Blood in the Woods

by J. P. Willie

  “We need to go tell one of the parents – now,” I said, and as I turned around, Jack’s body collided against mine.

  “They’ve come for us,” Jack was frightened, his face colorless, “I told you they would.”

  “They?” I asked, panicking.

  “The woman standing over by the refreshment table, with the man with the harelip,” Jack pointed behind himself, towards the table. “She keeps looking at us.”

  “The woman with him at the creek?” I asked.

  Jack’s face dropped and I thought he was about to throw up. “Turn around,” he groaned.

  When I did, I saw the man with the woman that Jack had seen, and she was casually making conversation with one of the chaperones as they made their way back toward us. She had on dark blue jeans and a long-sleeved black shirt, and certainly didn’t resemble the hare-lipped lunatic that was with her in any way; she was well-groomed, her hair was nicely combed and she was actually very pretty. The man shot looks of hatred at us, between fake laughs with the chaperone and his accomplice, and I guessed they had gotten into the dance by posing as parents. The man’s eyes penetrated my soul as he stared with fierce intent at me. I could feel his boiling rage, and I knew that he was here to finish the job – to silence Jack and I once and for all.

  “They’re not gonna leave here tonight without getting their hands on us. You know that, right?” I told Jack, the fear making my voice tremble.

  “We need to leave,” Justin stressed.

  “And go where?” I asked him. “We need to just wait here for Momma. When she gets here, she can take us to the police.”

  The woman was now done talking with the chaperone and the pair split up, heading in opposite directions. They made their way around the gym, just like all the other chaperones, pausing to make small conversation every now and again. Kids danced into us as we stood rooted to the floor and they yelled at us to dance, or get the hell out of the way. I didn’t know where the girls had gone, but I was glad, I didn’t want these people to know that Angela and Krystle were here too. We watched as they made their rounds, circling us like sharks, waiting for the opportune moment to strike. They were blending in very well – too well.

  “They’re going to do something soon if we don’t do something first,” I said.

  “Then what do we do?” Justin asked me.

  “You stay put, Justin,” Jack instructed, “they’re not here for you.”

  “How do you know?” Justin asked, I could tell in his voice that he desperately wanted that to be true.

  “I just do,” Jack told him.

  Then, I had an idea. “You’re probably right, Jack,” I agreed. “I’ll bet they’re only here for us – and possibly the girls – but I have an idea.”

  Jack raised a quizzical eyebrow.

  “Justin?”

  “Yeah.”

  “I need you to go find Chase, and both of you need to go over by the DJ’s table.”

  “Okay, then what?” Justin looked scared.

  “When the shit hits the fan, you just make sure you stall them while Jack and I make it outta here.”

  “We’re gonna run for it?” Jack was shocked.

  “It’s the only way. If we stay here, we put everyone in here in danger. What if that lunatic starts slicing up kids on the dance floor while trying to get to us? You think you could live with that?” I asked my friend.

  Jack didn’t answer.

  “Don’t worry, we’ll stall ‘em for you,” Justin reassured. He was as nervous as hell, but I knew he would come though.

  “What time is it, Jack?” I asked.

  “Nine o’clock,” Jack looked up from his Casio watch.

  “Think we can make back home before our moms leave to come pick us up?”

  “I don’t know, Jody,” Jack said nervously, walking in place while talking. “That’s pushing it, but maybe.”

  “Alright then,” I said. I felt sick, but I had to stay strong, that’s what Pepaw would have done. “Justin, go get Chase. Jack, follow me.”

  We said no more. Justin went to look for Chase, while Jack and I made our way into the mob of kids on the dance floor. I searched for Krystle and Angela as fast as I could. I knew our unwelcome guests were closing in on us. We twisted and turned our way through the sweaty kids, moving as fast as we could, until I finally happened upon Angela. She was dancing, but when I made a bee line for her and grabbed her firmly by her shoulders, she immediately knew something was wrong.

  “I need you to listen to me,” I told her, noticing that other kids had stopped dancing and were listening. “Are your parents picking you up at ten?” I asked her.

