So, I guess this story is fated to continue; thanks for the two people that reviewed, it means a lot to me that people are still interested. Just make sure to keep reviewing and let me know how it's going. You want more Chris and Jessie? No problem.

Chapter Eight

Doubts

Jessie was sitting in the living room, trying to read her biology text book, when Chris came home from work that Friday evening. At first, she didn't seem to notice that he had entered and he stood by the door, studying her in the low lamp light, unable to get over how beautiful she looked with her hair pulled back in a messy ponytail and her chin rested in the palm of her hand as she poured over the print in front of her. Finally, Jessie looked up and smiled when she noticed Chris studied her. "What are you doing, just standing there?" She questioned, tossing her text away and standing.

"Nothing." Chris said, tossing his keys onto the table beside the door. He wrapped his arms around Jessie and pulled her closer to him, kissing her gently. "I have missed you all day." He told her when the kiss was broken.

Jessie smiled as she pulled away from him, feeling her cheeks redden slightly; Chris' romantic flattery still managed to get to her, in a good way. "So, how was your day? Rousing and exciting I hope." She remarked as she flicked on another light in the living room. When she read, she usually only kept on the lamp right beside her, which left the rest of the apartment dark; sometimes, it surprised her when she still preferred the darkness, despite everything that had happened in the woods.

"Not as exciting as I would have thought." Chris answered as he followed her into the living room. "The office has been pretty quiet lately. How about you, anything noteworthy?" This was one of their daily routines, making sure to keep up on each other's usually mundane lives.

Jessie wrinkled her nose as she thought about answering his question; they had started off their relationship on the promise to always mention everything that was of the least bit of importance, just in case it came up sometime later on. "Well, I called Sadie about thirty minutes ago, to see if she wanted to go out to the movies or something. You know, to sort of make up for telling her not to go camping but she told me that she wasn't feeling well. The thing is, she didn't sound sick to me and her cell phone reception didn't seem that clear." She frowned, looking over at Chris, raising an eyebrow. "It sounds completely stupid right? I just can't help but wonder if Sadie lied to me and really did go camping." She was more worried about her sister's well being then her integrity and wished that she had picked up on something while she still had Sadie on the phone.

Chris couldn't help but smile, touched by Jessie's concern for her little sister. "Don't worry about it, you can always call her later and ask her if it still bothering you." He suggested, wrapping his arm around her waist and kissing her cheek.

Jessie smiled as well, running her finger's along Chris' check. "You're probably right, I'm just worrying for nothing." She tilted her head and kissed him gently, reassured about the whole ordeal with her sister. Chris just had that affect on her.

* * *

Sadie held the flashlight as Richard attempted to hammer the tent posts into the ground, but missing and implanting the hammer into the soft ground. Ramsey watched from her spot, seated with her back against a tree, and sighed, rolling her eyes. "Haven't you gotten it yet?" She questioned, mocking a yawn. In truth, she was bored and had been over the whole idea of going on a camping trip as soon as they had gotten to the woods. It was even worse now that Richard and Kyle couldn't even manage to put their tent up and it was almost completely dark.

Richard looked away from the tent and glared at the blonde. "You're welcome to come over here and try to put up the tent." He snapped, having had enough of Ramsey already. He didn't know how he was going to stand two more days of her.
Sadie sighed and dropped down on her knees beside her boyfriend. "Let me try." She commanded, handing him the flashlight and taking the hammer. Holding the stake steady, she pounded it into the dirt effortlessly. "I still don't think all five of us are going to be able to fit into this one tent." She remarked, though it wasn't like they had a choice since she was the only one who actually had a tent in the fist place.

Virginia, who had been holding the flashlight for Kyle on the opposite side of the tent, simply scoffed, which was her general means of expression and shifted her weight, seeming more agitated then Ramsey. "Will you put up the goddamn thing already?" She snapped, causing Richard to look over at his sister.

"You got somewhere to be Ginny?" He questioned lightly, trying to get his sister out of whatever bad mood she had slumped into. If Virginia was in a bad mood, they would all be soon.

"As a matter of fact, I wanted to hike down to the lake before it got too dark but it looks as though we're going to be here until morning since Kyle can't nail a pole into the ground." Virginia answered, her remarks causing Kyle to swing the hammer at her foot, making her hop away, agitated.

Kyle swiped at the stake once again but only succeeded in hitting the side of the post. "Go to the lake, no one's stopping you. You're not holding that light still enough anyway." He remarked, to which Virginia smiled and mocking nodded her graciously.

"I am off to the lake, I'll be back in a few minutes." Virginia announced, swinging the light around so that it pointed past the parked SUV and down a beaten path.

Sadie looked over at the girl as she headed past her. "Do you want some company, the woods can be dangerous-" She began but Virginia cut her off before she could finish her concerned sentence.

"Don't start with the hillbillies again, Sadie." She commanded, though not as harshly as she had in the car. "I'm just going to the lake, I'll be fun." Sadie looked as though she wanted to say more but didn't, for which Virginia was grateful for. Without another word, she left their campsite, smiling to herself when she heard Kyle whack his thumb with the hammer.

As she headed closer to the lake, Virginia found that she had to point the flashlight at the ground so that it would be easier for her to see where she was walking and not trip over the many twisted, exposed roots that rose from the path. Nearing the lake, she realized that she didn't hear any of the normal animal sounds that people usually associated with the forest: no chirping birds, hooting owls or ground animals making their usual ground animal noises. This knowledge caused Virginia to stop and take notice, a chill passing alone her spine and going all the way to her toes and she suddenly felt like she was being watched.

No longer interested in seeing the lake, she turned in headed back the way she had come, her pace much quicker this time. Virginia stopped when a stick cracked from somewhere behind her; suddenly, all of Sadie's killer hillbilly stories began to seem much more realistic and she quickly turned in the direction that the sound had come in, holding her light in front of her. Virginia nearly screamed when she saw the bushes shudder in movement as her light played upon them, signaling that someone had ducked into them or perhaps fled from them, which made her even more nervous.

"Hello? Who's there?" She called out, feeling slightly foolish despite what she had seen and wondering if it wasn't in fact one of her camping mates simply playing a trick upon her. That seemed like something Kyle or even Richard would do. "I mean it, who's there?" She made her words sound more upset then frightened this time, so that if it really was only Kyle or Richard they would see that she wasn't scared after all. Of course it's only Kyle and Richard, who else could it be? Virginia thought, not wanting to admit that there might be alternative.

A maniacal laugh cut through the night as an answer to her shouts, sounding much to Virginia like a serial killer; the bushes closer to her began shiver as well, more sticks snapping underfoot as whoever was out there got closer to her. Feeling that it wasn't Kyle out in the woods, Virginia spun around and headed back down the path toward her campsite, running as fast as she could without falling on her face.

As she ran, she became aware that someone was running after her, she could hear the footsteps mismatched with her own. The strange laugh started up again, which only forced her to run faster, heart beating as she resisted the urge to look back. Finally, Virginia could take it no longer and turned to see who was pursuing her; at first, she wasn't sure if she was beginning chased by a man at all, for the thing began her had a distorted face, limping gate and crocked arms.

Before she could get a better look at what was chasing her, Virginia's foot caught under a twisting root and pitched her forward, the flashlight rolling away from her as her face hit the hard-packed ground beneath her. Stunned, she couldn't do anything but lay against the dirt, her body throbbing with pain from her fall.

Virginia didn't even have the chance to get to her feet or scream before her pursuer jabbed the jagged blade of the knife he was carrying into the back of her neck.