A Night at the Lake, Lucky 97 [top ten ebook reader .txt] 📗

first reaction to that plan was of sheer incredulity. There is no way I could ever get past Birdie. She had eyes in the back of her head.
Then I remembered that Birdie always snored like crazy at night and she probably couldn’t hear anything besides a freight train when she was asleep. However, there was still Mom and Dad to consider.
“Come on, Gwynn,” Wendy urged, shaking my arm, “it will be fun. Don’t spoil the fun.”
Adam was just looking at me with a small smile. “If she doesn’t want to do it she doesn’t have to. Maybe its not a great idea anyway.” I could tell that last part was only said to make me feel a bit better.
It was those words that immediately made up my mind. I had to go to that campfire.
“I guess it will be fine,” I mumbled, to the cheers of my sisters. I found it amusing that they were so happy over my consent, even though they would have went with them anyway. I tried to tell myself I was just going so they wouldn’t get into trouble. The attempted self-delusion didn’t last for very long.
“Meet us at the edge of the forest,” Jared instructed, “them we will all walk together to the cliffs.”
We all agreed, then Mandy, the twins, Lilly, and I headed to our rooms. I needed to take a long nap, because I felt like I wouldn’t be getting a ton of sleep tonight.
“Gwynn! Wake up!”
I groaned turning and slowing opening my eyes. Everything before me was blurry and distorted.
Mandy was shaking me like a rag doll, bright-eyed and ready to go. I sighed, blindly stumbling to my feet. As my eyesight came back into focus, I caught a glance of myself in the mirror. Wow, I looked bad.
“Hurry, there’s no time to waste!” she urged, “It is almost time to meet them!” I shoved her away and began to do my hair. I am going to look presentable this time around.
However, I only got so far with that plan before Mandy pulled me over to the door. We were careful to not disturb anyone, trying to step lightly. “Why didn’t you wake me up earlier?” I hissed.
“You looked so adorable, I couldn’t bear to wake you up until now,” she teased, slowly opening the front door. “And I didn’t want you to stress about it. You are really cute when your hair is flying in all different directions, even if you don’t think so.”
My hand flew to my head, trying to smooth the parts that were sticking up. At the very edge of the forest, I could see the group already there and waiting on us once again. Wendy and Carrie were laughing.
“Nice hair,” Carrie winked at me. I blushed, scrambling for a hair tie in my pocket. As we began walking, I tried to braid it, then gave up and put it in a low bun.
After a little bit of walking, we reached a small clearing. From this point we could see the outline of the rocky cliffs in the distance, but it was far enough away to give me relief. There was a small fire burning in the middle of the clearing, Mark and Adam tending to it carefully. “We have s’mores, guys!” Adam held up a bag of marshmallows and graham crackers.
We all settled around the campfire, each of us holding a long wooden stick. Lilly sat with Aaron, Wendy and Carrie both pounced on Jared and Mandy was basically sitting on Mark within minutes. I just sat away from these pairs, awkwardly twirling the stick in my hands.
“Hey.” Adam sat down next to me, holding a big bag. “Want a marshmallow?” Wordlessly I took one, offering a smile as thanks. “So how has your year been?” he asked, leaning back and staring at me with his big brown eyes.
“It’s been pretty boring. Nothing much has happened so far.”
“Any boyfriends?” he inquired slyly. Every year he asked me that same question.
“No.” I began to hold my marshmallow over the fire. “What about you?”
“No, not anymore,” he replied. Shocked, I let the marshmallow dip towards the fire, and the golden flames began to wrap around it. On instinct, I shook the marshmallow furiously, causing it to drop into the fire altogether.
Adam was laughing when I turned to look at him with the biggest puppy dog face I could. “Could I grab another one?” I asked, and he laughed even harder.
“I couldn’t refuse you,” he grinned, handing me a gigantic marshmallow. I started to wonder if he was up to something. He was staring at me in a strange way, and it scared me.
Mandy and Mark soon got up and headed into the forest, holding hands. I stared openmouthed after them. I always knew Mandy was fast to fall in love. At school, she would meet a guy one week and date them the next, jumping like a rabbit between boys. But this? This was just ridiculous.
They didn’t reappear, even after my watch clicked past the twelve, then the one. At first, I didn’t care. I was chatting with Adam, who was actually paying me more attention than he usually did. Our collective voices got louder and louder, reverberating throughout the entire forest. The white moon smiled at me along with the twinkling stars. To me, the night was just getting brighter in every way. I had never had so much fun in my life.
CRACK!
