First Project

by Jennifer Rose McMahon

  As simple as the rules sounded, I knew they carried significant weight. Knowing to not run at the first sign of fear was a good one. Then, keeping track of every detail, believing it all, and at that point, following your gut, made perfect sense when encountering things of the supernatural.

  I wondered what the final rule was as we continued moving toward the part of the clearing where we had entered.

  With all our flashlights on, it was easier to get a sense of location and which way to move. I focused on the dark opening to the trail and pointed my body in its exact direction to be sure not to lose sight of it.

  "So, what's the last rule?" I asked with growing impatience, not only to hear the rule, but also to get out of these damn woods as quickly as possible.

  Just as the final word left my lips, all of our flashlights flickered and then went dead.

  Pitch blackness surrounded us.

  In terror, everyone froze in their tracks as a harrowing sound of evil cackling surrounded us from all sides of the clearing.

  I listened harder, praying the sound might have a reasonable explanation, but it only grew louder and more menacing. It mocked us with its sinister tone, jabbing at us from every direction.

  "The last rule?" Blake stammered. "Run!"

  Chapter 16

  We flew toward the trail as fast as our feet would carry us. Tripping and stumbling on every bump on the ground, we banged into each other, making our escape even harder.

  The terrifying cackling filled the space behind us as we raced to get away from it. Whipping my cinch sack off my back, I searched inside while continuing to run. My hands wrapped around my portable charger, and I pulled it out, then plugged it into my phone.

  The entrance to the trail enveloped us as we flew into its darkness. We slowed and reached our arms out ahead of us, careful to not smash into the trees.

  "Just keep moving forward," Shane said. "If you feel the smoothness of the trail get bumpy, then you're moving off of it."

  I pressed the button on my phone, waiting for the charger to bring it back to life. It glowed, and a line on the screen moved from left to right as it powered up.

  As soon as it was ready, I turned the flashlight on.

  "Awesome," Shane gasped. "Shine it forward onto the trail.

  I shot the beam ahead of us, and it illuminated the path a few feet out.

  The small amount of light brought huge relief to everyone as their frantic breathing steadied again. The sound of the cackling had died off, leaving us with only the silence of the deep woods. We kept moving forward, searching for the landmark of the gate.

  In an instant, everyone's hurrying came to an immediate stop as we stared at a strange shadow in the middle of the trail. We watched as it moved in small, jerking motions. As the form became more clear, I gasped in horror.

  It was a little boy.

  He stood panting as his wandering eyes search all around him. His focus landed on us, and he held a lost gaze as if begging for us to help him.

  A quiet whimper turned my head from the terrifying sight, and I watched Shane crumble to his knees, shaking.

  I knew then what we were seeing.

  It was Shane's worst nightmare.

  His friend, lost seven years ago in these very woods—never found. And Shane carried that burden every day of his life.

  I turned back to the young boy and found my voice. It squeaked out of me as I said his name.

  "Tommy?"

  His head jerked in my direction, and he stared at me with wide, frightened eyes. Then, in a flash, he turned and bolted along the trail toward the shadow of a high triangular structure. And then, he disappeared out of sight as if he'd evaporated.

  I reached for Shane's arm, pulling him up, and we raced after the boy.

  Poorva's portable charger finally activated her phone as well, and our two light beams bounced in a panicked frenzy.

  Out of nowhere, the cattle gate appeared, blocking our way. We scrambled to it, and as we began climbing, it swung on its hinges.

  We jumped off in shock.

  Someone had unlocked it.

  My air rushed out of me in alarm, and I shone my light all around us. With no sign of movement or anyone around, we continued running down the path toward the lot.

  "Tommy!" Shane's voice choked out of him.

  "Tommy!" I called along with him.

  Dom lagged at the back of the group and slowed with every shout of Tommy's name.

  Before long, we burst out of the woods into the parking lot. We moved as far away from the darkness of the trees as possible, gathering around the cars.

