Quinn stirred awake to the smell of bacon and Rachel watched the zombie like blonde exit the tent robotically with an amused smile on her face, Rachel's smile soon faded when the effects from last nights drinking started to take place. Rachel groaned as she stood to get out of the tent and instantly walked over to get a bottle of water. Barely able to open her eyes, Rachel ran into someone on her way to the shelter.
"Watch yourself dwarf!" Santana snapped which caused the smaller brunette head to throb immensely. 'It had to be Santana' Rachel thought to her self and kept walking, she didn't bother replying to the Latina's threat.
Rachel felt the cold water sooth her throat as it made its way down and she grabbed some ice and held it against her head, then sighed in relief as it numbed the headache if only for a short while. Once Rachel managed to take in everything around her she began to smell the food and instantly felt sick, she ran to the edge of the clearing and started to vomit.
"I think your girlfriend had a little too much once again Q." Santana smirked as she watched Rachel run to be sick. Quinn turned and spotted Rachel curled into a ball and she made her way over to the brunette instantly. Santana held back a laugh and got the kettle from the fire, making Brittany, Quinn and herself a coffee.
The rest of the group slowly emerged from their sleeping chambers while Santana cooked, besides Puck who was too hung-over to move anywhere, and the group prepared themselves for what the day had in store.
Santana didn't know how long she had been walking for, but she guessed it was probably too long just to collect some more firewood, but she got caught up in her thoughts, she made a mark on a tree about every 100 yards so she would find her way back. Santana took being alone as a chance to think about the future, College, Brittany, and she most definitely was not staying in Lima. Santana never put much thought into College, she didn't know what she wanted to do, all she knew is that where ever Brittany was that's where she was meant to be too. Santana knew Brittany was going to become an amazing famous dancer and she was going to be with her every step of the way, no matter where that took the couple in the process.
Santana's thoughts were interrupted when she heard running water ahead of her and she began to quicken her pace. After she made her way out of the final line of trees she gasped at the beautiful sight before her, mouth hanging open and eyes staring wide. Santana took a few steps closer to the lake that was being stirred by a waterfall just a hundred feet away. Santana looked down into the surprisingly clear water and bent down to put her hand in, memorized by how something so beautiful could be so hidden. Santana closed her eyes and breathed in the air, smiling at the haven she had just found. There was only one thing missing.
When Santana made it back to the camp, a mountain of firewood in her arms, Brittany jumped towards the Latina, with a grin spread across her face.
"Took your time San." Brittany pouted. Santana pulled Brittany into her arms and hugged her tightly before she let go again.
"I want to take you somewhere, I will go get the picnic blanket we packed and then we will leave okay?" Santana said with a huge grin on her face. Brittany agreed instantly, anything that caused Santana to smile like that was definitely something worth seeing, the blonde thought.
"We will be back later." Santana said to the group, not letting anyone know where they were going. Everyone seemed unfazed and Santana intertwined her fingers with Brittany's and they headed into the forest.
"San where are we going?" Brittany asked a little worried when Santana stood behind her and covered her eyes as they walked.
"We will be there any minute B, hold on." Santana said with excitement as she led them through the forest where the sound of running water got louder. Santana smiled when the waterfall came back into sight, she led Brittany next to the water before she removed her hands from her eyes.
"You can look now." Santana said quietly. Brittany opened her eyes and had the exact same reaction that Santana did. Brittany stared at the sight before her with the huge child-like grin that Santana loved so much, and Santana smiled. The sight was now complete, Santana thought as she watched Brittany with adoration.
"Its so beautiful San." Brittany finally spoke and turned to face the Latina who was watching her with soft eyes. Brittany caught her breath; she always got butterflies when Santana looked at her like that. Brittany linked her arms around Santana's neck and rested her forehead against Santana's.
"Thank you." Brittany said softly.
"Its our place now Britt." Santana replied thoughtfully as she sunk into the blonde's arms. Brittany smiled sweetly 'our place' she thought once again.
Quinn sighed deeply as she landed on a seat next to Mercedes. Mercedes gave Quinn an amused look and gave the blonde a nudge in the arm playfully.
"How is Rachel?" Mercedes asked mockingly.
"All she does is ask me to do stuff for her, its exhausting, I even had to redress her. Far out, she has a hangover she isn't in a damn coma." Quinn groaned in exhaustion.
"That girl has you whipped." Mercedes laughed.
"I am not whipped!" Quinn snapped back, but not entirely convincing Mercedes, or herself for that matter.
"Quinn!" Quinn sighed when she heard her name coming from a familiar brunette in the tent near by.
"Her Highness awaits." Mercedes said as she held back a laugh. Quinn gritted her teeth and rose from her chair and sluggishly made her way back to her girlfriend.