  “Yeah, they’ll be here.”

  “Are you going straight home afterwards?”

  “Yes, but what’s going on, Jody?”

  “Just listen,” I replied, shaking her a little. “If my Mom shows up here at ten, let her know that Jack and I left early because some kids wanted to beat us up. She’ll be pissed, but just tell her that, okay?”

  Angela said nothing, she just listened to me, her eyes wide with fear.

  “We gotta go, just promise me you’ll tell her.”

  “I promise.”

  As I walked away, I saw the man coming through the crowd toward us. Jack stepped in front of me and made his way through the kids and on towards the refreshment table, so I followed him. Once we were at the table, I stopped to make myself a drink.

  “What the fuck are you doing, Jody?” Jack asked.

  “Are Justin and Chase by the DJ table?” I asked, my heart was pounding.

  Jack stood on his tiptoes, leaned left and came back down.

  “Yeah, they’re there.”

  I grabbed the ladle that was in the fruit punch, filled it to the brim and poured it into one of the foam cups that was on the table. I held it tight and backed up against the wall behind the table. All we could do now was to wait for the harelip guy and his lady accomplice to attack; we both knew it, but said nothing.

  Jack walked over to me and I could see that he was in total disarray. I looked left, there was no one coming, and only a handful of kids stood in our way of the exit. But when I looked right, the woman and hare lip man were making their way toward us; keeping tight to the back wall. As they drew closer, the woman glanced around the gym in each and every direction, doing her best not to appear suspicious, and I knew in my guts that the two of them were getting impatient, sloppy and ready to strike.

  They came closer and closer, and before I knew it, the two of them were less than six feet away. The man shot a sinister look my way, and as I watched, he reached into his trench coat...

  “Eat shit, motherfucker!” I yelled out as loud as I could. This garnered curious attention from the kids and adults in the gym, all of whom looked on, startled as I threw my cup of punch in hare lip’s face, and he stopped dead in his tracks.

  With the man and his sinister companion distracted, Jack and I seized the opportunity and made a mad dash for the exit. I heard the woman yell something as we ran, but I couldn’t make it out, and I was way too scared out of my mind to care much. The chaperones and kids we ran past looked just as scared as we were, although I doubted that it had registered with them that we were in trouble, and by the time they figured it out, we would be long gone.

  “Do it now, Justin, do it now!” I screamed as I flew through the exit with Jack close by.

  I heard a loud thud, followed by screams, hollering and a whole bunch of ruckus bellowing from the gym; Justin and Chase had come through on delaying the woman and harelip man from pursuing us. Jack and I sprinted out through the gate, and made our way towards my bike. I grabbed it by the handlebars, pulled it up from the fence in one swift motion and threw myself on it.

  “Get on!” I barked at Jack, and in his panic to do so, he left behind the FM radio.

  Before I pushed us off into the night, I took a fleeting look back at the gym. The staff had turned the lights on, and I saw that the adults had the man
and woman held up at the door, and were trying to calm them down. My plan had worked perfectly, up until Justin and Chase appeared, trotting out of the gate and heading for their bikes.

  “What the fuck are ya’ll doing?” Jack roared at them. “Get back inside where it’s safe!”

  “It’s not safe... anymore, Jack,” Justin panted, all out of breath. “We stopped them, but... we need to go now... before they get away from the gym!”

  “Well get moving!” I hollered.

  The four of us set off together, fleeing into the dark Louisiana night.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  LIVING ON A PRAYER: 1993

  We rode as fast as the night would carry us, twisting and turning through the back-country roads. Traffic was minimal, thank God, but when a vehicle did show up, their blinding headlights meant that we had to pull over to the side of the road so they could pass; I didn’t want to get hit by a car – I already had enough to worry about.

  “We need to take the next road on the left,” Justin instructed. “We can’t go back home the same way we came.”

  “Why?” I asked.

  “They knew we were at the dance, so I’d guess they had to have followed us there, or at least knew our route.”