We all heard it, every single one of us. All at once the brightness around me dimmed, dashed by that one sound. Someone was here. Someone was in the forest was looking for us, and stepped on a branch. Alarm filled my heart.
It was then that the fact that Mandy and Mark were still gone hit me. “Mandy?” I called softly, staring into the trees, “Mark? Is that you?”
No response.
“Whose there?” Adam called, his voice echoing through the forest. Once again, there was absolutely nothing. It was then that the fear built in my heart.
A sudden, forceful wind swept through the area, swirling the leaves around us. In a single instant, the fire was blown out, immediately turned into a bunch of ashes. “This isn’t funny,” Jared said, holding both Wendy and Carrie’s hands. My sisters were about to cry, burying their heads into Jared’s shoulder. Lilly and Aaron were frozen.
“Seriously,” I said loudly, “please come out.” It was hard to act brave in front of Adam, who was looking at me with such an expression.
The wind picked up, throwing the leaves into our faces and almost knocking me over. “Adam,” I said softly, stepping towards him.
CRACK!
We all jumped. “Mom? Dad? Birdie?!” Wendy cried, tears falling from her face. Adam had a resolute expression on his face.
“We can’t wait for Mandy and Mark,” he said, “maybe we can meet up with them later.”
“We have to!” I begged, all of my inner emotions at that moment pouring out of me at once. Raising my hand to my face, I realized that I was crying.
There was complete and total silence for a minute. Every second felt like a millennia.
CRACK!
This sound was so close that all of us were even more startled. As the wind began to get progressively worse, Adam grabbed my hand with a sudden ferocity.
“Run!” he yelled, racing with me in tow away from the loud noise. The others, not following us, scattered in different directions. When we finally stopped, it was just us, the trees, and the cliffs about five hundred feet away. We were totally alone.
It was then that I noticed that he was still holding my hand. I leaned back, as if to escape his grasp, but he only tightened his hold. My heart began to beat ferociously in my chest. “Gwynn,” he said my name, breathing heavily. I waited for him to say something else, but he didn’t.
“They left us! Why didn’t you tell them to follow us?” I asked breathlessly.
“I didn’t think about them,” Adam replied, frustrated. He seemed to be waging a war within himself. “I was only thinking about you.”
My heart stopped completely.
“I really like you,” he rushed his words, almost to where I couldn’t understand him. I was in total shock. There was no way Adam was confessing to me.
But the strangest thing about it all was that he was.
Now he seemed to be scrambling to choke out the words. “It’s okay if you don’t like me,” he said, “I know you might still be mad about when we dumped you into the lake. I know it’s pathetic, but I couldn’t help myself. I’m sorry about all this. I just really wanted to tell you.”
I stared at him for a minute, still in open-mouthed disbelief. Then, as I gradually got ahold of myself, I gave him the best smile I could muster under the circumstances. “You don’t know how happy you just made me feel,” I whispered, staring into his eyes.
“This is all my fault,” he said sadly, staring at the ground. He didn’t seem to have heard me over the wind. “If I had agreed with you, we wouldn’t be here right now. I was just so eager… I really wanted to talk to you.”
“Me too,” I said loudly, so he could hear me. “I like you too.”
“W-what?” A look of pure incredulity came over him, “You like me t-too? W-what?” It seemed like he hadn’t even considered that possibility. Laughing through my tears, I raced forward and gave him a hug. This was the happiest feeling in the whole world. Adam liked me.
As we gave each other stupidly happy smiles, a piercing scream echoed through the forest. “Lilly?” I called, recognizing her voice. The fear returned completely, overwhelming the both of us in seconds. Adam broke away from me, staring in the direction of the scream.
“I have to go help her!” he said urgently, turning back to look at my face. “Stay right here, and don’t move.”
“Please don’t go,” I begged, trying to grab his hand, but he had already disappeared. “Don’t go,” I repeated sadly, almost as a whisper to myself. I was totally alone.
I felt myself grow dizzier. Adam told me not to move, but I started shifting away towards the edge of the forest. All I wanted to do was to escape the trees and the darkness.
The wind picked up, blurring my vision along with my tears. All I could see was the darkness, the terrible darkness.
“Adam!” I called once more, but there was nothing in response. Everyone was gone.
Before I knew it I was out of the forest, standing near the rocky edges of the cliff. I could see the dark waters far below me, the light from the moon reflected mutedly. I stood over the waters, fright searing through my veins. Rational thought was pointless. I was so lost, so far away from reason.
However, the ultimate shock was yet to come. I could feel it.
Ultimate despair was the last emotion I experienced before a pair of hands pushed me forward. My feet left the ground, then it was over.