Chimera

Chapter 3

I woke up a few hours after we all said goodnight. Don’t know if it was because of the hard floor or the sounds of the woods, but I struggled to sleep for longer than I did. I rolled around for a bit hoping that sleep would claim me, but nothing came. Maddy woke up not long after me and made her way out the tent.

“Hey, where are you going?” I asked sitting upright in the sleeping bag.

“I need to use the loo.” She said as she exited the tent. “Be careful” I whispered as I started putting on my sneakers and hoodie so that I can sit outside around the camp. I unzipped the door of the tent and made my way out, catching a glimpse of Jax sitting by the fire. His eyes caught mine as I zipped the door shut behind me.

“Couldn’t sleep?” he asked when I sat down on one of the chairs. I shook my head as the fire started warming my face. “Yeah me neither. It takes some time to get use to nature. It’s so beautiful and peaceful but at the same time kind of eerie, don’t you think?”

“Nature is always amazing. I think we aren’t used to the sounds at night. But I get what you are saying. It’s almost as if the forest is more alive at night.”

“Yeah, something like that. Like you are always being watched.” We fell into comfortable silence as my eyes drifted to the dancing flames. The white and orange colors intermingled with each other, embracing each other as heat radiated off their dance. I was so entranced with the fire that I didn’t notice Jax standing right next to me with a cup until he cleared his throat.

“Here, thought you could use something hot.”

“Thanks.” I took the cup from him and smiled as the scent of coco filled the air. When I opened my eyes, Jax sat next to me, looking at me intently. Almost as if he was taking in every detail of my face. His eyes were so hypnotic that I couldn’t look away. Not that I wanted to. His gray eyes, dark blond hair and his chiselled features made him look a lot like Travis Fimmel in the light of the fire. His hand reached out and tucked a stray hair strand behind my ear.

“You have the most amazing eyes,” he whispered moving closer. His hand caressing the back of my neck as he drew me in closer. His lips felt warm and soft on mine. The kiss was tender and filled with longing. The eagerness and the wanting for more ended as sounds came from the tent which Tish and Munroe shared. We broke apart laughing knowing exactly what they were doing inside that tent. Giggling to myself, I took a sip of the cocoa Jax gave me. My lips still tingled from the kiss and the heat from the drink matched the flush traveling towards my cheeks.

“Oh, for Pete’s sake! Could you two give it a rest already? Some of us are trying to sleep here!” Chad’s head popped out from the tent as he looked over towards the shag shack. Muted laughter surrounded the tent and campfire where Jax and I enjoyed the night. It wasn’t long before something else woke up the entire camp. Something none of us ever expected.

A scream echoed through the forest and ice filled my veins.

“What was that?” Tish asked as she made her way from the tent.

“Did you guys hear that?” Ronnie asked as the rest started pouring out of their sleeping cocoons.

“I don’t know, but it sounded close.” Jax replied trying to look into the darkness past the trees. Another scream filled the air and a realization dawned on me.

“Where’s Maddy?” everyone looked stunned and started calling her name. We grabbed some flashlights and teamed up in groups, heading into the woods to go look for our friend.

Hours went by and the sun came over the horizon, but Maddy was nowhere in sight. We decided to regroup at the camp and make a plan to find Maddy. At the camp, we made breakfast, but everyone just picked at the food. No one could really eat with the thought of Maddy being missing in a supposed haunted forest. We split into teams again, each guy would accompany a girl and head into a direction. Deciding that we will meet in three hours and share what we found. Jax decided to join me and Chad as he didn’t want me to go with him at all saying that he didn’t trust anyone with Chad, not even himself. We walked around the woods, calling Maddy’s name in the hopes that we would find her, but the woods remained empty of any such sight.

“So, what lip action did I witness last night between the two of you?” Chad asked Jax thinking that I couldn’t hear.

“It was none of your business, that’s what.”

“Oh, come now, you can’t leave me hanging.”

“I like her okay. I like her a lot, and I don’t kiss and tell.”

“Okay, if I’m not going to get any details from you, maybe I should go ask Raven.”

“If you even just look at her the wrong way, I swear Chad I will knock your teeth so far down your throat, you’ll be shitting in Morse code.” I had to stifle a giggle at the mere thought of it. We continued walking around and calling for Maddy. A nervous feeling filled the pit of my stomach when no answer came. A while later, we came across what looked to be a bunker of some sorts.

“Must be military,” Chad spoke more to himself than us.

“How would you know?” Jax asked a bit on the defence.

“How many times have you came across a bunker in the middle of the forest that wasn’t military issued?” he countered, and I must say that he had a point. As we were about to open the bunker door to see if Maddy might have gotten lost and hide in here, shouting and screaming could be heard. Abandoning the bunker idea, we ran in the direction of the noise. We came to a screeching halt near the riverbank and saw the rest of the group huddling around something. We pushed our way through, but the sight we found made me sick to my stomach.

There, lying on the cold ground, soaking wet, was Maddy’s body. Blood across her head, color drained from her face, and her cold soulless eyes staring into the abyss. Her body was contorted in strange angles as if she went into spasms when she died. Something about all this made my stomach turn as I went to heave into one of the bushes. The bile burning my throat as it made its way out my mouth. I couldn’t control it as tears started streaming down my face. I was struggling to breath when a hand brushed my back. Looking up I saw that Jax was standing there, waiting for me with empathy in his eyes. I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand as I got up and went into his open arms. He held me tight, stroking my back, while I cried into his chest.