  Looking back, I noticed Shane still standing at the mouth of the trail, and I went after him.

  Placing my hand on his shoulder, I said, "It's not him, Shane. It's a sick mind-trick."

  He swallowed hard. "But you saw him, too. We all did."

  I nodded, wondering if there was some truth in what we saw. It had seemed so real. "It's like he's trapped in there somehow," I murmured.

  Shane shot a glance at me as if he'd seen an opportunity.

  "I'm going to get him out of there," he stated. "I don't know how. But I'll get him."

  I flinched from the crunch of gravel behind us as Dom approached.

  His face hung limp, and he was white as a ghost. He shook his head. "I'm sorry, man."

  Shane glared at him.

  Dom continued. "I didn't believe it before. It didn’t seem possible.” He took a deep breath. “I'm going to help you find him."

  Shane tipped his head at Dom and then nodded with skepticism oozing from his eyes. Without saying a word, he accepted Dom's offer, with the caveat that he still held some responsibility in all of it.

  It was clear that Shane would never forgive Dom for exploiting the loss of Tommy. Bullying him into the woods when they were kids, knowing Tommy had been missing, was heartless.

  Shane glanced at me, catching my sympathetic stare, and shook his head. Without saying a word, I knew he thought Dom was pathetic, trying to look good in front of me by being a do-gooder. I rubbed my temples, wondering if it was that obvious that I'd fallen for Dom's charm, yet again.

  "Come on," Blake called to us. "We gotta get home. It's late."

  We walked over to the rest of the group by the cars, knowing we'd come back another time to finish this.

  "Rule two. We need to document everything," Poorva said. "Time check."

  Blake looked over her shoulder as she checked her phone for the time. "It's gotta be ten, at least." He glanced around at the strange brightness of the late night. "We were stuck in there forever."

  My stomach dropped at how late it probably was, and I tried to come up with an excuse for my mother, mainly since my gut told me it was even later than what I'd thought. We'd gone into the woods at seven forty-five and had been in there a lot longer than expected.

  Poorva coughed. "Umm, guys."

  We gathered around her.

  Her eyes narrowed in confusion as she stared at her phone and said, "It's not even eight o'clock yet."

  There was no way it could be possible.

  We all checked our phones and saw the same thing—seven fifty-nine.

  But we'd been in the woods for much longer than fourteen minutes. It felt like at least two hours. So much had happened, between trekking in the dark, Courtney running away and then collapsing, my purple glowing hands, and then hiding from it all at the perimeter of the woods. Our walk back to the car alone was a good twenty minutes and seeing Tommy made it even longer.

  "There's no way," I spoke my thoughts out loud, scratching my head.

  "It's like a time warp of some kind," Poorva added. "A time-space continuum."

  Dom huffed. "Enough of that AP Physics shit. What the hell is happening?"

  "It's quantum physics, dumbass," she spat.

  "But it's more than that," Shane said, staring into the woods. "It's something supernatural, like a portal."

  I thought of the legend of the Dark Witch,
remembering the sound of cackling as we ran out of the woods. It resonated deep within me and connected to something I knew well.

  "Like witchcraft?" I murmured.

  Shane's eyes darted to mine, and his lips pressed together. He didn't say a word or even a nod.

  I stared back at him in silence, wondering what the strange sensation in me could be—like an insatiable urge to go after the Dark Witch. To find her. And end her.

  "We're sorry, Shane," Poorva whispered. "You know, about Tommy."

  Shane lifted his eyes slightly to acknowledge her and then lowered them again to mine.

  Courtney paced by the cars, biting her nails.

  "We need to get out of here." My heart rate accelerated from the thought of getting dragged back into the woods by whatever force whirled around us. As much as I wanted to go back in there, we weren't ready.

  "No shit," Blake said, bouncing in his heels.

  "Courtney, come with us," Poorva said. "We'll take you home."

