Hehe, I enjoyed that little revelation at the end of the last chapter :)
h0use0fcards: You weren't? Nice, I was able to shock someone :)
ReadyWhenYouAre: You did? Neat, I tried to drop a few hints here and there and you were clever to pick up on them! Yeah, they were originally going to be that... something else, but I decided it would fit a lot better with the plot if they were part of the spell. Stoked? Glad to hear it :)
And here we go with tense drama and POV of Preston...
He hadn't meant to kill Harrison. He hadn't meant to at all, he knew no one would ever believe him, no matter how many times he said it, even if he'd managed to convince himself. Preston knew it didn't look good in his favour, smashing Harrison's head in with a rock. But there was more to it than that. This was how it had happened.
"Hey Pressers!" Preston groaned inwardly, but turned as Harrison called out that ridiculous nickname he's been trying to lose.
"What?" Harrison was swaying a little on his feet, obviously a lot drunker than Preston, but even Preston was far past the limit for their age group.
"You wanna go for a walk?" Harrison gestured blatantly into the forest. "You know, just like old times?"
A walk in the woods in the middle of the night would be a good way to get them lost and then bash Harrison's brain out. This was just a little drunken joke that made Preston chuckle a little. He wasn't serious at all.
"Sure, why not?" He wandered over to Harrison and the pair entered the dark woods, stumbling over tree roots and throwing rocks at squirrels as they went. Harrison was very drunk, making him even more annoying than usual. Preston was also extra drunk, making him more annoyed than usual. But he stumbled along beside his former friend, keeping his dark thoughts to himself.
"Stop a mo, need to tie..." Harrison trailed off, gesturing towards his boots. Preston leant against a tree, watching Harrison struggle with the knots.
"You can't do it when you're not sober, can you?" He asked with a sneer.
"Shut up." Harrison giggled a little and dropped his laces. "Nerris can though. I bet she could do it if we could find her." Preston's expression dropped from annoyed to ugly.
"What's wrong?" Harrison came over to him. Preston took a few steps away, leaning a foot against a large rock which was just lying there.
"I don't like it when you talk about," The words sickened Preston to say. "Your girlfriend."
"What, cos she used to be yours?" Harrison came over to him again. "Not her fault she likes to get around, you know what, she'll have probably moved on from me in another year."
"Another YEAR! ANOTHER YEAR!" Preston rounded on him, bubbling with pent up fury. "You don't get it do you, you prick! You took my girlfriend from me, one of the only people who ever treated me nice! I only had three weeks with her and then you took that away!"
"Whoa Pressers, calm-"
"Don't call me that!" Preston snapped. "And don't tell me to calm down!" Preston's anger was erupting. He didn't really care about Nerris or the consequences of his actions. All he felt right now, all he had been feeling for weeks was blunt, repressed anger. He just wanted Harrison to pay.
"Get a fucking life Preston!" Harrison snapped, his drunken anger rising a little too. "You lost her almost a year ago! Get over it already!"
Preston snapped.
"Get over THIS!" He yelled, and with strength he didn't know he had, he grabbed the rock he had been leaning against and held it high above Harrison's head. Harrison laughed.
"You don't have the guts. Or the lawyers."
Preston couldn't hear him. All he could hear was his own rage and a strange, ghostly whisper.
You used to be friends but now hatred runs wild between you. You shall learn what it means to abandon a friend.
Over and over. Preston didn't notice Harrison's smile drop, fear appear in his eyes. He didn't hear Harrison begging him to put the rock down, calling for help when he realised that Preston was serious.
Preston hurled the rock with all his strength. It crashed into the side of Harrison's head with such force that his hat was knocked off his head and rolled into the bushes. Harrison collapsed instantly. The chant stopped. The cloud of anger seemed to vanish. Preston blinked and looked at the rock lying a few feet away, stained with blood. He looked at his own hands, pale and clammy in the moonlight. He looked down at Harrison.
He was dead. There was no mistaking the sight of a dead body on the ground.
Far away, a bird called out like a warning sign.
Preston knew he was a murderer, that was why he hadn't said a word at the funeral. He wasn't supposed to be there, he was supposed to be in jail. He didn't deserve the looks of sympathy the small crowd of townspeople at the funeral gave the group.
Preston was in the woods again, near the spot where he had murdered Harrison. He couldn't deal with this anymore, the funeral had been enough. The moment they had gotten back to camp, Preston had pretended to go back to his tent, then snuck into the woods. He needed to say a proper goodbye.
A little way past the spot where Harrison had died, there was a cliff that David had always warned them about. It was a steep and sudden drop with a small stream running along the bottom. As Preston reached this, he remembered a story David had told them about a friend of his at camp who had fallen down that cliff. He briefly wondered if that friend had been Jasper.
Reaching the cliff, Preston sat down, his legs dangling over the edge. He looked out across the valley, towards the trees and mountains on the over side, a slight corner of the lake visible. There was a hill with a view similar to this near where the Jasper tree was located, only that showed the full lake in all it's glory with the island in the middle, shining like a mirror. No matter where you looked, Preston thought, it was a beautiful sight. Of course, that was just the surface. Jasper hid somewhere down there in all his angsty glory.
Preston put his head in his hands so he didn't have to look any more.
"I'm sorry Harrison!" He cried out. "I didn't mean to and now you're gone! It's my fault, because everyone blames Jasper! They're further from solving this mystery than EVER! It'll be them next!" He sniffed and looked up.
