Hello! I don't really have anything to say quite yet, so on with chapter nine!

By 8:00, a search party had been sent out to find Alex. My head was swirling with worries.

What if they discover the time portal?

What will happen to Alex?

How mad are Valjean and Alex going to be?

Will Alex still want to be my boyfriend?

You know, stuff of that nature.

In the meantime, my friends and I started to get ready for the rest of the night ahead. After we slept for a while, we started looking for granite (the hardest rock we would be able to find) and loaded the Nerf gun with 20 of them (cause they're small we would fit a lot). Alyssa had found a good map of Toulon Prison that would be accurate for that time period, and it was high pixelated too. We would be able to really zoom in.

By the time we were done, it was about 6:00 at night. We decided to join a campfire where some girls were talking about a creepy story about some girl in the woods.

"...and, when she was about to fall asleep, she heard a noise. It was coming from the woods behind the campsite, our campsite. She decided to see what it was. The woods were dark around her, waiting to swallow her up and take her prisoner. Then, she saw the glint of a knife.

"She was missing the next day. When they found her, she was dead on the ground, a knife through her heart."

Well this was turning out to be dark and scary!

"OMG… did they catch who did it?" When I couldn't

immediately locate the source of the voice, I went into scared mode and punched the person behind me.

"SELINA! WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR?!" Heh.

"Heh, uh… sorry Terisa." I turned back around, getting the feeling that her eyes were burning a hole in the back of my head. Yay.

I had a feeling that punch would be coming back to me very soon.

"They never really found out," said the girl, who's black hair and light skin were not helping the scare factor. "Someone was arrested, that's all we know."

Okay, this lack of knowledge is also starting to freak me out.

So we just sat there for a few seconds when all of a sudden -

The fire blew out.

There wasn't even any wind.

So, as you can probably imagine, everyone shrieked. I then heard the crunch of twigs and the thud of I-don't-want-to-know-what.

Well, as my solution for everything is to run, I got the hell out of there. I sprinted for 30 seconds until I knew I was in the forest, far away from whatever was going on. I then took a few seconds to catch my breath and let the pounding in my head fade away. As soon as I was calm enough to think, I realized a few very important things.

I was in the woods, in the dark, with no phone (damn it, I left it by the campfire), and nobody knowing where I am. In addition, there is a crazy convict on the loose, not to mention an inspector (that's what his badge said; don't give me a hard time for intently studying his uniform. I might by psycho but not in that way) wanting revenge. It was a dangerous time of night.

I hear a noise.

In my state of anticipation and built up adrenaline, I jumped a foot in the air. Since I had no Nerf gun (DAMN, everything good was left at the campsite!), I put my fists up and hoped to appear fierce.

Who I saw was not who I expected to see.

Valjean's friend who I ran into earlier while I was absentmindedly strolling through the woods!

I almost forgot about the dude!

I lowered my guard and took a few deep breaths.

"Hey," I said, probably looking stupid but not caring. "God, uh, you really had me goin' there for a second. See, ah, I thought that you might be Javert-"

"Oh, you've met Javert?" He interrupts. "Yes, he's not one you'd want to run into, is he."

"No, no, he's very unpleasant," I agreed. "I also thought there was this possibility that you were this other convict-" I paused a second. Oh God, I'm rude! "Yeah. He's been running around, trying to, ya know, kill us. So yeah. If you were him, things would be very different right now."

"Also, have you seen Valjean?" I just thought I should ask. He had obviously been recaptured, so I wanted to know if maybe his friend might know a little more than I did? I don't know, I just didn't think it would hurt to ask.

"No, but I have heard he had been recaptured and punished."

Yaaaaaay. He was really going to love us.

"Oh. Uh, heh. Yeah, that's kinda our fault," I said.

Why the hell did I just say that?! I am an idiot with no good means of communication!

"Ohh." He was now looking as awkward as me. "Well, uh, good luck with that. I hate to be the one to tell you this, but Valjean's really kind of scary when he's angry. So, good luck, don't die."

"Thank you for, those, uh, words of encouragement." We both laugh.

"Well, uh," he says. "I don't think it's a good idea for me to say in one place for too long."

"Yeah, that's understandable."

"So, um, I think I'll just be on my way."

"Bye." With that, the convict gave a quick tip of his cap and disappeared back into the woods.

I hope he is somehow able to help Alex; he seems nice. For a minute, I am left with a warm tingly feeling before I remember -

I'm in the woods with no resources, blah blah blah.

I try to think. Whenever I run wildly, I usually run halfway between straight and right. So now, I need to turn back in the way I came (I turn back in the direction I think I came) and go halfway between left and straight.

With my superior getting-lost skills (it happens a lot), I'll be back home in no time!

Unfortunately, on my way back, (or what I'm hoping is the way back) I run into a familiar face that is becoming all to familiar.

There are two people I could be talking about right now. Do you know which one it is?

Real life game show, dun dun dun!

If you guessed Inspector Crazy, you are….

INCORRECT! HA!

It's…the convict who keeps trying to get us! Yay!

So by now, I was a little unafraid of him, which is probably unwise because I'm seriously unarmed and alone, but what the heck!

"Hey," I say, "so, uh, quick question, why are you so intent on getting me?"

"Well, you and your friends bringing me back to jail and knocking me out might have something to do with it!"

Oh yeah. Heh.

"Well, uh, you were sort of threatening my life-"

This was obviously the wrong thing to say.

He get's a look on his face, a very angry, hungry look, and begins to rustle in the pockets of his coat.

Only one thought hits me at that moment.

"OMG - YOU'RE THE KILLER!"

Well, we're certainly in a tight spot aren't we? Our protagonist is in the middle of the woods, unarmed and alone, standing right before the guy who is going to murder her. The bad news is the reason I decided to end the chapter is because I have no idea how she is going to make it out alive! Dun dun dun! Stay tuned for more!