  We climbed into the car as the guys went to theirs. Blake climbed in with Shane and slammed his door shut as if fending off a band of attacking ghouls. I was surprised he didn't lose a shoe.

  Heavy fog settled in around us as the air grew colder, and I glimpsed behind one more time as Poorva pulled out of the lot. Whirls of mist reached out from the darkness of the trees as if searching for something.

  I stared in terror at Dom and Shane, gravel kicking up behind their tires, as the creeping mist nearly reached them. The wind from their moving vehicles sent the curious fog into a whoosh of scattered smoke.

  Courtney remained silent in the backseat, rocking in subtle motion, as Poorva and I chattered non-stop about whatever the hell just happened.

  "I can't believe we saw Tommy," Poorva gasped. "I don't know how Shane can even function after that. We all knew he struggled with the loss daily, but never did I imagine something like that could happen."

  I rubbed my eyes. "How is it even possible that we all saw the same hallucination?"

  "It must have something to do with our heightened senses. Like, maybe we were all thinking about him at the same time, and collective consciousness generated the image."

  I huffed and shook my head. "I don't know even know what collective consciousness is. But it felt real. Like he was truly there." I hesitated, remembering every moment. "Did you see the look in his eyes? His terror? I'll never forget it."

  Poorva kept her eyes on the road, trying to understand what occurred.

  Courtney let out a whimper from the backseat, and I shot my head around.

  "What, Courtney? Do you know something?" I asked her.

  She whimpered again, hiding her face from me.

  "You need to tell us," I pressed. "If you know something, tell us."

  I wished my voice hadn't taken such a harsh tone because it only made her clam up more. But I couldn't help it. All her silence suddenly became the loudest thing around me.

  She had answers. Answers that scared the shit out of her and speaking of them would make it even more terrifying, but I held no mercy. Shane needed my help, and Courtney was the closest thing to it.

  Finding Ms. Kelly tomorrow became my primary focus. I planned to tell her everything that happened, including Courtney's episode. And seeing Tommy.

  I couldn't wait for the next X-block. I had to get more information now.

  Poorva pulled up to Courtney's house, and without a word, she shuffled out the back and hurried inside. The door slammed shut without her even giving a glance back.

  "She'll only shut down if you push her like that," Poorva said.

  "I don't give a shit," I shot back. "That girl is the center of all of this somehow. Didn't you see what happened to her in the middle of that field? It was like she was being sacrificed or some fucking shit." I exhaled. "Ms. Kelly's protecting her, and it's time we figured out what they're hiding."

  Poorva sighed and shook her head. I could tell she thought I was getting ahead of myself—ahead of all of us, running half-cocked. But seriously, I'd seen enough tonight to prove that something was very wrong here.

  There was something evil in Lakefield. And it had controlled the people of this town for long enough.

  I closed the front door behind me without the slightest sound and took my first step toward my room.

  "That was fast." My mother's voice hit me in the back of the head. "You can't expect to graduate with honors with willy-nilly study habits."

  My eyes closed in an attempt to settle my temper. Attacking my study habits was so far removed from reality. I was a straight-A student, and she had no idea the effort I put into my studies every night. It was infuriating.

  "Yeah, well, senior slump might be hitting early," I snarked.

  "No matter," she called to me as I moved down the hall. "We never last long enough in one place for it to even make a difference."

  I closed my door behind me in hopes that cutting off her words would keep them from ever coming true. How she could be so heartless was beyond me. Didn't she realize that dragging me around from place to place had created deep insecurity in me, causing fear of attachment, and all the other psycho-bullshit I'd read about in AP Psych?

  But this was the first time it ever really mattered.

  I couldn't leave now. There was too much to do. Too much at stake.

  For Shane. For Courtney.

  I thought about the vision of the little boy in the woods and sensed his presence all around me.

  He was real.

  I felt him. Everywhere.

  For Tommy.

  I had to save Tommy.

