"Hello ladies!" Ashlynn smiled back.
"So we totally forgot that the next town was having a carnival this weekend. We were thinking of checking it out before heading to the party. I think a lot of the other party-goers are going to the carnival first as well. You girls wanna check it out?"
"I'm game!" Ashlynn smiled again. "Scarlett here will be cool with that too!"
"Guess it's better than sitting in wolf-infested woods all night!" Scarlett groaned.
Amanda grinned from behind the wheel. "Okay, cool. Well you girls wanna ride with us? No sense taking two cars when we can all fit in one!"
"Yea. That works for me." Ashlynn shrugged.
Scarlett and Ashlynn gathered their things and climbed into the backseat with the girl named Rose. "It's been a long time since I've been to a carnival!" Scarlett chirped.
"We used to go every year, but haven't been to it in a couple." Rose said.
"So how far is it to this joint?" Ashlynn asked.
"It's about a half hour away." Amanda answered.
They laughed and joked all the way to the carnival. Scarlett was surprised her and Ashlynn both hit it off pretty well with these three girls. As they got closer Scarlett saw the ferris wheel. "I always loved the ferris wheel when I was younger!" She exclaimed.
"Ah, not exciting enough for me." Ashlynn replied. "I liked the cages. You know, like a ferris wheel but the cages spin upside down."
"My kinda girl!" Amanda snickered.
She circled around and found a place to park. All of them climbed out of the car stretching. They made their way up to where all the people were gathered. Ashlynn and Scarlett's eyes raced around, trying to take in the whole scene.
Amanda brought them out of their silence. "Okay, I can't come to a carnival and not get a funnel cake, but if you girls are wanting to ride anything I think I'll wait till we're leaving."
Rose looked at her and laughed. "Good because I don't want to wear your funnel cake!"
They made a lap around the circle that had been created by the rides and game booths. As they were almost back to where they had started Ashlynn said, "Look! They have a fortune teller! We gotta check it out!"
"We've been to see her last time we were here. We weren't too impressed. But you two go ahead and we'll go check the prices of tickets and wristbands."
"Okay. Just meet us back here."
They parted ways and Ashlynn said, "I always wanted to go see a fortune teller! I thought about calling those 800 numbers for them but always figured it would be a cooler experience in person."
"I've never really gave it too much thought, but heck let's see what the ole woman's got to say!" Scarlett laughed.
They walked up to the little camper. No one else was around. An old woman with long grey hair opened up the door and murmured in a crackled voice, "Come in, come in." Ashlynn walked in first with Scarlett right behind her. They looked around at how tiny the little room was. It was only about ten by ten feet. There were candles sitting all around the room of all different sizes, shapes and colors. They provided the only light in the room. The walls were painted a dark blue. It appeared black in the places the candle light didn't reach. There was a doorway to the left of the room behind the table. It had a beaded curtain that looked like it shimmered in the candle light. There were little windows around the room but they were covered by heavy gold fabric. The old woman sat down on the opposite side of a little table and pointed to Scarlett. "You, sit."
Scarlett sent a look to Ashlynn and she could tell Scarlett was suddenly frightened. Scarlett obeyed and sat down across from the woman and stared at her. Her long grey hair almost seemed to glisten. She had odd looking blue eyes, brighter than any she'd ever seen. She wore a white ruffled shirt with a colorful, ragged skirt that hung to her ankles. She had lots of what appeared to be costume jeweler. It covered her fingers, wrists, ears and piled on her chest, hanging from her neck. Her fingernails were painted bright red and were an unnatural length.
She spoke again. "A reading is ten dollars."
Ashlynn and Scarlett both fumbled with the money they were pulling from their back pockets. They each handed the old woman a ten dollar bill.