Later that afternoon, Brittany and Santana decided they should head back to the camp before their friends got worried, they were gone for a good three hours before they had noticed. Brittany didn't want to leave to start off with but Santana promised they would go there again before they had to go home. Santana tucked the picnic blanket under her arm and took Brittany's hand in her own, and then they followed the marked trees back to the camp.
When the couple made it back to the camp, they found half of the group playing a game of football while the other half still recovered from the previous nights activities. Brittany ran over to join the game enthusiastically while Santana went to put the blanket away, catching Quinn's eye, the smaller blonde followed the Latina.
"Good day?" Quinn asked with a questioning grin.
Santana rolled her eyes, she knew what Quinn wanted, her and Brittany had been gone most of the afternoon to a place no one knew, and the blonde obviously had questions.
"That's one word for it." Santana replied, not giving Quinn what she wanted to hear.
"Urgh, come on S, I spent the day looking after an overly dramatic and hung-over brunette, I need to hear about something good that happened today." Quinn groaned.
"Well the sex wa…" Santana began before Quinn interrupted.
"Forget I asked!" Quinn cut off her friend. Santana smirked in response and looked across at the other blonde who was now running across the clearing, chasing Mike to try and get the ball, Santana's eyes softened and a small smile made its way across her lips. Quinn noticed the expression that overtook Santana's smirk and couldn't help but smile at her friend.
"Why don't you go join in and prevent Finn from causing the future Mrs Lopez an injury." Quinn injected with a slight push and amused smile when she saw Santana's look of surprise at what Quinn had just said. Santana smiled thoughtfully and nodded, running towards Finn, who was chasing Brittany.
Unlike the night before, that current night was a lot tamer, for lack of better words, although some members of the group could have thought differently. Puck and Finn had suggested sharing horror stories/ghost stories. Everyone was grouped around the fire, attached to their partners with the exception of Puck and Finn who looked deep in conversation before they started the group off with one of their stories.
"So it all began three years ago…." Finn began his story, only a few had listened to start with, but as Finn continued, everyone leaned forward in anticipation.
"Sarah ran down the stairs to where she heard the screams, and a door slammed shut behind her, right at that moment Sarah knew she made a huge mistake. She heard footsteps approach from the top of the stairs." Brittany gripped tightly around Santana's waist, and pulled the Latina back to reality every time she would grip tighter. Puck had gotten up and left the group halfway through Finn's story but no one had noticed.
"'You shouldn't have come' a mans voice said as the footsteps on the stairs got closer. Sarah started to panic and she looked around for anything she could use as a weapon, but when Sarah did grab a hold of something it was wet and she looked down and saw blood on her hands, she dropped what was in her hand instantly and turned to run but tripped and ended up face to face with her boyfriend who's body was now mutilated and then suddenly the man who was approaching earlier GRABBED SARAH FROM BEHIND." Puck jumped out in front of the group and yelled something, which caused everyone to jump and a few of the girls to scream who sat their shaking in horror. Brittany's nails dug into Santana's side and the Latina flinched at the pain and stood up, she walked over to Puck and sent her fist flying into his stomach. Puck bent over and clutched his arm around his stomach in pain.
"Fucking hell Lopez!" Puck yelled at the Latina.
"Sorry, it was an instant reaction to how scared I was, couldn't help myself." Santana replied coldly and walked back to sit next to Brittany, and put her arms around the blonde to comfort her. Quinn smiled in satisfaction, she was also tempted to punch Puck, but decided getting hit by Santana was enough. Finn stared with wide eyes and shifted in his seat, scared that he would be next.
Once the group had calmed down, they continued on with sharing stories.
"I have a story." Rachel said. Everyone turned with surprise.
"Let me guess, someone got booed off stage during a musical?" Santana replied with a snicker. Rachel rolled her eyes at the Latina.
"Sorry to inform you Santana, but this story wont be some story about public embarrassment and unfortunately no heart warming end either." Rachel said back, irritated by Santana's insult. Santana smirked and nodded for the smaller brunette to continue.
"Lara and Josh were a young married couple, excited to be in their first house together. The house was in a small town by the name of Wolf Point, surrounded by woodlands a half hour out of the big city. The town was unusually quiet, even for small town standards. The townspeople didn't talk much. Not the people walking on the street, not the small shop owners, not even the children. People only seemed to talk as much as they had to, as if they were afraid to speak. Lara was uneasy about it, but Josh had assured her that nothing was wrong.
The second night after they moved in, the couple began hearing things outside the walls of their new home. At first it had sounded like voices, but they dismissed the idea, and blamed the wind. A few hours later, Lara and Josh both shot up in their bed by the sudden sound of a door slamming as it echoed throughout the house.
