HIDDEN CREEK DARKNESS
a hidden creek high novel
Jaxson Kidman
Contents
Welcome to
HIDDEN CREEK DARKNESS
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
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Welcome to
There was this moment between us right then. A fire crackling next to us but a bigger fire raging between us. I had the sudden urge to jump forward and throw my arms around his neck. I just wanted him to hold me, love me, and tell me it was going to be okay. I wanted everything to be okay. But we were too far away from that.
There was no more okay.
* * *
Written by Jaxson Kidman
HIDDEN CREEK DARKNESS
WES & AIRA BOOK 3
MOST HATED GIRL IN HCH? #check
MOST FEARED GIRL IN HCH? #check
TURNING FRIENDS INTO ENEMIES ON A DAILY BASIS? #check
REALZING EVERYTHING I THOUGHT I KNEW AND LOVED IS A F*CKING LIE? #triplecheck
Someone is after me.
And in typical Hidden Creek High fashion, the list of ‘suspects’ is deeper than my feelings for Wes.
Oh, he’s on that list too, trust me.
He swears by his promise to protect me.
But when things get worse, he’s darker than I ever thought possible.
I live in a world where friends are enemies and enemies are friends.
And just when I think I’m about to figure it out, I’m the one being accused of something insane.
All because I was the good girl who fell for the bad boy.
Prologue
(or maybe something like the end)
The worst is over, right?
That was the comforting question to ask and answer. The resounding sound of YES floating through my mind was supposed to be comforting, but it was far from it. There was nothing else to do or say, at least at the moment.
My eyes were down to the ground. Walking through the cemetery with an eerie feeling going through me. First off, I just wasn’t a fan of cemeteries. The idea of death bothered me. The idea that life could - and would - come to an end worried me. And it was amazing how so many people said I didn’t have to worry. How many people said to us that we had our whole lives ahead of us? Or that we had a long, happy life waiting? As though they were able to see the future. If they were able to see the future they would have seen this. If that were the case, I wished I could have seen their faces… watching everyone at a funeral.
I looked up and looked back, like I really needed a reminder of the casket that was about to be lowered into the ground. All our lives were now changed. Whether anyone liked it or not. Because behind the sadness and the shock and the word tragedy there was a truth waiting. Just hanging back, waiting for the right time to strike.
Of course that’s where my mind decided to go.
To flirt with that truth, as if it were visible.
Casually looking at each and every person, wondering what role they played in this. Because somebody was guilty of this. And maybe it was more than just a somebody.
It made my stomach flutter and my heart race.
Even with a strong hand slowly sliding around my waist, pulling me closer to his body. I didn’t look at him. I wasn’t ready yet. I didn’t want to look anyone in the eye. I just wanted to get out of there. And believe me, I didn’t just mean the cemetery either. I meant the town of Hidden. I meant the hallways of Hidden Creek High. Everything that had to do with HCH.
At the edge of the cemetery, that’s where everyone began to gather. The usual groups. The usual bullshit already starting to build up. Because that’s how it went. Everyone planned on whispering but they couldn’t have been louder if they tried. Including me. I may have been silent as I stood there, but inside my head it was loud. So fucking loud. Who I thought I was… who they thought I was… what it all came down to and how this all happened.
We should have seen it coming.
We should have seen this happening.
We should have known…
In a way, it was all of our fault.
Every person there. The ones crying as they said goodbye. The ones fake crying as they said goodbye. The ones who didn’t care but really did. The ones who acted tough but were scared.
It was all of us.
And then came the question again…
The worst is over, right?
The answer seemed obvious as YES screamed in my mind.
But face the truth…
The worst was far from over.
Chapter 1
Aira
“Since when do you smoke?” Kailey asked me as I leaned back against the top of the bleachers and took a drag of a nasty tasting cigarette.
It was a fresh habit, something that kept my mind from going too crazy with all the crazy stuff going on. What Kailey and Charlotte and Emma didn’t know was that the nightmares were back. They were worse than ever too. Raging pictures and images that overtook my mind while I tried to sleep. Except these nightmares were a little different…
“Maybe I’ve been smoking my entire life and just hid it from you,” I said.
“Really?” Kailey asked.
“No,” I said. “Stop believing everything you hear.”
I put my elbows behind me on the bleachers and looked around.
The sky was clear blue, the air nice and warm. The smell of the ocean lingering around, battling with the smell of my smoke.
Charlotte was hunched forward, staring down at her phone. Scrolling, her thumbs smashing at the screen, then back to scrolling.
