The Forest of Wonders

Chapter 1

"You’re not human! Who and what are you," I asked the mysterious woman harshly.

"There's not enough time to explain. We have to hurry or everyone here will die," the mysterious woman said solemnly. I glared at her.

"What do you mean everyone will die?! You just killed someone! I'm not going to trust you in wanting to help everyone," I yelled angrily and on the verge of tears.

"That person that I've killed wasn't human either," the woman said calmly.

I gasped and slowly looked over at the person she killed just minutes before. Where their body should've been, there were only ashes. I swallowed the lump that was in my throat. This can't be real, it can't!

"What do you want from me," I asked anxiously while I looked over at her.

"I need your help to save your friends and your town from a great and ancient evil. Only you can help them."

4 hours before

“During the Middle Ages, which was the dominant religion. Christianity or Islam,” I read aloud from my laptop. I looked over at my best friend, Montraie. The expression that he’s wearing makes me giggle to myself. Montraie snaps his attention to me.

“What’s so funny smarty-pants,” Montraie fake-glares at me. I stopped giggling and put on my most innocent smile. “Whatever do you mean?”

“You know what I mean. Stop playin.” I laughed again making Montraie smile.

“C'mon big guy, what’s the answer? We don’t have all day. The test is tomorrow," I said while making a show of looking at my watch on my wrist.

“Christianity,” he said like it was a question. I clicked on the screen and the answer was Christianity. “Ding Ding! You are correct! You’ll probably even score higher than me if you keep it up."

“I am going to score higher than you,” he made a show of tossing his kinky hair off of his dark-brown shoulders and rolling his eyes, mimicking me whenever I’m annoyed.

“MONTRAIE!"

We both broke out laughing. It was a few minutes before we came down and stopped laughing. This was going to be a productive study session.

“Ok, ok, now we really need to get serious before it hits 12. We only have two hours left for us to review an entire unit.” I looked up at him.

“We'll get it done, so don't worry. Plus we're going to be the only ones studying tonight. Everyone is going to the party.” He looked down at me with his dark-brown eyes.

"The one everyone was talking about," I asked. Today during gym everyone was talking about this party that's supposed to happen somewhere. But, I didn't pay attention to the details.

"Yup! Though I don't know if we're invited." He looked out the window glumly.

"Hey! It's alright! This means we got more time to study and a better chance of passing the test tomorrow," I said cheerfully.

He looked back down at me and smiled. "I guess you're right."

"I know I'm right! Now let's continue studying," I said while I clicked the next question on my laptop.

__________________________________________________________________

The moment it hits 12 Montraie starts packing up all of his school supplies and puts them in his bag. Hopefully, he makes above 40% this time. I was walking over to my desk when I heard a noise from Montraie’s phone.

DING! I looked over at Montraie when he pulls out his phone and starts reading the message.

“Sweet,” he yelled as he stared at whatever texted message he’d just received. I raised one eyebrow, questioning what’d he meant by ‘Sweet’.

“We just got invited to the party! The one that everyone’s been talking about! But no one knows still who the person hosting it is. I guess they want to be anonymous." I stared at him like he was crazy.

“No way. Uh uh." I stared at him with one eyebrow raised. “Some serial killer could be hosting it and we’ll never know.”

“C’mon Keish, everyone at our school is going to be there. And some people think the person who is hosting it attends our school.”

“‘Some people’ you say. And what if that person DOESN'T go to our school," I asked. I swear one day he’s going to get us killed. “You’re crazy if you’re just going to blindly accept some invitation to a party. Where is it anyway? I wasn't paying attention when someone said it.”

“It’s going to be at that abandoned building just outside of town. You know the one by the woods?”

“You done lost yo mind! Near the woods? That place is haunted!” I looked at him like he was crazy.

“C'mon Keish! Just this one time! I swear if we see or hear anything suspicious then we’ll leave. How bout that?” He looked at me pleadingly.

I stared at him for a few seconds, trying to contemplate what I’m about to do. “Fine. But if we see anything we are OUT,” I said finally.

“Awesome! C'mon now, let’s go!”

For some reason, I feel I made the wrong choice and that I’ll regret it soon. Let’s hope it’s just a feeling.