  “I don’t know any other way home,” Jack said glumly. He played lookout on my handlebars, constantly checking behind us for a tail.

  “Don’t worry,” Justin reassured, “I do.”

  We pressed on and faithfully followed Justin’s orders, never second-guessing him once. I had no clue where we were, but Justin seemed pretty confident. Poor Chase, the kid who’d just got sucked into all this, he’d hardly spoken a word since we took to the streets on our bikes. He was a thin kid, with dark brown hair and a wide nose; I didn’t know him, and hadn’t spoken to him until that night.

  “I can’t keep up,” Chase panted. He slowed down on his bike, breathing in deep gasps of air like a beached perch, “I can’t do this!”

  “You need to suck it up, Chase,” I retorted. I glowered over my left shoulder at the kid. “We can’t slow down now. If we do, we’re dead. These people are crazy.”

  “Ya’ll should’ve stayed in the gym,” Jack was reproving, “we didn’t need to get anyone else involved.”

  “Too late for that now, Jack,” Justin threw in. “We’re a target now, just like ya’ll. When I threw myself under that ugly guy’s feet, a knife fell out of his coat when he tripped. He told me he was gonna kill me, and I think he would have if Chase hadn’t dragged me away – and then one of the chaperones came over and we just ran.”

  “I’m glad ya’ll got away,” I said, pedaling the bike faster, sweat running down my temple. “But you really shouldn’t have come with us.”

  Justin didn’t respond; but I could tell that he knew I was right. Even though the harelip man knew who Justin was – hell, he had kicked Justin in the stomach in the mall’s elevator – he hadn’t come to the dance tonight to kill him. He’d come for me and Jack, but so far, his plan had been a failure.

  The roads became harder to see, and several times we passed the ones we needed to turn onto, gliding right past them as we rode on through the darkness. Every time Jack would yell car, we’d ditch the bikes on the side of the road, jump the ditch and lay flat on our stomachs. I felt no pain in my foot, since it had gone completely numb, but my legs were cramping up and I knew I wouldn’t be able to pedal for much longer. So, I asked Jack to switch, and I became the lookout.

  Before I knew it, we were turning onto Rhine Road from its farthest end. This meant that Angela’s house would be one of the first we’d see on the right, and I wanted to stop there to make sure she’d told Momma what I’d told her to say. I knew my ass would be grass when I got home. It would be the last good ass-whooping I’d get on Rhine Road, but I was fine with that.

  “What time is it, Jack?” I asked.

  “10:17.”

  “Pull in to Angela’s driveway. I need to know what she told Momma so we can get our stories straight.”

  Jack snorted, loud enough for me to hear it. I knew he just wanted to get home – I did too, but I had to know what Angela had said.

  We rolled into the driveway and I leapt from the handlebars, running towards the window on the bottom floor, as it was the only one with a light on, other than the flickering TV glare that came from an upstairs window. I guessed that the window on the bottom floor was Angela’s room.

  When I got closer to the porch, I tiptoed like some pervert prowler trying to get a peek at some girl’s boobs, and stepped quietly onto the porch. I pressed my back up against the house and shimmied my way down to the lit room. Once there, I took a quick look over at the road and saw that Jack, Justin and Chase were close by. I took a deep breath and leaned over just enough to get a look into the window.

  Angela and Krystle were sitting on the floor going through a bunch of music CD’s. I lifted my hand up and tapped gently on the window. The girls looked up, scared, but once they saw it was just me, they relaxed some. Krystle closed Angela’s door, while Angela made her way over to the window. She fought with the lock that held the window shut tight, but then there came a resounding click, and the window slid upwards. Angela poked her head out.

  “Thank God you’re okay. I was really worried about ya’ll,” Angela whispered loudly, no doubt relieved to see that we were still alive.

  “Shhh – I don’t want your parents to know we’re out here,” I hissed.

  “Sorry,” Angela made with an apologetic face.

  “So, what happened after we left?”

