1.
Here we go again…
Ashley Brown AKA my best friend dragging me to yet another one of these little parties that her boyfriend Austin Blake and his friends like to throw in the woods. I don’t see the appeal in being dragged out of your warm cozy bedroom in the dead of night to the middle of nowhere to watch people drink until they can’t see straight around a bonfire in the woods. I mean it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that this entire situation could be potentially dangerous. Okay so I might be exaggerating the danger a little bit since the party is usually in the clearing far away from the trees so it’s not like they could burn the woods down or anything and there are usually quite a few sober bodies around to make sure things don’t get too out of hand. I still don’t understand why I have to be dragged out here when Ashley has an endless amount of people who would love to accompany her. Another safety measure if you can call it that, taken by Austin and his buddies is that these parties are quite exclusive. You can’t just decide to show up even though the clearing doesn’t actually belong to anyone and this is a free country. Back to my point though, Ashley would have no problem finding some other person who would actually like to be here around the young adult population getting wasted and partying till sunrise. She however is not the kind of girl you say no to. She is absolutely stunning. She is the kind of girl who will take your breath away with the first look and stop your heart with her smile. Her long auburn hair falls all the way past her shoulders to her lower back and is always in place around her heart shaped face. She has deep dark brown doe like eyes over a petite nose and cupids bow lips that always seem to be the perfect shade of pink. It’s no wonder that she and Austin are together. He is your typical beach blonde hottie with the chiselled jaw and a body to match. Both of them are popular in our little town and everyone likes them. They are most definitely not your typical queen bitch and bad boy combination. They are both friendly and caring to the point that they do volunteer work at every available opportunity from working down at the animal shelter playing with the animals, or the orphanage playing with the kids and even at the old age home entertaining the elderly. Now there’s me, my name is Katherine Johnson and I am in no way part of the popular crowd. As far as my popularity goes I am just Ashley’s friend that always tags along everywhere, willing or not. I have dark brown locks just past shoulder length and a slightly oval looking face. My eyes have a slightly Egyptian shape to them and are dark brown which no one ever notices underneath the nerdy glasses I am forced to wear. My nose is long and sharp and my lips are not very proportional with the bottom one being slightly bigger. I would say that I am quite an average girl that wouldn’t stand out in a crowd. Like the one I’m in right now. The clearing is filled with about 70 people of various ages all talking despite the music blaring from Austin’s truck and drinking and dancing. Most of them even look like they are having fun and I am out here sitting on the makeshift log seat and just watching as the group of people party the night away. Ashley disappeared with Austin some time ago and they’re probably making out somewhere. As you can tell parties are not really my cup of tea. I would much rather be sitting at home stuffing my face with chocolate covered strawberries and getting lost in my book of the week. Nothing overly interesting ever really happens at these things except one time when Jonathan Heyes got so drunk that he did quite the rendition of magic mikes famous dance to Pony butt naked. I suppose that’s not all that interesting but Jonathan is the captain of the water polo team and I must say if all else fails he could definitely make a living as a male entertainer. All in all it’s a pretty standard party I notice as I scan the crowd once again. This time though something or rather someone does catch my eye. There is a person standing off to the side away from the light of the bonfire also just watching the crowd. He doesn’t seem to be enjoying the party vibe either. The problem is I don’t recognise him from around campus. Everyone knows everyone at these little get togethers and like I said these parties are really exclusive so the mere fact that there is a stranger here is quite an anomaly. He seems to be surveying the crowd too. Not really interacting but not far enough away that it would seem odd unless someone was really paying attention to him. He is wearing a pair of dark swag pants and a hoodie that is covering his face but he seems to be lean like most of the guys here. Austin is a sports buff and captain of our basketball team and most of the people here play one or other kind of sport too. His gaze began to move in my direction and I quickly averted mine not wanting to get caught staring. I did watch him out of the corner of my eye though just to make sure he doesn’t try anything. I keep scanning the crowd but for some reason my gaze is constantly drawn to the dark figure at the edge of the treeline. He hasn’t moved since I noticed him and that must have been about an hour ago now. There is still no sign of Austin and Ashley and the drunken masses are starting to dwindle as it gets closer to dawn. Again my gaze betrays me but this time I’m shocked to see that the figure is no longer alone. From this distance it seems to be a girl but I can’t make out who since their back is toward me. The girl seems pretty animated in whatever they are discussing using wild hand gestures and constantly touching him but the hooded figure seems disinterested, leaning up against the tree with his arms folded across his