“You okay over there?” I asked.
Charlotte’s head popped up and her eyes widened. “Uh, yeah.”
I wiggled forward and jumped down a seat to sit next to her. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.”
“You know, you can still talk about Flynn. It’s really not that big of a deal.”
“Maybe it kind of is, though,” Emma said.
“How so?” I asked.
I looked back at Emma and our eyes battled for control.
Strange enough that’s what everything had suddenly become.
About control.
To be fair, Emma was the one who symbolically gave me her baseball bat. After she thought I spread the wild rumor about Mika and all. Which I didn’t. Which I had a different plan for. But life in Hidden did whatever the fuck it wanted. And if you weren’t ready for a fight, you’d get run over.
Which I wasn’t going to allow to happen.
Hence the nightmares again.
Hence the smoking habit I was still getting used to.
Hence the fact that a certain bad boy wasn’t there with me to make me feel safe.
Emma tightened her lips the way she tightened her legs shut around Ryker and looked the other way.
I rolled my eyes.
That was the reason why Ryker ended up between Kailey’s legs.
&nbs
p; And then of course there was Charlotte… in this something like a relationship with Flynn.
“What did he do now?” I asked Charlotte.
“He’s just distant. I think… I don’t know, it’s weird.”
“What’s weird?” I asked.
“Aira, are you going to talk about the most obvious thing right now or what?” Kailey asked.
“Which is what?” I asked.
“You and Wes,” Kailey said.
I swallowed hard. I slowly stood up.
There was a sudden urge to fight Kailey. I felt like the town and the school had gotten to me. Finally sinking its teeth into my skin, making me one of its own.
“What is there to talk about?” I asked. “Have you seen Wes around? I haven’t.”
“He’s at the shop right now,” Charlotte said.
“Good for him,” I said.
“That’s what makes this weird. Because Flynn wants to be there for his friend. I want to be there for my friend. And we’re just stuck in the middle of it all.”
“Because of me,” I said. “It’s my fault.”
“I didn’t say that,” Charlotte said.
“Nobody is saying anything is your fault,” Kailey said. “We can be here for you. Talk to you. I would love to hate on Wes. To know what he did.”
“I can get another baseball bat,” Emma said. “We can really make him pay.”
“That’s what it is, right? It’s always revenge. Mika tells everyone I cut myself so the rumor about her secret abortion is leaked. Right? Someone comes near me and Wes beats the hell out of them. Emma won’t fuck Ryker so Kailey does. And then poor Charlotte here, she can’t finish up her complicated relationship because it’s weird because of me and Wes. Just a big circle of… what?”
Emma stood up. “You’re feeling it, obviously. I’m sorry for that. But nobody did it to you. If anything, I remember all of us trying to warn you about Wes. But you insisted things were great. Because you knew him when you were a kid. Yet you knew nothing of those years in between.”
“Did you all know about his brother? About Azel?” I asked.
The three of them looked at each other. Then at me.
“Of course we know about Azel,” Kailey whispered. “That’s just something you don’t talk about around here.”
“Another big secret,” I said. “Great. So Wes had a brother. What happened?”
“Aira…,” Charlotte reached for my hand.
I pulled away.
I hurried to stick the cigarette into my mouth for a drag.
It still tasted bad but it helped to calm me.
“Flynn is at the shop with Wes right now,” Charlotte said. “He wants me to drop by. But I told him I can’t do that to you, Aira. I’m on your side. Even if I don’t understand what’s happening.”
I climbed down another row of the bleachers and stared at the three of them.
“It’s the secrets,” I said. “Always the secrets. We promised each other no more secrets and we both screwed it up. Then I went to find him and he was with Noelle. He was at Cherry’s house with her. On the roof. Then in her bedroom. And then…”
I shook my head. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to bring up that I thought someone had been behind me. Even if the image of it was still clear in my head. The way my phone went black - a hand covering the screen. The way I heard someone breathing.
Yet when I screamed and turned and looked there was nobody there.
“Aira, you know Wes and Noelle by now,” Emma said.
“No, I don’t,” I said. “Look at the years I missed, right? You just talked about it. All those years…”
“What did you think happened?” Kailey asked. “Then and now? They’re secretly fucking each other?”
I swallowed hard. My heart raced a little.
“You don’t have to say it like that, Kailey,” Emma said. “Jeez. Even for me that’s tough to hear.”
“Yeah, well for how wild Wes is, he wouldn’t do that to Aira,” Kailey said. “Sorry for saying it like that.”
