by Lari Smythe
Chapter 26
The rest of June flew by. Jason was right about his job, it did keep us from seeing each other as often as we would have liked, but our time together was still magical. Instead, I spent a lot of time in the woods, at my pool, which was now lush and beautiful again and with Melanie. There was nothing specific I could put my finger on, but as the days and weeks passed, I could sense Melanie's growing concern over the whereabouts of the rest of the Faulkners.
"I think I'm going to relax at the pool," I said, filling in the last bit of the hole where I'd buried my kill. "Want to come with me?"
"I'll race you."
I took off after her through the underbrush, but as we closed on the creek, she suddenly pulled up.
"What?" I said, skidding to a stop next to her.
"Listen."
I probed the area ahead of us and finally caught the sound of a high-pitched giggle. It almost sounded like the birds.
"There's someone there," Melanie whispered.
"I wonder who? This is a long way off the beaten path, especially on foot."
As we crept forward, the woods were suddenly filled with he deep base from a boom box, then, a loud splash.
"Come on, chicken, the water's great," a familiar male voice called.
"Derrick?" I guessed.
"You know him?" Melanie asked.
"The school bully," I answered.
"Oh, the one you—"
"I don't have a bathing suit," Lisa said.
"That's the point." Derrick said.
Melanie and I crept up behind a large fallen tree and then peered through the branches as Lisa waded into the pool in her underwear. I glanced over at the sandy beach and saw Derrick's clothes—all of his clothes. Disgusting, my pool would never be the same.
"Want to grab their clothes?"
"Melanie!"
She got this strange look on her face. "I did that to Tink and Emma once."
"Who's Emma?"
"Emma," she sighed with fondness.
"Who was she?"
"Emma was decades ago. I think you would call her a girlfriend."
"Tink had a girlfriend?"
"Not since Emma. Come on, we should leave them alone."
"I don't know, I don't like the looks of it. Why would he bring her so far out into the woods if—"
"Isn't that what you and Jason do?"
"That's different, Jason's a good guy he wouldn't—"
"He couldn't," Melanie corrected.
"Oh alright, you're probably right, just a little skinny dipping, no harm in that."
We were halfway back to Melanie's when I heard Lisa scream. There are a lot of different screams, screams of delight, screams of surprise, screams of terror, and then there was this scream. Melanie and I raced back through the woods at incredible speed.
"She's running," I said.
"He's just getting out of the water. What do we do?"
"Slow him down, I'll hide her. And don't let him see you." I added.
"Okay." Melanie veered off toward the pool as we closed on their location.
There was a thud, and then Derrick's cursing as he rolled through the underbrush. I flanked Lisa and glided in behind a tree out of sight. She screamed again, and then collapsed to the ground, clutching her clothes to her bare chest. She was crying hysterically.
"Shh, it's going to be okay," I said, stooping down to her. "Hurry, you have to hide."
"What are you doing here?" she said in an exasperated tone, probably to mask her fear.
I stood. "Derrick's not far behind."
Lisa scrambled to her feet and I led her into a thicket well out of sight. She stared at me incredulously. Derrick showed up a short time later, beating the bushes with a stick and cursing.
"You know you want it!" he yelled. "Ya freakin' cry baby." He poked around for a little while longer before frustration won out. "Have it your way. Good luck findin' your way home. You can rot out here for all I care. I'm tellin' all the guys you were easy, like they don't already know that, ha." With that, his footsteps slowly faded off into the woods.
"Is he gone?" Lisa asked.
"Not yet, but he's on his way, you're safe."
"Of course I'm safe, what did you think?"
I nodded toward the ball of clothes she was clutching to her chest. "Really?"
"Were you spying on me?" she said while she started to get dressed. "That's like so creepy." Once dressed, she pushed her way out of the thicket and into a small clearing. I followed, cautiously.
"You know how to get home?" I asked.
"Of course I do." She spun around several times trying to get her bearings, but there was little doubt she was hopelessly lost.
"Do you know which way you came?"
"That way." She pointed in the direction of Route 70—the wrong direction.
"Do you have your cell phone?"
She felt her back pocket. "I must have dropped it at the creek."
Melanie tossed the phone silently into a pile of leaves. "Is that it?" I said, pointing toward the leaves.
"Perfect, I guess it fell out of my pocket." She suddenly tensed when I turned. "Is he coming back?"
"No, but there are some hikers just through there." I pointed down the slope.
"I don't hear anything."
"Come on, before they get too far away."
Lisa followed at an incredibly slow pace, I though we were never going to catch up, but the hikers finally stopped for a water break. I pulled up behind a tree, keeping out of their sight. Lisa staggered up next to me.
"See them." I pointed. "It's a man and his wife, you'll be safe with them, they'll get you home."
"How do you know they're married?"
Just then, the hikers got up.
"Hello," I called, "can you wait a minute, please, I'm lost." I turned back to Lisa. "Go on, they're waiting."
Lisa looked at me apprehensively. She could probably see her entire school image going up in flames. Lisa, Miss Popularity, Cheer Captain rescued by the creepy Emo girl.
"No one has to know," I said, "it'll be our little secret."
She started off toward the hikers. "Thanks for waiting, I'm, like so totally lost." She turned back and silently mouthed the word, 'thanks.'
I met up with Melanie back at the pool.
"Well, I do declare, this is the most fun I've had in years."
"We did a good thing," I said, "he was going to hurt her, maybe ruin her whole life."
"Maybe end it," Melanie added.
"Well, not today. I'll race you back to your place." I took off through the woods with Melanie in close pursuit.