  Chapter 17

  The following morning, I fast-walked through the corridors to get to my English class. I'd barely slept after the woods and felt like my eyes were bugging out from my anxiety.

  No one was responding to my texts or Snaps. It was as if all communication had halted. So, seeing the other UMAs was my primary focus, and having a chance to talk with Ms. Kelly was right up there as well.

  I swerved some freshmen and cut hard into my classroom. Without any UMA sightings yet, seeing Dom was a priority. He seemed to have a lot of information about Tommy and had promised Shane he would help. It was high time I got some details, and if I pressed Dom enough, I was sure he'd spill.

  He hovered over his desk, dropping his pack by his feet like it weighed a ton. His broad shoulders filled the aisle, and I wondered how public schools had the gall to keep full-grown young adults under their control to this point. We should have been released from this prison a year ago, at least.

  I shot up his aisle, but before making it two feet, Laney blocked my way.

  "What the actual fuck?" she snarled in my ear.

  I recoiled from her attack, searching my mind for any offense against her.

  She lashed out again and under her breath, said, "Was I unclear?" She pressed her shoulder into me. "You're traipsing where you don't belong." Her eyes glanced at Dom and then back at me. "I won't play nice anymore, you bitch. It's time I made this very uncomfortable for you."

  Was she still talking about Dom?

  "Laney, you have nothing to worry about," I stated.

  I mean, sure, Dom was hot, but nothing was happening between us—that I knew of, anyway. I guess it could. But it wasn't.

  I cringed at my incessant inner monologue.

  It was official. I was cringy.

  Like a typical teen, I couldn't get my head straight around how I felt about a guy.

  We had chemistry—that was obvious. But something was getting in between us. Distracting me. And it wasn't Laney.

  Oh, right, Laney.

  She was still in my face, seething.

  "Seriously," I added. "I'm not going after your guy."

  There. I said it.

  She leaned in even closer, and I could feel her breath on my lips.

  "Stay away from him," she sneered. "And stay away from the woods. You have no idea what you're messing with."

  My breath stopped sh
ort.

  The woods?

  Something about the woods had her all riled up. What the hell?

  I stared at her as she slipped back to her desk and into her chair.

  Dom turned and stared with an expression like he'd just missed something.

  And he had.

  I lifted my brows at him and pressed past to my seat. Dropping down into my chair, I caught him continuing to stare at me, and I shook my head to try to get him to stop.

  He glanced back at Laney then and caught her death-stare.

  Lowering himself into his chair, he knew something was up.

  Then his text lit up my phone.

  WTF was that

  I concealed my phone under my desk and tried to type without lowering my eyes too much. Mr. Benson had entered the room, and he was stealth at detecting illegal phone use.

  L knows about the woods

  I waited for my phone to vibrate again on my lap with Dom’s reply.

  I waited a bit more.

  But he didn't text back.

  At the bell, Laney bolted out the door, avoiding me altogether, or so I'd thought.

  Dom kept his head down and left without a word.

  How could she have so much power over him? It was mind-boggling.

  Sure, she was intimidating as fuck. But only in the realm of the hierarchy of high school. Dom needed to get over it and grow a pair.

  Baffled, I walked to physics, and as soon as I lifted my gaze, I saw Laney again. This time, she pressed her scowl into Poorva's face.

  I couldn't hear what she was hissing at her, but I didn't need to. It was the same assault she had unleashed on me an hour earlier.

  My guess was that she'd get to each of us by the end of the day.

  Creating insecurity.

  Tearing us down.

  Divided we fall.

  As the day went on, I realized my theory was correct.

  The UMAs avoided each other at all cost, proving they'd all been threatened in one way or another.

  I counted the minutes to the last bell so I could finally take some action.

  I just needed to get to Ms. Kelly.

  Before Laney did.

  The idea of Laney talking to Ms. Kelly made my blood boil but also sent a sick fear through my veins. The kind where you feel powerless and vulnerable. I prayed she didn't have any power over Ms. Kelly.