chest. Suddenly he stands up a bit straighter and it looks like he is speaking now but I’m too far away to make out what he is saying to the mystery girl. The girl turns around in a hurry and storms off. I can finally make out that its Sarah Temple. She looks extremely annoyed by whatever the stranger had said and she seems to be a bit on the drunk side, stumbling back towards the party. Sarah is a pretty, petite girl with short blonde hair who has probably slept with most of the guys at this party. If I had to guess she probably made a pass at the stranger and is pissed that he turned her down. I watch as she goes and gets yet another drink to add to her already drunken state probably nursing her pride at being rejected and stumbles away into the woods. No one else seems to notice her disappearance and while this area is pretty safe I don’t think heavily intoxicated girls should be walking around alone in the dark. After a few minutes and she hasn’t returned yet and so I follow in the direction that she went off in. I know this seems like a stupid idea but I haven’t had anything to drink and like I said these woods are relatively safe. A few 100 metres into the woods and the noise from the party is a soft hum in the background. I try calling out for her but there is no response. I walk a bit further and it is deathly quiet compared the blaring noise my ears have adapted to in the past 6 hours or so. I still see no sign of Sarah and I’m just about ready to turn around and go back to get someone else to go and look for her. I am sure on of the guys wouldn’t mind and I’m sure she wouldn’t mind being rescued by someone who she can properly thank. I wouldn’t call Sarah a slut, she is one but I’d never actually say it. I am about to turn to head back when I hear the distinct sound of footsteps and then the cracking of a branch beneath someone’s feet. I hadn’t noticed just how dark these parts of the woods were despite it being close to sunrise. Every cell in my body is screaming for me to run and I feel the hairs at the back of my neck and arms rise. My blood is pounding in my ears and once again I find myself cursing at Ashley for dragging me out here tonight. To be fair though this is not really her fault. If I had just minded my own business and stayed on my log I wouldn’t be here right now in the middle of the woods where no one is coming to my rescue from whoever else is out here walking around. Hopefully it’s just some love drunk couple stumbling around looking for a quiet corner to get it on. I turn slowly and start walking back the way I came trying to ignore the prickling feeling covering my skin hoping that I’m not being followed by some crazy killer who has been dormant this entire time waiting for some unsuspecting do gooder to be walking around in the woods all alone. While I’m thinking about all of this I’m obviously not watching where I’m going and walk straight into something solid. I feel arms wrap around me to steady me and without even thinking I shove away from the person screaming and turn to run in the opposite direction but I don’t get very far. I’m immediately grabbed with my back pressed right back up against the solid body wall with one hand draped over my mouth and the other restraining my struggling body. As I’m trying to recall everything I learned at the self-defence class Ashley dragged me to a few months ago, I can’t help but notice that whoever this is smells really damn good and feels like they’re made of steel. Of course that’s the kind of thing going through my idiot head while I’m being held against my will in the middle of the dark woods miles away from any other people. God damn Ashley for forcing me out tonight and God damn Sarah for being a drunk bimbo and God damn my dumbass self for being so inquisitive. At that moment my leg swings and connects with something because I hear a muffled groan but the hold on my upper body doesn’t loosen an inch. Stop Struggling. I am not going to hurt you the mystery figure says and I thank God for his iron grip on me because that voice alone makes my knees weak. His voice is smooth like melted chocolate dripping over well pretty much anything really. It is rich and dark and makes my entire body break out in a layer of goosebumps with those few words. I mentally scold myself for getting turned on right now because what kind of demented idiot gets turned on in a situation like this. Nevertheless I stop struggling and he speaks again, I am going to let you go now. Do not run again and do no scream I promise I am not going to hurt you. Understand? I slowly nod my head as best I can and he releases me slowly as if he doesn’t trust me not to bolt the second I’m free. He lets me go but keeps one hand lightly grasped around my upper arm. He‘s smart I’ll give him that because truth be told the minute he let me go I was going to book it out of there like I had a killer on my heels. Dear God please don’t let him be a killer and please let me get out of this situation unscathed and I promise to stop eating chocolate for at least a week... maybe 2 days. His hand doesn’t allow me much freedom to move away from him and I feel him lean down behind me before I hear his smooth voice almost whispers in my ear; “You know little girls shouldn’t go off wandering in the woods all by themselves”. I felt a shiver travel down my spine at the words “and they should know better than to stare”. I immediately pull out of his light grasp and scoff at the audacity of him scolding me about the woods and about staring while my cheeks heated up at the fact that he caught me staring. I turn to face him with narrowed saying; “yeah well maybe some stranger shouldn’t follow said girl into the woods and act like some kind of serial killer, besides I was looking for someone’’. He started to say