The next day, a small novelty shop caught Lara's eye as she was job hunting while Josh was at work. The store windows were filled with displays of odd masks and horror dolls. Lara decided to go in and take a look as curiosity got the best of her. An old man with a strangely blank expression stood quietly behind the counter of the store. He was tall, thin, and incredibly pale with large, dark purple rings around his eyes, as if he never slept. Lara's entrance to the store didn't seem to faze him, he just kept staring blankly without moving a muscle.
Lara began browsing through the store, her attention stolen by a small voodoo doll sitting on a shelf. She inspected it closely, and turned when she felt the air stir from behind her. Lara gasped as she found the old man standing behind her, that same blank expression drawn over his face.
"Is there anything I can help you with?" the man asked, his voice tired and weary. Lara uneasily shook her head, rushing for the door. She didn't make it through the door before the man spoke again.
"Whatever you do, don't ever scream."
Lara tried not to hyperventilate as terror overtook her. She didn't know why, but that single phrase had frightened her. She could feel the adrenaline kick in, heightening her senses. She slowly calmed herself, deciding that whatever was wrong in this town, she was going to find out.
That night, the noises disturbed the couple again. Again, they dismissed the odd whispers outside as the wind in the trees. But this night, instead of a door slamming, the sound of a door creaking slowly open, filled the house. Lara squeezed her eyes shut, the shopkeeper's final words echoing through her mind. Don't ever scream.
The next day, Lara decided to ask her neighbors for answers. Oddly enough, neither house next to hers were occupied, so Lara went to see her neighbor across the street. She left three loud knocks on the door and waited impatiently, slightly relieved when the door opened to reveal a woman who appeared to be in her 40s.
"Hello, my name is Lara, I just moved in across the street." Lara said politely, offering a smile even though everything felt so wrong inside.
"I know. How can I help you?" the woman replied, the same blank expression as the shopkeeper barely evident in her face. Lara shifted uncomfortably, not confident on if she wanted to hear the answer to the question she needed to ask.
"What can you tell me about the previous owners of my home?"
Lara sat in shock as the neighbor retold the events from the previous owners of Lara's house. Each of the owners the house had seen had been killed in that house, found with their throats ripped out and their voice boxes torn from their bodies. After the second killing, the townspeople became somewhat distant toward each other, afraid to leave their houses with nobody knowing who the killer was. Some even thought that it wasn't even a person who had killed those people.
But the neighbor wasn't entirely truthful with Lara. Everyone who had lived in that house had in fact died, all found without a voice box. But they had not all died in the house. They couldn't escape their voiceless fate.
Lara nearly ran out of her neighbor's house, hoping she could find some kind of information at the local library. Hours at the library proved to be useless, Lara couldn't find anything more than what her neighbor had told her about the murders.
When Lara pulled into her driveway shortly after 8 pm, she noted Josh's car in the driveway.
"Josh, I don't like this house anymore." Lara called out as she closed her front door behind her, slipping her shoes off. The dark house and an eerie silence were all that answered her, sending a shiver up her spine. She fought exhaustion and made her way up the stairway, pausing in front of her bedroom door as she heard the whispers again, yet they were more defined than they had been.
A shadow visibly shot past her, making her jump in fear with her hand clamped over her mouth. The old man's warning rang in her head once more. Don't ever scream. Lara heard the bedroom door behind her swing open with a creak, slowly turning around as paranoia gripped her, expecting the worst.
Her fears were met with reality as her eyes took in the sight of her husband on their bed in a pool of his own blood, his throat torn open like an animal had mauled him. At that moment Lara couldn't hold it in anymore and she let out a blood-curdling scream.
Just as she began to scream, she felt her legs being violently pulled out from under her. She hit the floor hard, being dragged across the bedroom, her nails digging into floorboards. As her attacker overshadowed her, Lara could see its face, causing her to scream again. The attacker shuddered slightly and grinned wildly, its transparent skin seeming to almost glow in the stark darkness of the room.
The attacker lifted Lara off the floor and pinned her to the wall. As Lara thrashed against her attacker, her eyes locked on the bedroom window. On the other side, she could see her neighbor that she had spoken to that afternoon, watching from her own home with a wicked smile on her face. Lara turned once more to her ghastly assaulter, screaming again at the pure evil in its eyes.
"I told you not to scream." the spirit growled in a hauntingly deep voice. With that, Lara died, her throat ripped to pieces and her voice box taken, a trophy of yet another soul who would never scream again."
Rachel ended her story there, and everyone remained still. The Diva couldn't help but smile at the effect her story had on her friends, they all sat frightened and lost in their thoughts, some visibly shaking with fear.
