UNKNOWN

By the time I stepped outside, the leaves were on fire. I had wanted to come out just before sunrise, but I was a little late as the sun was already shining across the bright leaves. It made the forest look radiant and alive. Just staring at the beauty, I couldn’t help but feel at peace.

 This is why I came up here with Amy and Lillian. The beautiful fall reds and oranges and the fresh crisp air helped clear my mind of the stress of the semester. Amy’s family was amazing for letting us use their log cabin to get away from everything. It was far enough away from everywhere, that I could breathe and yet close enough that we could go shopping if we wanted to. I am so glad it is only Friday morning and we have until Sunday evening when we have to reenter the world.

Amy and Lillian were still inside sleeping, so I decided to make breakfast. Eggs, bacon, pancakes, and orange juice. One of my favorite meals to make and then devour. Soon my two best friends were lured like zombies into the kitchen; the smell of bacon filled the cabin. I laughed as I am pretty sure I saw drool forming at the side of Lillian’s mouth.

“The food is almost done, why don't you two get ready?” I suggested causing them to quickly turn and sprint back out of the kitchen. Who knew that the thought of fresh breakfast could make someone move so fast?

The beeping of my phone called for my attention. I clicked open the notification of a new text message. It was from an unknown number and chills spread over my arms as I read it.

UNKNOWN: I hope you made enough bacon for me.

ME: Who is this?

My heart seemed to speed up as I stared at the phone. Who would know I was making bacon, we were in the middle of nowhere. Better yet, how would they get my number? I only give it to a select few. A pop from the frying pan pulled my attention away from the mystery and to the bacon which was ready to be flipped.

A few minutes later, I had set the table and was sitting waiting for the girls when the phone beeped again.

UNKNOWN: It’s your bro, Aaron. Got a new phone and wanted to have some fun.

ME: Lol. Of course, it's you. How did you know I was making bacon?

I rolled my eyes as I sent my response. Only he would get a kick out of trying to give me a heart attack, but I guess that is what twin brothers are for. I quickly updated his contact on my phone with the new number and my phone beeped once more before I could turn it off.

DOUBLE A: I am your twin triple A. Wouldn’t it be insulting if I didn’t know that Bacon is your favorite breakfast food?

ME: Hmm, you gotta point. What ya doing right now?

DOUBLE A: Aww you know, just chilling with the guys, talking about which one of you guys is hotter.

ME: Do I want to know the consensus?

DOUBLE A: Probably not, though I disagree with them.

ME: Lol, don't you four always disagree?

DOUBLE A: Normally. Well, guys are calling.

ME: K, see ya in 3 days battery.

A loud bang broke the silence and was quickly followed by Lillian declaring, “Amara! I am here and ready to chow down.” She tore into the dining room and swiftly moved into the chair on the other side of the four-person table.

“No fair, Lillian tripped me!” Amy shouted as she raced into the room glaring daggers at Lillian.

“Why, I have no clue what you are talking about?” Lillian responded with a hand over her heart like she was offended at the idea of her ever doing such a thing.

I shook my head at the two’s antics. They literally do this every morning, even at the dorm on campus. “Ladies, ladies, please. There is enough food for everyone so we need not act like a pack of hyenas.” They started chowing down after rolling their eyes at me.

I put my phone down and Lillian asked, “Who were you texting?”

“Just my brother,” I said shrugging.

Amy perked up at the mention of my brother and said, “What's he doing?”

“Ya know, hanging with the guys doing guy things and chatting about us apparently,” I said with a small eye roll.

Lillian’s shoulders tensed a bit, but I didn't think much of it as Amy commented, “Wow, your brother and Lillian’s boyfriend. I can't imagine the stories they are gossiping about right now.” Lillian muttered something about an x, but Amy and I didn’t hear her as we laughed at the thought. The rest of the breakfast was spent with amicable chatter.

Throughout the day, my phone beeped a few times, but I ignored it. Probably just my brother goofing off or my mother worrying about one thing or another. Maybe I should tell her that I am fine, but I already told her about a bajillion times. Guess you just can't calm a mother’s worried heart.

After going on a hike, we decided to go swim in the beautiful lake. Yes, it was fall and cold, but we had a heater and blankets inside for when we got cold. “So Amy, when are you going to tell us who your new boyfriend is?” I asked her while treading water waiting for Lillian.

“When we decide it is time to tell you guys. We want to wait until we know it’ll work.” Amy said, nervously biting her lip.

“Ooooh, is it someone we know then?” The widening of her eyes was all I needed to shout, “Hey Lillian! Amy’s new boyfriend is someone we know!” I looked toward the beach to see Lillian’s reaction only to see her looking at her phone. She had actually been on her phone quite a bit today. I rolled my eyes and shouted “Lillian, come on! The phone will be there when we get out.”

