being trapped in here for God knows how long. My big brother tried breaking down the door, but he didn't really put much effort into his breach.
"Alright," He said, "I'm gonna try again." He backed up and rammed his side arm into the door, just in time as he frightened a figure who just walked to the door. "Wa- Jess! Hey!" Chris raised his voice and slapped his hand against the the glass of the window.
"Uh... Are you guys having a really weird stroke?" Jessica said, still a little shaken up.
"We're stuck in this stupid thing."
"Can you please let us out? Pretty please?" Sam pleaded, and Jessica did so.
Surprisingly calm, Chris opened the door and walked out, inhaling, "Oh. My. God! I thought we were goners. Another ten minutes and I would've chewed off my own leg."
"Gross, bro," I gagged a little.
"Look I got a lot of meat on my bones," He stroked his thigh down once, "This is all muscle down here."
"And I haven't seen you in a while," Jessica looked over at me, "It's almost like you've disappeared."
"Thanks...?"
Suddenly, Chris quickly swiped something from Jessica's hand, "Hey!"
"I'm just doing like Sam taught me," He said, "Other people's private thoughts are my own personal playground."
"Do not be a jerk!" Sam said, crossing her arms. Chris held one hand up in the air, silencing her as he eyed Jessica's pink envelope, and he spoke in a bit a dramatic tone, "My goodness. Seems that some one has a lil' crush on our good friend and dear class president, Michael Monroe."
"Chris-"
"And what kind of sizzling erotica might our Jessica be capable of imagining? I wonder..."
I hid a smirk under my red-flannel scarf as Jessica tried reaching out for the envelope, " Give that back, you tool!"
"Tool and die," Chris winked at her, "That's my motto."
"You're such an idiot," She finally snatched the letter from his fingers, "Maybe nosey nancies shouldn't go nosing around in other people's... nostrils."
I looked at Chris with a blank open mouth, and he replied awkwardly, "Uh... Yeah, I try not to do that. As a rule."
I raised an eyebrow and turned to face Jess, "Come on, Jess. You can tell us. We can totally keep secrets."
"Whatever. You'll figure it out eventually."
"Did a little drama get in between Mike and Em-"
"Okay, being a little snooper must run in your blood. Did you get that from those novels-"
"Alright ladies," Chris nudged in, "Let's not poke the bear anymore, and head up to the lodge already." He took my arm and pulled me gently away from Jessica. I felt a little more confident, giving a little hard time to "Miss Jessie". That's one of the things I'm good at doing, at least mostly towards Chris. "You guys go ahead," Jessica said, "I'm just gonna wait here for a bit... See who else is coming."
"You mean Mike?" I said in low, and as Chris calls it, "smoochy" tone.
"What?... I mean... You know... Whoever."
"Right, right-"
"Okay, baby sis," Chris gave me a gentle shove, while chuckling a little, "You take the lead. Sam, you're coming?"
I walk on ahead uphill and cleared my throat as I wiped off the smirk on my face. Stop it, Leslie. You were upset, remember? You didn't want to come here. I sighed, attempting to see if I can blow some steam rings out of my mouth. But all that came out was just a trail of heat, almost like I was smoking a cigarette. Then that unsure feeling hit me unexpectedly again. I stopped where I was and looked around. Where am I again? I just now noticed that I drifted off the trail to the lodge. Though there was more to that. I felt very anxious. It was like I was being watched by someone.
Or something.
Suddenly, felt a pair of warm fingers grasp the sides of my stomach and a felt heat radiate on my back, joined with my surprised screaming. I quickly spun around, only to see that the pair of eyes watching me belonged to none other than Mike Monroe. He laughed, obviously amused by my reaction. "You shitstick! You scared the shit out of me!" I growled.
"Easy on the language, Lee," He kept laughing, "Didn't expect to frighten ya that hard." He put his hand on my shoulder, and I deflected it.
"And don't call me that."
"Leslie!" I heard Sam calling me out frantically, joined with Chris. I saw them coming towards both me and Mike, her questioning with alarm, "Are you okay? What happened?"
I simmered my heartbeat and sighed tensely, "Everything's fine. Just got jumped by this douche."