something but I cut him off saying “and I’ll have you know that I’m 5.6 which is in no way little”. Granted I had to say this while craning my neck trying to get a good look at his face as he towered over me. “Your drunk friend returned to the clearing a few minutes after you left into the woods all by yourself”. “Well firstly she isn’t my friend and secondly how do you even know what I was doing here anyway, I thought it wasn’t polite to stare” I levelled at him. He chuckled and my lower abdomen clenched, “it isn’t polite if you get caught doing it”. Even standing right in front of me the mysterious aura that surrounded him before hasn’t changed. I tried to inconspicuously peak up at his face to try and make out a few of the features but all I could see was an outline of what looked like a magnificent jaw which was currently clenched tighter than a nuns anus. I really need to get a grip on my body and my thoughts right now because this is becoming inappropriate. I have no idea who this lunatic is or why he followed me into the woods and I would like to get back to where the people were who I do know. I huffed and walked past him back towards the direction of the party. I could hear him mumble something about ungrateful little girls under his breath while he trailed behind me. As we got back to the clearing I spotted Ashley talking to Austin. She looked a bit dishevelled with her dress slightly skew and her once loose hair tied up into a neat pony at the top of her head. I walked up to them with the lunatic still trailing behind me. As I got there Austin and Ashley spoke at the same time; hey man guess you met Katherine, she’s Ash’s best friend said Austin doing that weird bro hug thing guys do and Ash saying, “I have been looking all over for you. Where did you two sneak off to?” with a little smirk in my direction. This was met by a distasteful snort from the lunatic which got him a slitted stare from me and then an exaggerated eye role towards Ashley. I answered Austin’s statement by simply stating that we hadn’t met and that his lunatic friend had followed me into the woods and almost given me a heart attack to which the lunatic himself as well as Austin laughed and said Nah he would never hurt you Katie, we go way back. That’s the point that it dawned in me that we hadn’t actually introduced ourselves despite our few minutes of banter in the woods. We were at boarding school together Austin was continuing to explain their friendship. Austin’s parents split up when he was younger resulting in him having to move to live with his dad who had won the custody battle at that time. His parent’s divorce wasn’t pretty and it left his mom heartbroken that he would be leaving too. His dad remarried a few months later and our lovable Austin was shipped off to boarding school somewhere in Miami Florida. As soon as he graduated from the school and hit the legal age he came right back to our town and swept my best friend of her dainty little feet and they have been together now for a year and some months. We all attend Southern Oregon University even though were all studying different things. Austin is on a sports scholarship and is studying sport management while Ash is studying somatology which let’s be honest is right up her ally, beauty queen that she is. I was always more interested in what makes people tick so I’m a psych student which makes me somewhat qualified in my statement that mystery guy whose name I still don’t know is a certifiable psycho. Looking at Ash I beg with my eyes as I say can we please leave now that the sun is actually making an appearance and she agrees. She and I share an apartment about two blocks from campus making it easy for us to get around without having to travel too far. Austin lives not too far from us in his own two bedroom apartment since his last roommate graduated last semester. After bidding farewell to Austin I turn to the stranger and say well this has been fun but seeing as I’ll probably never see you again I hope you figure out a different approach into meeting new people other than stalking them through the woods. He smirks and it’s a bit unnerving that I haven’t actually had the chance to see his face since he still has on his hood. Austin laughs explaining that he’s one of the new recruits to SOU’s basketball team and that he’s his new roommate so we will be seeing a lot of him, myself especially since he’s studying psychology as well. In fact he’s going to be in all of my classes. I feel the colour drain from my face at that information and watch his smirk get wider as if he notices too. Wanting to get out of there before I say some other stupid things I say well then I guess I’ll see you around completely forgetting that I don’t actually know his name. He watches me struggle for a bit and then reaches out a hand saying Caleb Campbell with that stupid smirk that I want to slap off for the second time in two hours. I shake his hand reluctantly and look to Ash asking if she’s ready. Austin and Ashley are staring at the exchange between me and Caleb and both of them are wearing the same dumb facial expression. My first instinct is to deny and squash whatever dumb thought is going through their heads but I remain silent not wanting to breathe life into their unspoken idiocy. Any way I’m sure cocky Caleb will have some comment to make if I do say anything based on his response to Ash’s earlier question which I subtly avoided. With one last kiss goodbye to Austin, Ash and I make our way through the clearing to where my car is parked just beyond the treeline on the opposite side of the clearing. I drive red a Hyundai I20 and I absolutely love my car. I don’t drive much due to the fact that everything is within walking distance around here. We get in and in a few minutes were on our way home.
