Wow, let me say that the turn out for reviews has been amazing! I can't believe I got so many reviews so quickly and how wonderful they all were! I'm really glad everyone is enjoying my story so far and I have definitely planned and continuation of this one as well, but I'm getting ahead of myself. So, continue to review and, more importantly, to enjoy.

Chapter Three

A Promise

Even as Jessie laughed and reminisced with her father and brother down in the basement as they flipped through old family albums, Chris could tell that her mind was completely on her sister. His girlfriend's eyes were missing the shine that they had only recently reacquired, giving her a semi-glazed look that she only got when the subject of what had happened in the woods came up. And now, it was easy for Chris to tell that she was thinking about those horrid days, seeing her friends get slaughtered all over again, only know she was imaging that fate for her sister.

Jessie thumbed through the album upon her lap, which was filled with more recent pictures: her college graduation, Sadie's class trip to the capitol, Jacob's first house. There was a picture of her and Carly from their graduation; they had their diplomas proudly displayed for the camera, Carly's graduation cap slightly skewed upon her frizzy hair because she was laughing and leaning on her friend. Jessie quickly flipped past that picture, attempting to push that life out of her mind once; it did her no good to remember what had once been, did nothing to help her chase away her nightmares. The last photo in the album was one of her and Sadie at the after-graduation party that the Burlingames had thrown for all of her friends; Sadie was laughing while Jessie placed her graduation cap upon her sister's head. As she stared at the picture, Jessie thought about her baby sister innocently going camping in the woods, unaware of the monsters that sharpened their blades in preparation for slaughter. The idea of her sister being butchered was almost too much for her to bare; she didn't want the photo of her and Sadie at her graduation to be the last one ever taken of the teenager.

Jessie slammed the album shut, startling the three men sitting around her and placed it upon the table. "I have to go and talk to Sadie." She muttered by way of an explanation as she quickly got to her feet. She saw a hesitant look flicker across Chris' face and did her best to give him a reassuring smile. "I'll be back in a second."

Chris watched his girlfriend vanish up the stairs before turning his attention back to James and Jacob, who were studying him intently. "What happened to my daughter that day you found her, Chris? Honestly happened to her?" James questioned, knowing now was as good a time as any to get the answers he couldn't get from Jessie. "She's been different, not the same girl I remember."

"With all do respect, sir, Jessie saw her friends die that day and she almost died herself. She's entitled to being a little different." Chris answered, picking up the album Jessie had abandoned and opening it, signaling that the conversation was through.

* * *

Jessie found her sister in the living room with Richard, the two giggling about some private joke that was only for them to know. Sadie looked up when her sister entered the room and smiled broadly, a signal to Jessie that she and Sadie didn't see enough of each other. "Hey, Sadie, do you think I can talk to you for a minute? Alone." Jessie added as an afterthought, motioning for her sister to follow her up the stairs.

With a quick glance at Richard, Sadie jumped off the couch and followed her elder sister up the stairs, knowing what the basis of Jessie's talk was going to be about. The sisters entered Sadie's room, since Jessie's had since been turned in James' office and Jessie shut the door behind her. The room had changed a great deal since the last time Jessie had been in it, most of the stuffed animals and dolls having been replaced by magazines, school texts, and photos of friends that she didn't know. Jessie smiled slightly when she saw the worn stuffed turtle that she had given Sadie before she had left for college; the turtle still claimed the spot of honor on her sister's pillow.

Sadie turned to face her sister, speaking before Jessie had a chance to do so. "Mom told me what really happened to Carly and the rest of your friends. I'm sorry that I brought up camping, Jess, if I had known, I wouldn't have said anything." She apologized, feeling bad all over again. If her friends had died while they had been camping, she wouldn't have wanted it brought up either; to make matters worse, she had asked her sister to come camping with them.

Jessie smiled faintly at her sister, dropping down on the girl's day bed and picking up the turtle. Sadie had been seven when she had graduated from high school and had been upset that her big sister was leaving the house; Jessie had wanted to get her something, a parting gift, and her sister had been infatuated with turtles at the time. She had been with Carly while shopping and it was her friend who had found the stuffed reptile in the first place.

"It's all right, Sadie. What did you think happened to everyone if no one ever told you the truth?" Jessie questioned, feeling bad for using the word truth when the story her sister had been told was a lie as well.

Sadie shrugged and sat down beside her sister. "Mom always said that you guys were in a car accident and Chris had been the first one on the scene and he'd saved you from the wreck." She answered, looking over at Jessie and shrugging again. "I always thought that made Chris sound really heroic."

"Chris is heroic, he saved my life that day." Jessie said quickly, remembering the way Chris had arrived, as if by magic, at the monsters' cabin right as she was nearing her death. "If it wasn't for him, I'd be dead too."

Sadie sighed, scooting a little closer to her older sister; she didn't like to think about what it would be like if Jessie had died that die with her friends, didn't want to think about how it would be not to have a sister anymore. She was about to tell these things to Jessie but the elder girl spoke before she had a chance to. "I wanted to...ask you to please not go camping with your friends. Please. You have no idea how dangerous it is out there. Those rednecks could still be up there." Jessie pleaded, turning to her sister with a pained expression upon her face.

Sadie didn't like the look she saw upon her sister's face, didn't like to see Jessie look so upset and broken. So utterly lost. Five months ago, she had overheard her mother talking to her father about what had happened in the woods; they hadn't let her go to the funeral even though she was sixteen and she had been inwardly glad when she had heard her parents talking. "You know," Molly had told her husband while washing dishes. "They couldn't have an open casket for Carly because her head had been cut off. Can you believe that? Cut clean off. Who would do such a thing?"

Later that night, Sadie had lain awake in bed thinking about what her mother had said about Carly's head. It made matters worse that Jessie had seen the whole thing happen; she had no idea how she would feel if she saw her best friend's head cut off. She wouldn't be able to continue, unlike Jessie had.

Finally, Sadie managed to nod, tearing her thoughts away from decapitated bodies. "All right. I won't go." She told her sister, who didn't look very convinced, in spite of her words. "I promise."

Jessie smiled slightly, setting the stuffed turtle aside so that she could embrace her baby sister tightly. "I don't want anything to happen to you, Sadie, and those people are crazy. Don't go, it's too much of a risk." She was mumbling those words almost, she felt, for her benefit. Sadie was nodding, Jessie could feel her chin pressing against her shoulder blades.

Jessie knew that, after everything she had been told, that Sadie would listen and not take the chance of venturing in the woods. She might not have been able to save Carly and Scott, or Evan and Francine but she sure as hell wasn't going to lose her baby sister.