"Well for your information, Christopher, it seemed that your little sister was going into the woods and to Granny's house," He patted my back a bit to harshly, "Lodge is that way, Lee."
I glared at Mike and Chris didn't really know how to respond, finally saying, "I guess... Thanks for getting her back on track?"
"Sure. Sure, and uh... is Jessica here?"
"She's down by the station," Sam said, "I think she's waiting for you."
"Well, then. I'll go pay her a visit."
Mike ruffled up my hair as he made his way down hill. I cleared my throat, pretending that nothing happened, "Onward?"
"Let's," Sam nodded, and Chris followed her to the path. I stayed in my place and looked back, still having that feeling that something was lurking in the shadows. I sighed again. It's just in your head. I turned around, seeing that Chris was waiting for me while giving me a worried look, "You've changed since we've got here."
"So?"
"Well, first you were pissed to be coming here, then you cooled off, and now you're acting like there's a bear around here."
"It's possible... But I'm okay now."
"If you say so."
I walked close to Chris. As long as I'm with him, he'll keep me safe. We approached a small gate that wasn't necessary to climb over. We just opened it and passed on through. Then it was another walk uphill before crossing a bridge that lead to the lodge. From here, I could see Josh jogging up waving to Chris, "Hey, Chris, my bro!"
"Josh!" He ran up to Josh, greeting him with a high five. I kept my distance, pretending that Chris' "bro" didn't see me. "And..." Josh broke away from his best friend and spoke in a playful tone, "Who is this young lady over here?"
Oh no. I felt his arms wrap around me, lifting me up and spinning around like five times, "How's the baby sister doin'? It's been long."
"Er... Hi Josh, and to answer your question; I'm doing fine. What about you?"
He put me down and replied with passion, "Awesome! Thanks asking and coming."
"Didn't really have much of a choice, but I'm glad you're accepting me being here."
"No problem," He put his arm around my shoulder while inviting Chris to come under his other open arm. He came over, and we were huddled up like a sandwich. "Man, I feel like this mountain gets bigger every time I climb it," Chris says.
"Oh yeah?" Josh said, "Feels the same to me."
"Oh, come on. You grew up here. It probably feels like it's shrinking."
"I guess that's true."
I did feel a bit safer with these guys by me, it brought off the feeling. However, I couldn't forget how it felt to be stuck with insecure behavior. This one especially brought alarms. What if something risky were to happen tonight? Maybe a butterfly or totem will direct me. As soon as I knew it, I saw that we were at the entrance of the lodge. Waiting there were Sam, Ashley, and Matt. "Hey guys," Josh greeted, "Get up here okay?"
"Yeah! Ashley said, "Well, more or less, but it's so good to see you!" I turned my attention over to Matt, who looked as if he were frustrated or something. But he had his arms cross and his head low, having his shadow cover his brown eyes. To be friendly, I walked up to him and smiled nicely, "Hey."
"Hello," He greeted, not having any expression in his voice.
"Are you... doing okay-"
"Y-Yeah. I'm fine. I just... I'd like to be alone for a minute."
"O-Oh... Sorry for i-intruding then..."
Chris and Josh came walking down from the steps, "So are we gonna get things moving up here?" Sam asked.
"Yeah, it's just that the door knob is frozen shut," Josh said, "Thankfully, our man Chris has got the master plan!"
Chris looked up from his conversation with Ashley, "Y-Yeah. Totally! Let's go." Before Josh and Chris could execute their plan, I jogged up to Josh and began speaking to him personally, "Hey, Josh."
"Yeah?"
"Are you doing alright? I-I mean... It must be really tough without your sis-"
"Stop. Just stop."
"I meant that-"
"No I know what you meant," There was a sudden change in Josh's eyes, almost as if he were disturbed or spacing out, but he went back to normal soon enough, "You know, seriously, I'm over it, and I just want us to have a good time , you know? Like we always used to."
"Right..."
Josh caught up with Chris and I stood clenching my fists and closing my eyes, whispering, "Sorry."
"Is everything okay, Leslie?" I heard Ashley behind me, and I turned around and answered quickly without acting like something was wrong, "Yup! Everything's fine."
Everything's fine.
Hopefully it'll remain that way.
I wanted to do an author's note, but there's really nothing to say. So here's a word of the day: UFO
