Chapter 1
I was ready. After all this time, I was finally ready. My resolve was hardened, and my bag was packed. I hadn’t forgotten anything. I took a deep breath…
And that was when I realized I had forgotten my phone and rushed back upstairs to my room, groaning and grumbling to myself the whole time I did so. That got even worse when it turned out my phone wasn’t even in my bedroom - it was in the bottom of my messenger bag the whole damn time. Grumbling to myself once more, I made my way downstairs.
Just as I made it back to the first floor, I heard the sound of a car honk, and bolted for the front door. The bright blue minivan was waiting for me in my driveway.
Gemma Robinson, my ‘point of contact,’ as she so eloquently put herself in our video call the previous week, was just getting out of the front-passenger seat. The girl looked like a supermodel from a magazine ad, with glossy tan skin and perfectly-fitting clothes, and when she smiled at me, I felt my heart skip a beat even.
“There she is, the woman of the hour!” Gemma said, which just made me feel even more warm and fuzzy on the inside, “Good to see you again, Chilly.”
“Great to see you too, Gemma.” I said, reaching out my hand in preparation to shake hers. I was completely thrown off when Gemma instead threw her arms around me, though at least she couldn’t see my face getting hot by doing that.
“Whoops, sorry!” Gemma said as she let me go, “I was just excited to finally meet you in person.”
“All good.” I said as the other two guys got out of the car and I got a chance to get a good look at them. The first one that approached me, the driver, was a pale dude wearing sunglasses, so I couldn’t really see what his face looked like, but his hair was shaggy, and dark brown.
“My name’s Lucas,” he said, putting his hand out, “Nice to finally meet you, Gemma has been talking - “
Before he could finish, he was cut off by Gemma elbowing him in the side, cutting him off and causing him to let go of my hand.
“And my name’s Devan,” said the other dude who had been in the van as he hopped out too, “Gemma’s brother and all-around nobody, as you can see.”
“If you’re nobody, then how can I see you?” I asked as I shook the man’s hand. His hair was dark brown, similar to Gemma’s, but he was darker-skinned than her, and had stubble. I had to admit, he was kind of cute.
“Good one.” he said as he stepped back and Gemma threw one of her arms around my shoulder.
“Guys, this is Chilly Clarke,” Gemma said, “See, I told you she wasn’t actually a fifty-year-old man Lucas, which means you owe me twenty buck. Pay up!”
Lucas grumbled as he pulled open his wallet and passed her a bill, as my confusion boiled over.
“Gemma, we talked on video call, why would you…?”
“Wait, what?!” Lucas said, “You never told me that Gemma! Give me my twenty back!”
“Thanks Chilly, that was the easiest hustle of my life.” Gemma said, though she kept a smile on her face as she slapped the twenty back into Lucas’ hand. I chuckled it off and hopped into the back of the van as Devan motioned for me to do so, tossing my backpack on top of the others in the back of the van and shifting my bag into my lap.
“Uh no, I’m sitting with the cool goth girl,” Gemma said as Devan started getting in the back with me, “You can take shotgun up front.”
Devan exaggeratedly snapped his fingers in defeat, but he didn’t fight it as Gemma hopped into the back with me and Devan took the passenger’s seat. With one last look at my house, the van pulled out of my driveway and sped on down the road. I pulled my phone from my purse and sent a text to my mom, just as I told her I would.
Heading out. See you when I get back on Monday. Love you!
“So… Chilly,” Devan said, “What did you do to get a name like that?”
“Murder.” I said as I slipped my phone back into my messenger bag. After a second of silence, I laughed and said, “Just kidding.”
“Ha ha,” Gemma said, “But hey, I’m curious too, where does that name come from? It’s not your actual name, right?”
“Nah, my real name’s Chelsea,” I said, “But I’ve always loved dressing dark, and dark things, like horror movies, ever since I was six. My friends used to joke that I gave off chills whenever they saw me, and then they started calling me ‘Chilly Chelsea.’ I loved that nickname so much, I made them start calling me ‘Chilly’ all the time.”
“That’s amazing.” said Gemma, “I wish I could get a cool nickname like that.”
I laughed, and pulled out my phone to check the text I got, which was obviously from my mother.
Ok, see you!
I put my phone away, not expecting any less from my mom. She was always bad when it came to texting.
“So, how long is this drive gonna be?” Gemma asked, “I’m excited for Terror Con.”
“Time difference from New Bishton to Boston is about three hours, since I don’t like driving on the highway,” said Lucas, “Devan’s gonna swap with me when we get into Massachusetts.”
“Cool.” said Gemma. From there, it was staring out the window as the van drove on.
I knew we were gonna have an issue when the car started shaking, only a tiny bit. Everyone else in the car figured out something was wrong when the car started shaking violently and the horrible sound of metal on pavement, the clear indication of a flat tire.
“That doesn’t sound good,” said Devan, “Lucas, buddy, you might want to pull over.”
“On it,” said Lucas as he drove to the side of the road, stopped the car, and started to get out along with Devan, while Gemma and I stayed in the back seat and pulled out our phones without even being prompted for it. My heart dropped when I saw that there weren’t any bars for service.
