Chapter 2: Sanctuary

They left Arcadia and traveled south for awhile. They turned onto an old dirt road, tall ancient trees towered over them on both sides. Grace thought about a week ago. Adam had come here and got himself lost, she shivered. It was unnerving to think Adam could get lost here. They had spent many summers and weekends within this area.

"Grace," Luke said coming to a dead end. "Where are we?"

"Not Far from where Adam and I would go," Grace's voice was low and sad. "When Life seemed to screw us over." Luke nodded, Grace needed to be in a safe place and that place was anywhere but home. "Can I show you something?" She whispered quietly. The tone of her voice scared Luke thoroughly. It was like he was being let in on a secret, the kind that are left best uncovered.

"Yeah, sure." Luke said turning the car off. Grace was out of the car and she was staring into the wooded area. At first the trees scared her, their menacing branches silhouetted against the nights sky seemed to reach out for her. But as her eyes adjusted to the night, they became her long lost friends. Their sinister hands became that of old guardians protecting two children. In her mind's eye she could see two kids ditching their bikes and running through the woods.

"Do you have a flashlight?" Grace asked. Luke nodded that went unnoticed to Grace. Luke scrambled around in the glove department for a moment and soon joined Grace.

"We arn't going in there are we?" Luke stammered, fear dripped from his mouth.

"Of course," Grace said smirking. "Think of it as an experiment. Nerd and the Woods." Luke gave a sarcastic laugh and frowned.

"It's not far," Grace assured her boyfriend as she began walking into the forest.

Luke's hand was jerky causing the light to move every which way. This was fine with Grace though, the flashlight was for him, not her. She was relying on the memories of her past, and to her the world was bathed in the waking sun's light. She had been wrong though, the distance was much further then she remembered. Luke never complained though, he followed silently next to his girlfriend.

When Grace could hear the familiar sounds of the nearby creek, her heart leapt and fluttered with joy. Their destination was a small clearing near a slow lazy creek, whose bank was a mixture of sand and dirt. Grace could easily see Adam and herself playing with makeshift toys they had created themselves. She walked amongst the phantoms of the past and smiled.

"We walked all this way for this?" Luke said annoyed. Grace spun on her heels, her face livid with anger. Luke flinched realizing his mistake.

"This place is where I would come when she," Grace said the last word with great venom, " would ge drunk. This is the place Adam would come when he wasn't held up in his shed after his mother's death!" Grace was now jabbing her finger into Luke's chest.

"Sorry," Luke mumbled, ignoring her finger the best he could. "I didn't mean to say it like that.' Grace tried to hold onto her anger. Anger was better then what she wanted to do. But that was exactly what she did anyways. The anger vanished and she broke into quiet sobs. Luke tried to hug her, but grace shoved him away. Luke tried again, and this time Grace allowed him to embrace her. Together they stood there for a moment or maybe an hour. Time in these moments rarely exist.

Thick cold pellets of rain began to assault the world and its inhabitants. The two broke their embrace, and any traces of their crying was swiftly washed away.

"We need to find a shelter," Grace shouted. The rain flooded her ears with noise.

"Should we go for the car?" Luke shouted back. Grace shook her head vigorously. She thought back a week and remembered Adam being caught in a rather nasty storm. If it hadn't been for that Ryan Hunter person, who knows if Adam would have lived? She felt uncertain if she could easily navigate her way back through the rain.

"I know about a cave nearby." Grace shouted. Grace grasped Luke's hand and began leading him out of the clearing and back into the woods. The cave had been another place Adam and her had found to be a sanctuary. It wasn't far from their place near the creek, and when they arrived they found the entrance covered with plant overgrowth. It no longer had two frightened children tending to it. She wasn't surprised to see some of the overgrowth had been displaced. She was surprised that she had not remembered this place when Adam had gone missing. Could he have stayed her while hiking?

The cave was dark and dry. It felt the same as it did all those years ago. At the center of the visible part of the cave there was a old picnic table. Grace thought back to when she and Adam had found it abandoned and had trouble getting it there. Grace slowly crept towards the picnic table, enjoying the memories it brought. She was startled to see a fresh clean piece of paper laying innocently on the table. Grace picked it up and when she read the first line she gasped. Luke, who had been digging in some old wooden crates, looked up and saw the horror displayed clearly on Grace's face.

"Grace, what's wrong?" Luke asked. She quickly folded the paper and stuffed it into the back of her pocket.

"Thought I saw a rat." Grace lied.

"So, you an Adam came here often?" Luke asked changing the subject.

"Yeah," Grace sat down on top of the picnic table. "When ever we could, we would bike up here and forget about the hell at home. We could simply exist free of problems." Grace smiled ruefully.

"How far does this cave go?" Luke asked walking towards the back of the cave. Grace looked into the dark tunnel. A long ago moment crept through her and she shivered.

"Not sure, Steve Ramsey," Grace started but paused. Luke went rigid at the mention of the name. Grace frowned, nice way of handling that Grace, she thought dully. Joan had asked Steve Ramsey to the Crystal Ball, a school dance. It ended tragically with him taking Joan to a place in the woods and held a gun to her.

"Well?" Luke said, trying to hold back his anger at the kid.

"He told us about how a group of kids got lost in here," Grace continued staring at the floor. She didn't want to see the phantoms relive the that moment. It sounds silly now, and Grace knew this, but something about that story chilled her bones. "He said if you listen closely, you can hear their skeletons trying to find their way out. Sounds silly now, but when you are a kid."

"I understand." Luke said, his eyes squinting, hoping for something. He stood there like that for a long while. Grace desperately wanted to know what was going through his mind. As if on cue, he spoke. "Grace, when are we going to discuss what happened to your mother?"

"Dude, who the hell do you think you are?" Grace shouted in disbelief.

"What happened to your mother tonight can't be ignored." Luke said unflinchingly. "This place, can't shield you from reality. Your an adult now Grace." Grace wasn't sure if she wanted to beat the snot out of him, or to hug him. She jumped down from the picnic table and made her way towards the entrance. She could still hear the rain's barrage on the earth, but she didn't care. She couldn't stay in this cave with him any longer. Before she could leave someone barged his way through. His skin was unnaturally pale and he wore an excessive amount of dark eyeshadow. His dark hair was drenched, but it still retained some of its spiked hair. Grace couldn't help notice all the piercings on his body.

"Hello," He said emotionlessly. "I wouldn't suggest leaving. The storm is going to get nasty." As if on cue thunder rattled the cave.