"I want to jump, there's nothing left for me here." He admitted, standing up and stretching. "But I'm too scared. What will happen to me in the afterlife, who will write my plays that I still haven't finished. But more than that, who will care? Gram Gram probably won't even notice, the other campers are too occupied, the councillors are already adjusted to death... who's gonna notice shit?" He laughed. "But also... I'm too scared." Preston confessed. He groaned, filled with procrastination from his sandals to the top of his head. He spread his arms out.
"Go on Harrison! Jasper! Anyone who's listening! Make the decision for me! Do something! Send me a sign!"
How's this for a sign?
A hand on Preston's back.
A small, teenage hand, yet it wasn't entirely solid, not made of flesh.
Yet it was coated in a small, white magician's glove.
That single hand was enough to tip Preston over the edge. Literally. One small push was enough.
Preston fell.
...
"Come on guys, we need to find him!" Ered called Space Kid and Nurf, who were slacking on a tree stump. The pair sighed and got back on their aching feet. They had been searching since the news was announced that Preston had been Harrison's killer. No one was exactly sure what they did with Preston when they found him, punish him, kill him, help him? No one had exactly decided on anything yet.
"Preston! Theatre nerd! It's getting dark! Come on you fucking nerd!" Nurf yelled, kicking a small squirrel as he passed. "Urgh, I'm starting to get reminded of the search for Harrison."
"Maybe this one won't end that way." Space Kid said hopefully, looking around himself as if a live Preston would appear in a tree.
"I doubt it." Dolph said as he passed. "Preston's been gone too long to be simply on a walk. He knows we know. He's hiding."
"What makes you so sure?" Nurf demanded, crossing his arms.'
"Just a hunch."
"Come on guys, like my helper at school says, think positive!" Space Kid punched the air. "To infinity and beyond!"
"Quoting Toy Story isn't going to be helpful in this situation." Nurf muttered. "PRESTON! I AM GOING TO BE SO MAD WHEN WE FIND YOU- WHOA!" Nurf stopped as his foot stepped off the edge of a cliff into oblivion. Dolph and Space Kid dashed forwards and yanked the older boy back. "Whew, thanks guys."
"It's that cliff David always warned us about!" Space Kid exclaimed. "Deep too. You could fit a small space shuttle in there." He peered down and his eyes widened. "Or something else! What do you make of that?"
Nurf and Dolph's mouths dropped open.
"Hey guys!" Nurf yelled. "I might have found him!" But there was no triumph in his voice.
...
Gwen pushed the doors harshly open. The eight remaining campers looked up from their various positions on and around the tables.
"Alright you little shits." Gwen shut the door and stood in front of the upset bunch of preteens with an angry and hurt scowl. "That's two campers who have both died under mysterious circumstances on camp grounds. Everyone seemed to be expecting something bad to happen to Preston. Harrison was killed by someone. I know you kids know more than you're letting on. So spill."
The eight exchanged glances, even Nerris, who had been shoved into another pit of emotion after seeing another dead body of someone she'd loved. The campers knew they should have figured out that something was up with Preston. They should have know Jasper would gain very little from killing Harrison. They may be heavily involved with the mystery surrounding the camp, but in reality, they barely knew more than Gwen.
Max gave a sigh and stood up.
"I'll tell her." He announced in a monotonal voice. He turned to Gwen. "Sit down. It's a long and crazy story."
So he told her. Neil and Nikki chipped in at parts, but mainly the other campers and Gwen listened in depressed silence. Hearing it out loud, it sounded like something out of a horror movie, or a bad fanfiction.
"And now both of them are dead. Daniel and Jen don't know anything helpful about the curse. We have no way to find Campbell in the city. We're stuck." Max shoved his hands in his hoodie pockets and looked at the ground. Gwen just stared.
"It's true." Nikki insisted. "All of it."
Gwen sighed and ran a hand through her hair, almost yanking it out.
"I believe you." She said eventually. "You all look way too sincere. But..." She sighed and stood up. "I'm the councillor. It's my job to be responsible. I'm not letting you guys go through this alone." She gave a them a small smile. "I'll look for a way to get to Campbell and I will drive you there. You're not alone anymore guys."
The campers looked up at her, small smiles cracking over their faces, even Max.
Nerris got up out of her seat and came over to Gwen.
"Thank you." She whispered, and hugged her tightly.
...
The living campers weren't the only ones who were stressed. Jasper had a knot that was pushing hard against his ghostly chest every time he moved, like hunger or a heart attack or fear. The curse was no closer to being broken and worse, another curse had been activated! Two living campers dead!
Jasper was up in the room with the mirrors again, his thinking spot. He had spent an awful lot of time up here after he met Max last year. Ghosts didn't normally cast reflections, but they did in these mirrors. The mirrors had been showing Jasper trapped in this awful existence for all eternity until Max came over to him at that tree last summer. Then they had changed. Jasper had seen the possibility of himself making it to the afterlife for the first time...
But now...
"No no NO!" Jasper yelled, punching hard at the mirror. His fist went straight through it. With a yell of aggravation, Jasper concentrated on being a poltergeist just enough to pick up the mirror and hurl it across the room. It didn't break.
"Fuck those kids!" Jasper yelled. The other ghosts around the house didn't even hear him, lost in existence as they were. Jasper growled and looked out of the window, over the lake, towards the camp. No one was out and about, but still, his eyes narrowed with hate at the sight of the place where he had died.
"Fine." Jasper clutched the window still with a stiff hand. "If they won't work on my curse, I'll just have to remind them what they're fighting for."
The very same thing Jasper had been fighting for in those last few moments he had been breathing.
Their lives.
Soo yep, I killed off another one. And he won't be the last! Evil laughter! :)