I don’t know how long he held me, but when I was cried out, Jax took my face and kissed me gently on the forehead, whispering gently “I’m so sorry,” as his lips lingered on my head. I could see that he had also been crying, and I knew that he was also feeling the grief. He knew Maddy for about as long as I did. She was my roommate for the last two years, and apparently, she and Jax have had a couple of classes together during that same time. She was actually the one to introduce him to our group.

“We need to get help.” Tish spoke in broken words as she wiped her eyes.

“We can’t just leave her here,” I spoke moving forward wanting so hard for Maddy to wake up.

“We don’t even know what happened. It could have been an accident.” Chad piped up and I noticed by the high pitch of his voice that he was trying so hard to hide his emotions.

“She was missing for most of the night! We searched the banks and didn’t find anything. Maddy wasn’t here, and then suddenly she showed up? What part of that makes you think it was an accident?” Ronnie yelled hysterically.

“I don’t know, maybe because we are the only f**k nuts in this f*****g place!” Chad yelled back as he turned away from the group.

“Guys! C’mon, this isn’t the time or place to lose our heads.” Logan spoke as he put himself in between his sister and Chad, knowing fair well that Ronnie will kick his ass.

“Logan’s right, let’s take her to camp and decide from their what we gonna do.” Munroe spoke also stepping forward trying to defuse the situation. They guys stepped forward and picked Maddy up gently while we all walked towards the camp in silence. As we arrived, the guys placed her body on a fallen over tree trunk. I couldn’t move. My eyes kept going all over her face trying to figure out who the hell would ever hurt Maddy. She was a kind and gentle soul, with a playful streak that she’d only show if she was comfortable with you. Ronnie came past with Maddy’s sleeping bag. She unzipped the bag fully and draped it over the lifeless body.

“Can’t just leave her like this. Besides, seeing the body like this, just gives me the creeps.”

I nodded and followed her back to the camp center where everyone was already sitting and fiddling. When we arrived, no one said a word, but everyone looked at me as if they wanted to say something.

“What?” I asked grabbing an open seat.

“Why did Maddy leave the camp?” Logan asked as he sat on the opposite side of me.

“She said she wanted to go to the loo,”

“And you didn’t think to go with her?”

“What are you implying?”

“Are you suggesting Raven had something to do with this?” Jax asked getting defensive. I was taken aback from the allegation that I would even attempt to hurt one of my friends.

“It just seems weird that she was the last one to see her alive-” Munroe chirped but Jax hushed him up mid-sentence.

“I also saw Maddy leave the camp and I didn’t stop her. Are you suggesting we killed her and made it look like an accident?” anger flushing his tanned face.

“Jax and Raven were busy making out when Maddy disappeared.” Chad spoke up and everyone looked at him stunned. I could feel my face heat up as eyes traveled from Chad to Jax to me.

“How would you know?” Logan asked defensively.

“Because, I saw them in a tight lip lock while you two-” Chad replied as he gestured to Munroe and Tish, “were shagging up the camp. Seriously guys, why the hell would you ever think Raven had something to do with her roommate and friend’s death?” silence fell as the rhetorical question hung in the air. Around the camp, everyone dropped their eyes to the ground not wanting to meet my eyes. I wanted to cry. I wanted to cry for the death of my friend. I wanted to cry from the sheer frustration of not knowing anything, but mostly I wanted to cry because my so called ‘friends’ suspected me of foul play. Jax rubbed his hand on my back and kissed me on the temple. A silent way for him to tell me he’s here for me. We all sat in silence for a while until I couldn’t handle it anymore.

“Where are you going?” Jax asked as I got up from my chair and walked towards our tent.

“We need to get help.” I responded as I pulled my phone out and looked at the screen. No Service. Great! Just our luck. Frustrated, I flung the phone back into the tent not caring if I ended up breaking it at this point. Jax was at my side in an instant holding my face in his hands. He whispered a soft ‘It’s okay’ as he lowered his head for a quick kiss. I didn’t want the kiss to end, but it felt awkward when I knew that everyone was watching us. Jax must have felt it too as the kiss lasted just a few seconds. He put his arm around me and pulled me into his chest as he turned around to face everyone else.

“Does anyone have signal?” he asked, and I watched everyone scramble to find their phones. One by one, they typed on their phones, waited and watched then dropped it back down, shaking their heads.

“We need a new plan.” I replied thinking.

“Well, if we can’t get the police here, then maybe we should go to them?” Ronnie mumbled and I must say it wasn’t a bad idea either.

“Do we pack up and all leave or what?” Tish asked looking for confirmation.

“I think half should go and the other half should stay here.” Jax spoke and I could see a plan formulating.

“Do you think it’s safe dude?” Logan asked with fear in his voice.

“I think that if the half that goes brings the police back, then they would need to know where we were so that they can start an investigation.”

“What about Maddy?” Tish asked wondering who will go and who will stay.

“Take her with us.” Munroe began and before anyone could object, he validated his reasoning. “I’ll drive to town with her, considering it’s my Van, so that they can already start the investigation and autopsy if needed.”

By the lack of objections, I knew that this would be the plan forward.

End of the preview.

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