Week Four Challenge: Write a story between 100 and 1,200 words with an unreliable narrator, using one (or both) of the following additional prompts: "Don't stop, don't think, don't look back" a photo from pixabay dot com /photos/canyon-night-stars-outdoors-2178786/

Author's Note: Thank you to vader-incarnate for the perfect title!

The Girl Who Cried Wolf (Corissa Jade; 2 BBY)

"We went camping on our vacation," Adina said, and Corissa Jade frowned.

On the other side of the circle they'd drawn on the pavement, Roza said, "Oh, we did that last year," then tossed the jackstones into the circle. "It was okay. My brother just stayed in the tent reading the whole time, though. Dad was annoyed."

Adina made a huffing sound as Roza deftly tossed the ball, scooped the stones, and caught the ball. "Better than my sister who kept waking me up at sunrise to go on stupid hikes. Who cares about hiking, anyway? Your turn, Corissa."

Corissa lifted her chin as she accepted the ball and stones. "My sister's the best hiker. She knows everything. She saved me on our last vacation." She scattered the stones with a practiced flick of her wrist. "We went camping by a lake next to a giant canyon."

Roza glanced at Adina. "There's no canyons around here."

"We didn't live here then," Corissa told her, warming to her story. She leaned forward. "It was a huge canyon. Like, this big—" she held her hands as far apart as she could stretch them. "Daddy told us not to go into it alone, but one night I did."

This time, Adina looked at Roza. Then she turned back, her eyebrows scrunched together. "Why would you do that?"

"Because," Corissa began, then paused. "...because…there was a big spotted lizard and I wanted to get a closer look, but he ran so fast and I chased him and then before I knew it we were in the canyon and it was all twisty and narrow and when I looked up—" she leaned her head back and waved a hand upwards to demonstrate "—the sky looked so far away, with all the canyon walls squishing it into a little blue band, like a river but with stars in it, and I didn't know where to go." She took a breath, then added, "And the lizard got away, too."

Roza's eyebrows were all scrunchy now too. "Uh-huh."

"But then Mara found me," Corissa informed them. "She's—" She paused again to do the math in her head. "Fifteen, almost a grown-up, and smart and brave, and she always takes care of me. We do everything together."

Adina leaned backward, still in her cross-legged position, to rest her weight on her hands and eyed Corissa skeptically. "I mostly fight with my sister."

"Mara and me never fight," Corissa said. "She's the best." She tossed the ball into the air and swept her hand across the circle, catching every last stone before triumphantly catching the ball too and grinning at Adina. "Your turn."

Adina sat up straight again and took the ball and stones. She looked over at Roza again, then back at Corissa. "How did your sister find you if you were in the canyon and it was dark?"

Corissa shrugged. "She's just really smart like that. But it's a good thing she did, because then we could hear wolves howling, a whole big bunch of them."

Roza leaned forward, her head tilted and her eyes narrow. "Wolves?"

"So many," Corissa assured her. "But Mara knew the way back to our campsite and she held my hand the whole way and said we couldn't stop to look behind us for the wolves, we had to just keep going, and pretty soon we were at our tent again."

"Was your dad mad at you?"

Corissa blinked. "What?"

"You said," Adina continued with exaggerated patience, "that he told you not to go into the canyon alone, but you did. Was he mad?"

"Oh," Corissa said. "No, because…because he was still asleep and we were quiet and sneaky."

Roza lifted her eyebrows. "And your sister didn't tell on you?"

"Mara would never," Corissa retorted indignantly.

"It's funny," Adina said as she tossed the jackstones into the circle. "My sister is in the same class as your brother."

Corissa took a breath. "She is?"

"Yeah, she is." Adina looked at her with knowing eyes. "Nico Jade, that's your brother, yeah?"

"...yeah."

Adina tossed the ball and caught the stones. She missed one of them, but didn't seem to notice, her attention still on Corissa. "So it's funny that he never said anything about his sisters escaping from wolves and all."

"He was asleep too," Corissa said defiantly.

"In fact," Adina added, ignoring her, "Their class had to write reports on family last month. My sister had to ask our parents for a list of all our aunts and uncles and cousins to be sure she didn't forget anyone. She said afterward that Nico had the smallest family of anyone in the class."

Corissa pressed her lips together. "Mommy and Daddy didn't have any brothers or sisters, and their parents died before I was born. It doesn't matter. Our family is still good even if it's little."

Adina passed the ball and stones to Roza, who was giving Corissa another funny look, then turned back to Corissa. "Sure. But you don't have a sister."

Corissa stood up so fast that she almost fell over. "I do too have a sister! You take that back!"

"You don't," Adina said, tilting her head back to look up at Corissa, but staying seated. "My sister's class had to read their reports aloud, and she said that Nico only had one sister and his parents." She stood up now, and propped her hands on her hips. "I mean, unless you lost her."

Corissa's eyes felt hot, and her breath came hard in her chest. "You don't know anything. You or your stupid sister."

Adina shrugged. "Better a stupid sister than an imaginary sister."

Still sitting, Roza shifted uncomfortably. "Come on, guys, recess is going to be over soon. You can have my turn, Corissa."

"I don't want to play anymore," Corissa told her, still glaring at Adina, and turned around and walked away as fast as she could without running, all the way to the far end of the playground, where no one else was right now, where she knew there was a little ditch alongside the fence that would hide her from view.

She was still curled up there when the bell rang.