“No service.” Gemma said before I could, which definitely didn’t help matters for me, since if we both didn’t have bars, that meant that it was likely that the dudes didn’t have any service either. Gemma glanced over at me, I glanced back at her, and the two of us got out of the car as Lucas stood back up from the front right tire.
“Tire’s ripped to shreds,” said Lucas, “The rims screwed up too. I would just ruin the wheel, but since we’re on the side of a cliff and all, that means that we could go over or flip the car if I can’t overcompensate properly.”
He motioned off as I looked down the road. I could see what he meant, especially when I saw the side of the cliff off in the distance. Of course, that also left us with not that many options.
“So what else can we do?” I asked.
“We could walk,” said Devan, causing me to shudder a little, “I mean, it’s probably only a couple of miles to the next rest stop, it’ll suck but it won’t kill us.”
“Ugh.” I couldn’t help but groan at the idea of walking at all, especially since I wasn’t the most athletic person in the world. My legs were already starting to cramp at the thought of it.
Standing besides the car forever wasn’t an option either, so I went back to the car so I could grab my messenger bag, while Gemma did the same with her purse, Devan and Lucas got their backpacks and we started walking down the side of the road, leaving the big blue van behind.
“I’ll have to call for a tow company when we get somewhere with a goddamn signal,” said Lucas, “I swear to god, if someone finds it first and steals anything, I’m gonna…”
He trailed off, and honestly, all he’d really be able to do anyway would be throw fits or something, even though he looked like a 5’11 powerhouse of a twenty year-old man.
“Hey, didn’t you say it was going to be a while before we got anywhere?” Devan asked.
“Yeah, why?” Lucas asked.
“Then what’s that?” Devan asked, motioning to a professional-looking dirt road that led off into the woods.
“That… doesn’t look suspicious at all.” I said, “We don’t even know where it goes!”
“It looks like someone’s keeping up with its maintenance,” said Gemma, “We should be fine. Maybe it’ll lead to a ranger’s station or something.”
“I’ve seen enough horror movies to know that a dirt path off into the woods isn’t the way to go,” I said, “Frankly, I suggest we turn around, go back to the car, and take the risk of ruining the wheel or going over a cliff.”
“We’re not doing that.” said Lucas, “I’m not that good at driving.”
“Then why don’t we just keep walking along the road?!” I said, “We have options, you do realize that, right?”
“Let’s just do this.” Devan said, “This isn’t a horror movie, we’re not about to get attacked by a serial killer. Let’s take the dirt road and just get this over with.”
I was outnumbered three to one, so I just shrugged and followed along, keeping an eye out in the tree lines just in case. It was a good thing I did too, since I was the first one to see the silhouette of a man approaching us.
“Someone’s coming!” I said, nudging Gemma and pointing at the figure in the distance. Gemma’s eyes widened, and the dude stepped in front of us, protective men-like, as the man finally came into view. He was wearing jeans and boots with a button-up gray shirt with a leather strap over it, but what really set me off was the fact that he was really tall, towering over all of us, almost seven foot. Also, the fact that his eyes were blood red.
“What are you folks doing out here?” the man asked. There was something about his deep voice that sent a chill down my spine, and not in the romantic way or anything.
“Our car got a flat on the side of the road.” said Lucas, looking like he was sizing up the man in front of him. Not to say that Lucas looked weak or anything, but this man would have flattened him in a second.
“Aw, that’s too bad,” said the man, “Hey, we got a little community over yonder ways. Why don’t you all come there and we see if we can help you out?”
My eyes widened. I tried to subtly shake my head at Devan and Gemma, but Devan didn’t see it in time, or didn’t care what I had to say.
“Sounds good,” said Devan, “Do you have cell service there?”
“Unfortunately, no.” said the man, “But we have a couple of landlines we could use to call you a tow company or something. But before we go anywhere, why don’t I get your names?”
“I’m Devan,” Devan said, “Devan Walker.”
“Name’s Lucas Molson.” Lucas said.
“Gemma Robinson.” Gemma.
I stayed silent. The man turned to me, and now that his attention was on me, I felt even more scared than I had before.
“May I have your name too, my dark mistress?” the man asked.
“I’m using it, so you can’t have it. You can call me Chilly,” I said coolly, “And what should we call you?”
It was like the man’s wide grin got even wider.
“The name’s Elias,” said the man, “Elias Story. And what does a cute little nightmare like you have to do to get a name like Chilly? Are you a missus of the night or something?”
“Are you implying I’m a vampire or a hooker?” I asked, “Because either way, you’re dead wrong. I just… like looking this way.”
Elias laughed, and the others laughed with him. This time, I didn’t feel like I was a part of the joke.
“All the same, let’s get going,” Elias said, “It’s gonna be dark soon.”
“It is?” I said. When I looked up, to my shock, he was right; the sky was darkening, but that didn’t make sense, considering it should still be relatively early in the morning.
I suddenly had an even worse feeling in the pit of my stomach.
(I hope you enjoy a taste of what’s to come in this preview, my darlings! Some old friends might even make appearances in the future of this story…)