"Thank you." She said in a dull tone. "Let me see your hand please." Scarlett extended her right hand out to the old woman. She watched as the old woman examined the lines on her palm and fingers. She waved her own palm over Scarlett's and her face grew tense. She had a wave of emotion crash across her face. First, she had a concerned look, then, it grew to seem mournful. Next, she began to shake and she looked terrified. Her eyes snapped open and pierced Scarlett with sheer horror. Scarlett tried to pull her hand away, but the old woman refused and held on to her wrist. She closed her eyes again and seemed to be concentrating as hard as she could. She laid her right hand directly on top of Scarlett's. Her face twisted as she sat there struggling to hold on to Scarlett. She let go and her eyes opened as a grin stretched across her face. Scarlett jumped to her feet, knocking the chair over. She stared down at the woman, hesitating only a moment before she squeezed past Ashlynn and ran out the door.
Ashlynn stepped closer to the woman as she screamed, "You scared the shit out of her! You scared the shit out of me! Do you make a habit of freaking out everyone who enters your little camper of doom?"
The old woman sat back in her seat. "I've never seen anything as amazing as what I've just seen in your friend! I will not tell you of the things I've seen. Neither of you can be steered from the path you are heading! Fate has chosen you!"
With that, Ashlynn felt she too needed to escape this place. She ran outside and found Scarlett about fifty feet from the front of the camper. She was breathing hard and looked panicked. "That was freaky!" Ashlynn said as she wrapped an arm around her friend. "Don't worry about it Scarlett! She probably does that to lots of random people! What else does she have to do in that little tin can to entertain herself?"
"I don't know Ash. Her reaction seemed genuine!"
Ashlynn knew Scarlett was right. She didn't know how someone could fake that kind of an experience. But it was easier to shrug it off than to think that there really was something weird happening. "She's had years to perfect it Scarlett." Ashlynn laughed.
"Hey, what's up girls?" They heard Amanda behind them.
Ashlynn and Scarlett turned around. "Oh that old bitty just has Scarlett a little freaked out!"
"Well we went to the ticket booth and they don't sell tickets anymore. You have to purchase a wristband for twenty dollars to ride!" Amanda said sounding irritated about it.
Heather spoke before Scarlett or Ashlynn could respond, "Such bull! We used to only buy tickets for the couple rides for those over the age of ten!"
"So what you guys wanna do?" Ashlynn asked.
"We could head on back and go to the campground if you girls want." Amanda answered.
Scarlett looked back and forth between the three girls standing before her. "If y'all don't mind getting out of here I am not going to object to leaving!"
"Okay, well let's go party then!" Amanda giggled.
Scarlett couldn't help the uneasy feeling she had now. Her shoulders felt heavy and as they walked back to the car she felt like she was being watched. The girls all got back into the car and made their way back to Black Forest.
They drove through town past where they had met earlier that evening and turned onto an old back road. When the car stopped moving Scarlett looked around. It seemed as if they had got there in no time but she had been completely enveloped in her thoughts, wondering what the old woman's reaction had meant. They got out of the car and walked over to the fire where a group of about twelve other people gathered. Some were standing in front of the fire and the rest were surrounding it sitting on chairs, logs and a couple on blankets.
Ashlynn saw a couple coolers then noticed that the majority of the group had bottles in their hands. "Y'all got some good stuff in those coolers?" She asked.
Two guys walked over to the side of the fire
where the coolers were. One was about average height, thin, wearing jeans, boots and a black winter jacket. The other was on the shorter side. Maybe about 5'8, wearing jeans, boots and a brown winter jacket. The shorter one said, "We have lots of bud light, but we brought strawberry daiquiris and twisted tea for the ladies."
Ashlynn grinned. "I'll have a bud light. My girl Scarlett here likes daiquiris."
The guys gathered the drinks and handed them to the girls. The shorter one handed a bud light to Ashlynn and a daiquiri to Scarlett. "Hi, I'm Brad."
The other one handed daiquiris to Amanda, Heather and Rose and turned to the other two. "I'm Cody." He smiled.
Ashlynn grinned back. "I'm Ash and this is Scarlett. She seems like a prude but she's fun once she loosens up!"
