Abi -Hackett's Quarry Woods

Why didn't he want to kiss me or ever show any interest in me - why would he when he can just look at her? He could have refused. He looked like he was into it. Emma knows I like him. I thought she was my friend. I felt utter betrayal. I should have known better than to be friends with someone like Emma. Pretty and popular. The fact that I should have known better is one of the worst feelings I've ever felt. I needed to get some air.

" It's just some stupid game. What are we, in middle school? Stupid. Just stupid. Why should I even care?" She stops to look around.

Great I'm lost.

"Where the hell am I?"

Everything looks different in the dark. I had gotten lost in these very woods once before. Dylan had found me. I had been very fortunate. But something told me he wasn't going to find me tonight.

She can't shake the feeling she had all summer. Of something watching her. The familiar feeling of the hairs of the back of her neck standing up. The whispering of her name. She had heard it several times before. And had thought she'd just imagined it.

"Abi."

Then she heard a different voice call her name. She thought maybe it was Dylan.

What if it's something that mimics people you care about. She had told them not to mess with the Ouija board on the last full moon. They could have left a door open or something. But she had heard and seen things, before that. Just Ryan's ghost stories messing with her subconscious. Don't be ridiculous Abi.

"Abi." Calls an accented voice.

Not Dylan. "Nick."

"Where are you? Call out again."

"I'm over here."

They greeted each other with awkward silence. What else was she supposed to say? As they sat down on the giant fallen tree, she recognized where they were. The same spot earlier. Shady Glade.

"I think that game just got a little too intense for me."

"Yeah. I know what you mean."

"So what all that stuff back there..."

"Oh my gosh, Emma really wanted to make Jacob jealous."

"You think?"

"Yeah. Why else would she kiss me like that?"

She thought on it for a second. "True."

"I was just playing along."

You seemed to enjoy playing along. She wanted to say but instead, "Yeah. It's just a game, right?"

"Right."

She leaned in to kiss him. It was electrifying, like a jolting concoction of emotions, racing heartbeats, nervousness, and happiness. She finds herself giggling with a jolt of romantic happiness up her spine and butterflies in her stomach. Wanting it to last, she kissed him two more times.

It was only when she heard a low growling, she froze and started to slowly pull away. She didn't open her eyes. Not wanting to look at first. She wanted to know if he had heard it too and she just wasn't imagining things again. "Did you hear that?"

"Mmm hmm."

"Should we look?"

"Mmm hmm?"

Ever so slowly, they break apart, slowly standing up. Nick heads toward the sound, Abi close behind him.

"Is it another boar?"

"Too growly."

"Is it a bear?"

"Too fast."

It jumps out from the bushes. It's skin almost black against the dark night, but the light of the moon, she's able to catch it's ugly features. It's hairless and it's skin has a leathery appearance, she's sure it has a snout, (does it have a snout?) long fingers with claws and jagged, equally long teeth.

"NO. NO." She watches helplessly as it tears into Nick. A sound, she didn't know what it was, a firework, scares it off. She runs to him. She knows the effort is probably futile but what else could she do? She had no chance of dragging a almost two hundred pound male, twice her size back to camp. She had to put some distance between them and that thing.

She was being tackled. It was another one. It had to be. It had seemingly come from nowhere. She hadn't seen it. It knocked her flat on her back, hovering over her. She screamed putting her arms up to block her face. Another shot. That's what it was. Someone was shooting. But not at them. The creature. It's fangs, teeth sunk into her shoulder. A second shot was fired before it ran off. She got to her feet. The whisper coming again. This time saying more than her name.

This way.

Run.

She listened, not even thinking. She let the voice guide her.

The thing with being in a committed relationship is simply to make a mental note/write down what your boundaries are first, and effectively communicate these to your partner. Use "I" statements, rather than "You" statements, like, "I have a firm boundary that kissing other people, even as a joke, is not good for me. It makes me feel like I'm not good enough."

It may not just be limited to kissing other people, maybe there are other things, like how she talks about you to other people, or if you feel like she's keeping secrets - set aside a time with her to have a 'commitment talk', and note these things. She may have expectations of you as well, in that same regard. The point is to openly, clearly, communicate these things, because that is essentially what a relationship is. It is communication. A successful relationship is successful communication. Like they both should have told me. But it's like I'm dating either one of them. It wasn't like they had to agree to it.

Anyway always remember that whoever said that relationships should be about compromise was probably a man child who was salty about not getting his way. Relationships are not about compromise, they are about understanding your partner's point of view and being malleable to it, as your partner should be understanding of your point of view and be malleable to it. It's not a competition to see who is more monogamous, who follows the others rules better or who is compliant to these unwritten rules about almost-kissing someone.

