Hushed

Chapter 3: Into the Woods

    I didn’t know what I was thinking, it seems like every bit of logic has completely left me. The envelope had so much reason for me not to do this but as expected from the one brain cell left in my mind, I’m doing it anyway.

    First reason, it was placed in my bag because I don’t know who. Could be a stranger, which is really impossible since I know everyone who lives in the town. They may not know me, but I know them.

    Second reason, the content. The content itself shouts, nay, screams not to do this. Third reason, my gut feeling. My gut tells me not to do this but guess what, I’m doing it.

    A sane person won’t even do this. Should I just go back? No, I’m already here. I should just keep going and run when I’m in danger. Right, run. Running is the best option, unless I’m being chased by a lion in which case, I should just accept my death. Maybe the lion is good, then I should be happy but what if he’s hungry?

    I’ve been walking through the woods for a few minutes now but I still can’t find anything peculiar.

    There was enough light for me to see where I’m going but I still managed to trip which was indubitable since I haven’t really paid much attention to where I was going.

    My body trembled when I felt the sticky feeling and smelled a metallic aroma. I screamed at the top of my lungs when I saw his lifeless eyes staring back at me. It was John Harden, one of the school bullies and in the senior basketball team.

    My senses came back when I heard someone call out. “Is anyone there?” He asks, flashing his light from different parts of the place. There were two of them, coming on my way. I moved quickly so that I won’t get caught.

    “Another one?" I heard a police officer say as I hid behind a tree. “Stabbed multiple times,” another officer said. It would be really bad if they catch me here, lurking around where a dead body was found this late in the night. With all the things that are happening, I wouldn’t want to be on the police’s list of suspects, not that they had any.

    After what felt like eternity, Mr. Howard arrived; he’s the father of my friend Mikaela and the lead detective on the case. I peeked through the tree as he got out of his car. He examined the body for a while and said, “Keep this a secret. I don’t want anyone knowing about this. People might panic.”

    This is the second one this week, third this month. I saw how the first one died. The whole town was celebrating the town’s anniversary while a few of my classmates and I sneaked out by lighting a huge bonfire. No one else heard the screams because of the noise they made.

    I’ve been on all three incidents; it’s surprising how no one has suspected me yet.

    “Take the pictures and examine everything as fast as you can. I want that body removed right away. Check the surroundings make sure that no one saw this," he added and left.

    The cops started walking around, their flashlights shined in different parts of the woods. I held my breath as my heart started to pound and hid the knife in my pockets. ‘No one should know that I'm here’ I mumbled to myself. 

    I froze when I heard a cop walking towards me. He was walking at a slow pace as if he knew that someone was here. "Come out," I heard him whisper. I need to think of something before I get caught. Should I just run?