The girls all took a seat on a log the guys pulled up closer to the fire. The rest of the group introduced themselves to them as well. They sat around drinking, talking, laughing and telling jokes. Ashlynn had them practically falling over laughing at some of the stories she was telling. Like the one about her and Scarlett taking Scarlett's dad's car after he came home drunk one night. He rarely drank and when he went out to play poker with some guys from work the alcohol hit him hard. They were fourteen and went out joy riding half the night just cruising around arguing because Ashlynn wanted to egg her ex's house and Scarlett thought they'd get caught. Nobody knew they were gone and nobody missed the car. They pulled it off until they pulled back into the driveway and Ashlynn rear ended Scarlett's mom's car. They crept back into the house and went to bed and when they woke up Scarlett's mom was chewing out her dad. He had been so drunk he didn't remember coming home and they thought he had been the one to hit her car.
"Sounds like you two will fit in with our group pretty well!" Cody said. He looked to Scarlett. "Although you don't seem to be the girl she's been telling stories about." He questioned.
"She's a little preoccupied!" Ashlynn answered. "You see she is terrified we are going to be eaten by wolves out here in the woods and to top it off, the fortune teller back at the carnival about gave her a heart attack!"
"Oh you don't have anything to worry about!" He said looking back to Scarlett. "Most of the tales of wolves around here don't involve people."
"What do you mean tales of wolves? And what do you mean most don't involve people?" Scarlett asked sounding every bit as scared as she was.
"Well, so the story goes that the full moon makes the wolves blood thirsty! The newspapers do provide a tad of truth to it. You see it is common for farmers in the area to find their livestock mauled or have an occasional goat or calf go missing. You usually see it in the papers within a couple days of a full moon."
"Okay, so which stories have to do with people?" Scarlett asked in the same manner as the last question.
"Well there is a tale about a man back in the early 1900s. He was rumored to be a jerk. Always trying to hustle people to make an extra buck for himself. He was a cheat and had no guilt that the men he cheated in business had families to support. Anyway, he was sitting in the bar one night bragging to his buddy how he had just ripped this man off by trading him a wagon he was in serious need of for a more than unfair amount of his cattle. All of a sudden in the middle of his boasting a wolf jumped through the window of the bar and grabbed the unsuspecting man by the throat. Townspeople said it only took one bite and one quick jerk and the wolf had torn his throat to pieces. The wolf stood over him growling, watching him drown in his own blood. When the man stopped thrashing the wolf leaned his head down and sniffed the man's face then turned and walked straight out of the bar and disappeared into the night."
"Wow! I mean wow! That is freaky but at least it was someone who kind of deserved it who got attacked!" Scarlett exclaimed.
"That's freaky shit!" Ashlynn said while looking around to the others who had obviously heard the story before.
"So have any of you guys seen a wolf before?" Scarlett asked not knowing if she wanted to know the answer.
Cody answered her, "99 percent of the time you aren't going to see a wolf unless he wants to be seen. They are incredibly smart. But I swear I seen one late one night on my way home! I only caught a glimpse of something along the road but I'm certain that's what it was!"
Scarlett was lost in the words she had just heard. The others changed the subject and went back to telling jokes and laughing. After a while Scarlett was really fighting to keep her eyes open. She leaned over to Ashlynn and whispered, "I'm ready for bed."
Ashlynn looked at her sleepy friend and then over to Amanda. "I think you guys got us a little partied out!" She laughed. "When you planning on heading back to town?"
Amanda smiled at the two. "I ga- ess we can gu - oh if you're red- dee!" She hiccupped as she spoke and her words were a bit slurred.
"Are you okay to drive?" Brad asked her.
"Yea! I'm fy- en!" Amanda hiccupped again.
Brad laughed at her. "Yea you sound fine!" He looked at a guy named Will. "Will, you think you could drive them home? I can take Ash and Scarlett back to get their car. Amanda really shouldn't drive!"
Will answered him. "Yea sure. Don't want anyone ending up in a ditch!"
Chapter 5
The girls climbed up into Brad's truck, Ashlynn got into the middle and Scarlett sat on her lap with Cody on the passenger side. Brad started the truck and drove out of the campground. They only drove about a mile down the road before Brad made a left turn onto a dirt road. "This isn't the way back!" Ashlynn said.