“I don’t really care,” I lied. “I hope they have each other and fuck each other and everything else.”
“You don’t mean that for a second,” Charlotte said.
“Yes, I do,” I said.
I took one more drag of my cigarette and flicked it away. I had that down pretty sweet.
I turned and walked down the bleachers, my bag thrown over my shoulder.
“Where are you going?” Kailey called out.
“Have to talk to someone,” I called out.
It was my normal meeting with Miss Carson. To talk about my feelings. To talk about everything that had happened in my life. I thought I was done with her, but if I didn’t keep talking to her then I wouldn’t be allowed back into HCH. Which wasn’t the worst thing in the world. However, if I didn’t go to HCH then I’d have to go back to my other school. That meant living with Mom in her fake apartment. And dealing with all those fake people.
When I got to the bottom of the bleachers, I jumped off.
My feet hit the ground just as a football landed next to me.
I looked down at the ball and then forward to see Ryder running toward me. He was shirtless, his tan skin laced with sweat. When he noticed me, he slowed a little. His face still showed a little of what Wes had done to him.
Amazing to see the cocky jock flexing his jaw, pointing to the football next to me.
“How about a little help?” he asked.
“With what?” I asked.
“Toss me the ball, babe,” Ryder said.
Babe?
I looked down at the ball again and grinned.
I bent my knees and put my hand to the ball. I lowered my left shoulder and swung my bag around to the ground. I unzipped the front pouch and took out a small but capable knife. When I stood up, I had the ball in one hand and the knife in the other. As I jammed the knife into the football, Ryder’s eyes grew large.
“You’re a crazy bitch,” he said.
I crouched down and hid the knife in my bag.
I slipped my arm through the strap and stood up again.
The football was mostly flat by then.
I flicked my wrist and the football was more like a leather frisbee.
Ryder caught it and stared at me.
When I turned to walk, I saw Kailey, Charlotte, and Emma watching me.
This wasn’t my fault.
And plus, I had no choice.
I lost Wes, remember?
Now I had to protect myself… no matter what.
* * *
“We have about five minutes left,” Miss Carson said.
“I know,” I said. “I can read a clock.”
“Right. Aira, if I could say this, you seem different suddenly.”
“Suddenly?”
“You just seem… bothered. Irritated.”
“You win the grand prize,” I said.
“Aira…”
“What do you want from me?” I asked. I leaned toward Miss Carson’s desk. “My house burned down. Then I found out it was arson. And now… it’s been quiet. Did the police forget about it? Maybe they don’t care? Or maybe they know and my parents don’t want it out there. Oh, I like that one. Right? And then this place.”
I started to laugh.
“Let it all out,” Miss Carson said. “It’s not easy to be in your shoes.”
I lifted my left foot and put it on her desk, knocking her name plate out of the way.
“Flips today,” I said. “I’m going to go to the beach and waste the rest of the day.”
“That’s good,” Miss Carson said. “Believe it or not, relaxing like that is part of healing. It’s doing something important. When our bodies go through something tragic, it’s crucial…”
Miss Carson stopped talking.
“What?” I asked.
“You’re not hearing me, Aira. I can see it in your eyes. You’re not hearing a thing.”
“What do you want me to hear?
”
Miss Carson put her hands on the desk. “Okay. Fine. Everything is on the table. Well, the desk.” She smiled. I didn’t. “You and Weslee haven’t been around together. Not my business but it’s making you act differently. And you smell like smoke. You’ve started smoking?”
“Is that a problem?”
“It’s showing a pattern.”
“I didn’t start the pattern,” I said. “Remember that. I’m just working my way through it.”
“I’m supposed to be helping you.”
“I don’t need help,” I said. “You want me to talk about what happened with Mika. And I’m not going to do that. She got what she deserved. Whether I did it or not.”
“You realize the accusations between the two of you… how serious they are.”
“I’ve got the scars on my legs to know how serious it is,” I said.
Miss Carson sat back in her chair. “Aira, I don’t like this side of you.”
I slowly stood up. “Then do something about it. Tell Principal Henders that I’m unfit to be here. Send me to Tech like you do with the others that don’t fit the bill here. Or just kick me out completely. Call Julia too. Why not? Call my mother. See if you can somehow get her to put the wineglass down for a second to breathe. Oh, and if you really want, call my father. But be sure to let me know where he is now.”
Sadness washed over Miss Carson’s face. “Aira…”
HIDDEN CREEK DARKNESS: a hidden creek high novel Page 1