Leah twirled her umbrella and sighed as she and Jacob strolled alongside the lake.

"So where is this cook who's supposed to be so good?" Leah asked.

"What cook?" Jacob raised an eyebrow and shoved his hands into the pockets of his jean shorts.

"I don't know her name, but they others said something about a girl who was supposed to come and be the camp's cook."

"How do you know it's not one of the girls that's already here?"

Leah shook her head, "I forget her name but it's not Esme, or Rose or Bella or Alice..." She looked upward and she thought, "I can't think of what it was."

Jacob shrugged. "Maybe she heard all the stories and decided to turn around."

She glanced over and he smiled. "Come on."

"Or..." He cleared his throat.

"Or what?"

"Nothing."

"I'm not even going to pry," Leah told him, shaking her head with a quick laugh. "You'll just say something intended to scare me."

Jacob chuckled, "Since you say it like that... I was going to say maybe she did get here and... disappeared."

"I'm sure." She rolled her eyes, "That's got to be it."

"And where's Steve?" Jacob added, "We haven't seen him in like over a day."

"Alice said he dropped some stuff off on the porch."

"Someone did."

"Oh, so I get it," Leah said, humoring his story, "This killer, we'll say Jason... he, uh, killed Steve and then decided to be so nice and drop off the rest of our food and supplies for us on the porch so we could have hotdogs, continue painting and light off some firecrackers?"

Jacob shrugged with a grin. "Stranger things have happened."

"I beg to differ."

"Okay, I'll give ya that," he said with a laugh, "That's a little twisted."

"A little?"

Jacob laughed, "Okay... a lot."

Leah smiled and looked ahead towards the woods they were approaching. She hesitated before diving back in to her original concern, "I do wonder where she is though."

"Who?"

"The girl that's supposed to cook."

Jacob shrugged. "I mean, maybe Steve didn't want her to come until later if she's not a counselor. He could have told her to show up a week in advance instead of two or something."

"That makes sense." Leah nodded.

"Hey," he nudged her with his elbow, "It's just an old, scary story Leah."

She grinned back, but still looked slightly on edge, "I know." She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

"I'm guessing we should turn around before we get into the thick of the woods here," Jacob suggested as their sneakers began to graze some overgrown grass amongst the first line of oak trees that lead into the darkness.

Leah looked ahead and quickly nodded, "Yeah. I'd say we should head back in the other direction."

Jacob agreed with a nod, and went to turn around when he suddenly felt his world, quite literally, turn upside down.

Leah screamed as Jacob suddenly flipped upside down and began to sway side to side by his ankle from a tree; a rope wrapped securely around his leg with the other end high above them tied to one of the branches.

After a string of anxious obscenities, Jacob finally managed to call to Leah.

"Help me!" he called, "Leah!"

She rushed to his side, grabbing his torso to slow down the momentum that was created by the rope's pendulum effect. A moment later she stood in front of him, nearly face to face, though he was still hanging feet over head.

"Jacob!" Leah called out, "What the hell just happened?" She looked upward into the thick of the branches.

"Shit..." he huffed, swallowing hard from the rush, "I have no idea. I stepped inside of this damn rope..."

"What is this?"

"It must be someone's idea of a goddamn joke." Jacob looked around at the upside down world around him, still breathing hard.

"Do you think they were getting you back for your prank at the dock?" Leah asked.

His eyes widened. "Did you do this?"

"No!" she said defensively, putting her hands up. She then smiled, "I kind of wish I thought of something this elaborate." Leah's eyes shifted to meet his, "I ought to let you hang here for what you did to me."

"Look, Leah," Jacob said, realizing he was on mercy street, "I'm sorry... really, I am."

"Really... you are?" she teased, beginning to toy with his hair.

"Come on, Leah," he pleaded, "Please get me down from here."

"Alright..." she agreed with a grin, staring at his hair that hung toward the ground along with his outstretched arms.

"Please hurry back," Jacob added, looking around the dark woods.

Leah nodded and turned to run back toward their cabin, but stopped and looked back at him first. "Don't go anywhere." She turned and jogged away again.

"Very funny," he muttered to himself.

Leah jogged past toward a shed that some fifty yards away from the main cabin. She contemplated going in and telling everyone what had happened, but on the same note she didn't want to make Jacob overly mad, as she was beginning to feel a connection with him.

She creaked open the wooden double doors that lead into the oversized shed that held most of the tools they would need for their work around the camp. Leah reached upward for a light, pulling the string, only to find that there was no light bulb.

"Great." She shook her head, feeling suddenly anxious to be in the enclosed, dark area alone with no vision.

Stop scaring yourself, she scolded herself as images of what Jason might look like crawled through her mind like a plague.

Something shifted in the darkness and she froze, prompting a quick. "Hello," which she knew was perhaps the worst response to a noise in the darkness.

My phone, she thought, quickly discovering her IPhone in the pocket of her jean shorts. A moment later, she flipped on the flashlight that was attached and illuminated the immediate area.

A loud sigh left her mouth when nothing appeared out of the ordinary. She then focused on her original task and quickly located the large, metal hedge clippers she had eyed the day before and felt they were the best bet to cut the rope and get Jacob down from the tree.

Leah turned abruptly to leave and screamed as she banged into something firm and unmoving. The figure towered above her and she was about to swing the tool when she quickly realized what she'd bumped into.

A relieved laugh left her mouth as she realized she was about to fight an old canoe that slanted just slightly near the entrance of the shed.

"Wow, Leah," she spoke to herself, "You're losing your mind."

She let out another decompressing sigh and then exited the shed, closing the doors behind her as she made her way back out to meet Jacob.

"Leah!" Jacob called out, becoming increasingly lightheaded and impatient. He did his best to climb his hands up the rope to sit himself upright, but each attempt lasted no more than just a few seconds. Finally, he lost his breath and stopped fighting. He looked around the darkness again. "Where is she?"

A harsh tug on his hair made him cry out, and he was about to shout at Leah for hurting him but he quickly realized that whoever had him by the hair wasn't Leah.

From his upside down position he managed to make out a pair of old, black boots without laces and dirty jeans. In Jacob's attempt to look up, the flash of a machete crossed his line of vision, and that's when he knew what was in store for him. Before he had time to think, the mystery person made a swift cut along the front of his neck, severing his carotid artery in one slice.

The world began to fade, as if someone was turning down the volume. Jacob had no more time to feel fear as his blood drained away as fast as his life.

Okay that was a tough one to write... poor Jacob :( I guess I got myself into this mess LOL Who will be next?