"We wanna show y'all something before we take you back." Brad explained.
Scarlett was beginning to grow uncomfortable. "What do you want to show us?" She asked.
"This road leads down to the river, there are caves down here people claim it's the wolves' den." Cody said.
"I really don't wanna see a wolves den!" Scarlett shrieked.
"Yea I don't wanna see any damn wolves either!" Ashlynn yelled a little louder than she meant to.
"We won't let any wolves get you!" Brad laughed. He stopped the truck and turned off the switch. "Come on the path is right down there at that tree line." The girls hesitated, but finally gave in and got out of the truck. The four started down through the field toward the tree line.
They made it almost to the trees when Cody yelled, "Shit! I should have grabbed another beer! Scarlett you wanna walk back up to the truck with me?"
"I'm not opposed to heading the opposite direction of the wolf den!" She laughed.
"Brad you want a beer?"
"Yea grab me one!"
Ashlynn jumped in, "Hey Ash you want another beer? Yea I'd like one, thanks!"
Cody laughed. "Okay, I'll get you one too."
Cody and Scarlett turned around and walked back up to the truck. The weeds were tall and difficult to walk through. When they made it to the truck Scarlett glanced down at the trees and realized she couldn't see Brad's flashlight anymore. "They could've waited on us!" She mumbled.
Cody opened the door to the truck and leaned in and flipped the light off. Scarlett was still staring across the field. She turned and walked up next to Cody. "I think we should get them and leave. I have a bad feeling!" The words had just left her lips as Cody grabbed her and threw her onto the seat in the truck. "What are you doing?" She yelled.
"Shhh don't be so loud you might draw the attention of the wolves!" He leaned down and tried to kiss her.
"Get off of me!" She yelled as she smacked him across the face.
Cody slapped her face a lot harder than she had hit him and then pulled her out of the truck and threw her to the ground.
"What the hell are you doing?" She screamed as he leaned down and tried to kiss her again. He had her arms pinned behind her head against the cold ground. She spat in his face as she yelled again, "GET OFF ME!" He adjusted his handle on her and held both of her wrists with his right hand. With his left he reached down and was tugging at the button of her jeans. "Please stop!" She pleaded getting no reaction from him. She squirmed and fought
at him but couldn't manage to slip out of his grip. He got her pants unbuttoned and pulled the zipper down and when he leaned away to try to pull them down she kneed him as hard as she could up between the legs. He let go of her and she scrambled a few feet away from him crawling backwards. He grabbed at himself and groaned, but recovered too quickly. Scarlett started to cry as he stood and stepped forward. He leaned down closer to her and drew back his fist. Scarlett closed her eyes and tried to cover her face.
A split second later she felt something brush by her and she heard Cody scream in pain. She opened her eyes and saw Cody fighting to get free of a wolf who had latched onto his arm. Scarlett screamed again and when she did the wolf let go of Cody and turned to look at her. While the animal was distracted Cody jumped inside the truck and slammed the door. Scarlett and the wolf both watched as he started the truck and sped off, gravel flying behind him.
Scarlett turned her attention back to the wolf. She was too frightened to move as it walked towards her each step slow and calculated. As horrifying as it was, it was beautiful. It had light gray fur with black streaked back across its sides. The wolf stopped just in front of her and sniffed her arms and her face. Scarlett didn't even flinch, afraid that any movement would trigger an attack. She let out a big sigh as the wolf sat directly in front of her. She heard voices coming from the other side of the field and turned to see Brad's flashlight bouncing in the dark growing closer. She turned back to the wolf and it was gone. She jumped to her feet and turned in a circle looking around, but the wolf was nowhere to be seen.
Ashlynn and Brad came running to Scarlett. "What the hell is going on?" Ashlynn said while trying to catch her breath.
"Where the hell is my truck?" Brad yelled.
"We thought we heard screaming! I thought it was just my imagination, but then we heard the truck take off!" Ashlynn said still panting.
Fate's Intentions Page 3