But Jacob and I were never serious. He just couldn't take the hint. I just wanted to have a little summer fun. And who can blame me? There was one thing to get my mind off this whole mess.

I turn on my phone and press record.

"And here we are. Take it all in folks.

"Mighty fine disruption Kaitlyn I have to say." Dylan admired her handy work. If they didn't spend half the time fighting over the same man, imagine what they could accomplish.

"Ah, but is it the push that Abi and Nick needed?""

"You're an evil genius." Ryan smirked.

"Hey, who do you think will make the first move? Nick or Abi?"Dylan asked. His bet was on Abi.

"Ooh, good q. My bet's on neither."

"I don't know Nick's got the beast in him."

Both would be wrong. Dylan thought. Both he and Emma had made an impact on her in the short time they had gotten to know her. She had really come out of that shy exterior. He knew what it was like to be that kid. He just wanted to give her that little bit of confidence nobody had ever given him. Kaitlyn had been convinced by the end of summer that both of them would corrupt her. Dylan had considered that a challenge. Apparently so did Emma.

"Beast? If you mean a mild mannered baby deer."

"Don't let that preppy aesthetic fool you. Nick's built like a steel barbecue grill under that shirt."

"So, you noticed that too, huh?" Dylan asked.

"We could keep playing" Ryan suggested.

"Yeah? Just the three of us?" Dylan sounded hopeful. Yea, three-some, alright. Maybe they could salvage this night. He takes a second to consider both options. His mind starts to go into over-drive. Should he play it safe as blase Dylan and pick dare?

If he chooses dare, he wouldn't mind having to kiss Kaitlyn because if he chooses truth he might accidentally answer as Dylan-Dylan and what if they don't like Dylan-Dylan? They would see him for who he truly is, a loser who had to create an alter ego just to function as a normal human being. Their entire perception of him could change depending on his answer, and he hates how his brain is trying to work out every possible scenario that could go wrong. Dylan-Dylan was a huge fan of Murphy's law.

"Dylan, truth or...?" Ryan asks.

Before he can finish his sentence and blase Dylan could answer, they heard a scream in the distance. It sounded like Abi. Followed by what sounded like gunfire. All three of them stood up.

Kaitlyn instinctively flinched. "Oh my gosh. Did you hear that? "

"It sounded like Abi. We should go help her."

"Uh..." Dylan paced nervously. Yeah, because that's what you do, go toward screaming and gunfire.

"Wait, where did it come from?" Kaitlyn looked around.

"This way, come on."

They headed in the direction where they thought they had heard her.

They didn't get far. Abi came running down the steps toward them.

"Oh my God, Abi." Kaitlyn gasped at the sight of her. Her clothes were torn and she had scratches on her face. And her shoulder was bleeding. She had one hand pressed to it.

"There's...there's something..." She pointed behind her, sinking to her knees.

"Abi. What happened?" Ryan asked.

"I...I..."

"What happened?" He continued to press.

"Give her some space." Dylan came around the other side of her.

"I just want to know what..."

"Go after Nick, go." Kaitlyn tossed the gun to Ryan.

"Ok. I got this."

"Be careful, that shotgun has a hell of a spread."

Both she and Dylan help Abi back to the fire pit.

He ducks under a low hanging branch. Hiking safety one oh one is to stay on the trail, but he can't think about that right now. He doesn't think. He has to get to Nick and that meant taking the quickest way.

He approaches the creek, jumping from rock to rock. Trying not to slip on the wet, algae covered surface. He should have really listened to his grandma and invested in actually hiking boots. The pair he was wearing didn't have much traction.

One. Two big rocks. Then he's on the other side, climbing up the hill. He's back on the trail. He takes the path the rest of the way. His foot comes down on a pine cone, his ankle rolls but he continue going, limping up the stairs.

He didn't know what to expect when he found Nick. Not a big giant of a man, covered in blood, hovering over him, starting to drag him into the woods. He takes the rifle off his back, pointing it at the man. He remembers the spread. He can't shoot. He might hit Nick. He shouts instead.

"Stop. Stop, I'll shoot."

The guy stops and smirks. Like he knows he wouldn't.

Nick struggled in his grasp. Turning his head he bit the man's finger. Calling out in pain, he let go of Nick. Instead of turning the gun on them, he turned it on himself. Ryan watched in horror as he shot off his own finger. For a second he stood there before walking off.

"Holy shit, dude." Ryan ran over to Nick. "Can you walk?"

"Yeah. We gotta, we gotta, go...nah..."

"Let's get back to the fire."