"I'm impressed, I wasn't expecting that after what happened to you in that haunted mansion at the carnival." Blaine said with a smile on his face. Every one was brought back to reality and Santana went to stand to get a drink but Brittany clung to her desperately. Santana turned back to face her girlfriend and saw fear across Brittany's face, Santana's heart sank at the sight of how scared the blonde looked and sat down next to her again immediately.
"Babe what's wrong?" Santana cooed as she wrapped her arm tightly around Brittany.
"Does this mean if I scream your name during sex, I will die, because I don't think I could hold that in San." Brittany blurted out, but only Santana heard her. Santana giggled softly and pressed her lips to Brittany's cheek.
"You can scream during sex as much as you like B, what Rachel said isn't real, it was just a story, and besides. I would never let anything hurt you." Santana said softly, her breath hitting the blonde's neck, almost seductively. Brittany relaxed into Santana's arms contently.
After Rachel told her story, the group decided they should do something a little more uplifting. None of the activities that were mentioned appealed to Santana, and she had different activities on her mind. Quinn quirked an eyebrow when she saw Santana whisper into Brittany's ear, and both girls subtly stood from the group and made their way back to their tent.
"I vote we put on loud music." Tina said as her gaze followed her two friends that had just left, to enjoy their private activities.
"Definitely." Mercedes agreed with a laugh.
Mercedes and Tina got up to put some music on and Mike got up to teach Finn some dance moves, which had never been entirely successful in the past, but Finn was set on improving his 'mad dancing skills'. Kurt and Blaine watched with amusement at how uncoordinated Finn was and got up to join in.
Puck got up from the group with a sigh and went to get himself a beer, he thought this weekend would help take his mind off Hailey and it did occasionally but his mind couldn't help but wander back. Puck pulled out his phone and scrolled through his old messages, he began to smile sadly as he read all the teasing and flirty messages. Sam walked up and sat next to Puck.
"Hey man are you alright, you seem pretty down." Sam asked his friend with concern.
"Yeah, I'm fine, still feeling a bit sick ya know?" Puck lied. Sam didn't fully buy it but he accepted the answer.
"Okay, well feel free to talk if you ever want to." And with that, Sam walked back over to his friends and gave Mercedes a kiss on the cheek before he sat back down.
Puck sighed and went to compose a new message, he knew he shouldn't send it but it couldn't hurt right? As soon as Puck hit send on the message that said 'Hey Hails, how are you going? I know I'm not meant to talk to you right now, but I just wanted to know how you are.' He finished his beer carelessly fast and stood to get another one. Why am I acting like some lovesick teenager? This isn't who I am, I am Noah Puckerman, McKinley High badass and stud, Puck thought to himself as he downed another beer. Puck's phone vibrated in his pocket and he pulled it out instantly.
'I am doing okay, what about you Noah?' Puck read on his small screen from Hailey.
'I'm doing great, camping with some friends at the moment, 4 days of getting wasted, what's better right?' Puck hit send and sighed. Only moments later, his phone went off again.
'Are you sure drinking is a good idea for you right now?' Hailey replied.
'It helps.' Puck replied
'Noah please.' Hailey pleaded on the small screen.
'Sorry.' Puck said, and put his phone back in his pocket, and finished his second drink, already onto his third within 10 minutes of the first.
Just as Puck relaxed in a chair, his head snapped up at the sound of a scream. The whole group looked in the direction of the scream with panic and saw Brittany jump out of hers and Santana's tent wearing nothing but a blanket to cover her up. Only moments after Brittany appeared out of the tent, a squirrel ran out after her and into the woods. Santana soon came out of the tent in nothing but a long shirt, laughing harder than anyone had heard her before, well, other than Brittany of course. Santana walked over to Brittany but the blonde hit her in the arm with more force than she originally intended.
"Ow, what was that for?" Santana said through her laugh.
"Its not funny! That scared the hell out of me." Brittany hissed at the Latina. Every one was shocked by the way Brittany was acting. But Santana continued laughing, and tried her best to stop. Once Santana composed herself she walked closer to Brittany once more, while the blonde glared at her.
"It was just a squirrel babe, I'm sorry for laughing." Santana said, and stifled another laugh. Brittany hit her in the arm again and stormed back into the tent. Santana winked at the group while she rubbed her sore arm and walked in after Brittany.
"Angry sex?" Santana asked jokingly, Brittany couldn't help but smile at the Latina.
Puck slumped back in to his chair and continued to drink, and didn't stop until he stopped seeing Hailey's face whenever he closed his eyes.
A/N: Once again just wanted to thank everyone who reads my story and thanks to everyone who has reviewed!