  “It was chaos,” Angela told me. She glanced back at Krystle, who had her ear pressed up to the bedroom door, listening out for Angela’s parents. “The whole place went totally nuts. The chaperones moved the kids onto the bleachers after the lights came on, and some of the parents had that lunatic held up by the door, but they couldn’t hold him for long. He left with some woman shortly after that.”

  “Did Momma show up?” I asked, nervously.

  “Yeah, she did.”

  “Was she pissed?”

  “Oh yeah.”

  “What did you tell her?”

  “I told her ya’ll left early because some of the eighth graders tried beating ya’ll up.”

  “Was everyone still in the bleachers when she got there, or had things calmed down by then?” I asked, beginning to feel like a NYPD Blue detective.

  “Everything was back to normal, except that the gym lights stayed on for the rest of the time.”

  “Good,” I breathed a sigh of relief.

  I offered a silent prayer that one of the chaperones hadn’t gotten to Momma to tell her what had actually happened in the gym; I wanted to be the one who came clean to her about what was going on. I knew that once the truth came out, Momma would want to comfort me instead of whoop me. I felt Angela slide her hand over mine, and my heart sped up with delight as her smooth skin caressed my fingers.

  “Why didn’t you tell me they were there?”

  “I don’t know,” I tried to avoid her eyes. “I guess I didn’t want you and Krystle to freak out. Both of you have enough to deal with.”

  “And so do you.” Angela squeezed my hand tighter. “I don’t want you to get hurt, Jody.”

  “I won’t.”

  “Promise me.”

  “I don’t do promises,” I said, and I thought that sounded really grown up.

  “You made me promise, so now you owe me one – please, promise me,” Angela demanded.

  “Okay,” I squirmed, “I promise... I won’t get hurt.”

  I took a moment to look Angela in the eyes, and I got hopelessly caught in the moment – the earth quit moving, the night fell silent, and I knew that if I didn’t act then, I may never have the chance again.

  I ran my fingers up Angela’s neck, slipping them around to the back of her head and buried them in her sweet smelling hair. I placed my other hand gently upon her cheek, took a deep breath and brought my lips to hers. I could fe
el that I’d taken Angela by surprise, but that’s just how I wanted it to be; I wanted to leave her breathless. My lips were a little dry, but Angela’s were moist and warm, and as we kissed, she placed her hand on the back of my neck. We held the kiss for a few more seconds before parting.

  “You don’t know how long I’ve been waiting to do that,” I told her.

  “I’m sure you’ve been waiting just as long as me,” Angela whispered.

  “I gotta go now.”

  “Okay,” she said glumly. “Will I see you again before you move?”

  “I’ll make sure I find my way over here,” I assured her. “Maybe I’ll be able to get me another one of these kisses.”

  Angela’s face lit up like Times Square, and she planted a fond kiss on my cheek. With great reluctance, I let go of her, turned and jumped off the porch. I spun around for a brief second and gave her a wave goodbye, which she returned with a sad smile.

  “Let’s go, lover boy,” Justin whispered.

  I ran towards Jack, who was sitting on the bike with a thin, knowing smile on his face, maybe he felt the same way I’d felt when I saw him kissing Krystle. I said nothing about it, clambered back onto the handlebars, and watched Angela’s window as we made our way up the street. I could see her jumping up and down, holding hands with Krystle like they were a couple of giddy pre-schoolers; that kiss had made her night.

  We made it down the last bit of straightaway before we hit the bend in the road before home. The night was calm, all except for the rolling of our tires on the pavement. I could hear the crickets chirping merrily in the woods, the mosquitoes buzzing around our heads with malicious intent, and the frogs croaking their nighttime lullabies. The wind felt cooler as it rushed upon my face and filled my ears with a seashell sound.

  Then, less than a hundred yards before the bend, I heard something that didn’t quite fit. I twisted my head to one side and squinted around Jack. It was the unmistakable noise of an engine, and it was coming from a menacing, black shape that was rolling up the road behind us. I knew then that we were in trouble, and before I could give out a warning, the high beams switched on and the engine revved like some great, mechanical beast.