“If you are chatting to that boyfriend, then be prepared to give us the goods.” Amy quickly added, causing Lillian’s head to whip up. Then she ran toward us, grabbing a water gun on the way. “RUN!!” was all Amy had to shout before both of us started to swim away and evade Lillian.

After all getting soaked from shooting each other with the water guns, dunking each other, failing to get on the floaties, and just normal swimming we decided to finally head inside. The second I left the water, I realized just how cold it was and we all found ourselves laughing, somewhat manically, as we ran up to the house.

“Man! I can't believe Friday is done! I thought we just got here and a third of our weekend is already over.” Amy complained as we dropped onto our individual bean bags in the movie room.

“I know right, I wish we never had to go home. If we could just stay like this, just the three of us, no boys and no drama, it would be great!” Lillian added.

“Hey it's not over yet, we still have the best part of the night, popcorn and a movie!” I exclaimed as I pulled my massive popcorn bucket onto my lap. We were all feeling horror, so we decided to watch The Strangers. There were a lot of screams and jumps, but luckily not too much popcorn was lost.

After the movie, Amy demanded that we watch another movie as she wouldn’t be able to sleep. We all agreed after Lillian managed to scare Amy just by tapping her shoulder. Amy’s scream caused me to scream, so after some hysterical screaming and laughing, we were all up to watching a nice Disney movie.

I checked my phone as they picked and it started to play. My mom most certainly had been worrying too much and my eyes rolled as I read her Messages.

MOM: I know you’ll make bacon, so remember to not pour water on the oil. 

Also don't forget to wear your good shoes.

Don't forget the bug spray.

Don't stay out too late swimming.

You're not responding to my messages, are you ok?

If you don't respond, I am going to come.

Amara! I am serious, respond!

Her last message was only 15 minutes ago, so I might have time before she jumped in the car.

ME: Mom I am ok!

We were just busy all day, don't worry.

MOM: Ok, glad you are ok. Going to bed, text me in the morning.

It took her literally 5 seconds to respond. I guess I should probably respond next time or she’ll think I died or something.

DOUBLE A: See ya!

PS, mom is going crazy, you might want to respond to her.

Please, she is starting to drive me crazy.

ME: Sorry Bro! Yeah, I responded to Mom, she is kind of a worrywart.

DOUBLE A: Yeah, but that is what we love about her.

PS, Glad to know you are alive, now mom will stop blowing up my phone. 

ME: Aw, always so selfless.

DOUBLE A: Always.

Goodnight.

ME: Goodnight!

I laughed as I messaged him and then turned to the final message bubble. I frowned when I saw it was another unknown number. Chills ran down my spine as I read the messages. My eyes read them over and over.

UNKNOWN: Hello.

A beautiful fall day isn’t it?

I am sure you can get the mud off of your nice white shoes, not sure why you wore them today.

I see you, but you don't know the truth.

You will soon.

ME: Who are you?

My stomach twisted and clenched as I stared at my phone. This had to be a joke. I stared, waiting for a response. My phone remained silent. Who was it? What did they want? Some part of me started to wonder if this was a bad idea, coming to the middle of nowhere by ourselves.

I was pulled out of my thoughts when the horrible sounds of my best friend’s singing filled the air. I looked over to them and shook my head while smiling, maybe it was nothing. Just a prank. I pushed the fear away and joined my friends in singing.

Saturday flew by just as fast as Friday had. Although, this time I made sure to respond to my mother so she didn’t get worried as much. Just laughter and smiles filled the day until my phone beeped as I locked the front door in the evening.

UNKNOWN: Is it safe?

My whole body froze as I stared at the message. It was the same number as yesterday. Amy walked around the corner and froze when she saw me. “What's wrong Amara? You look like you have seen a ghost.”

Unable to speak, I simply looked down at my phone and she ran over to look. Her eyes widened and I could tell she read the messages over and over before finally looking back up at me. “Who is it?”

I shook my head slowly as I looked back up at her, “I don't know.” A lump settled in my stomach, the feeling that this was a bad idea returned. “Where is Lillian? Maybe we should head back early.” Amy nodded, but her words were cut off as a scream tore through the air. My feet were moving toward the stairs before I even registered what it meant.

“Lillian! Where are you?!” Amy shouted as she followed me upstairs. There was no response, so we ran and opened the door to her bedroom. There was a red stain on the pillow of the bed and the curtain was blowing in the open window. Lillian wasn’t anywhere.

“Amy, I think we need to get to the car.”

“What about Lillian? We can't just leave her here?” Amy’s scream was hysterical.

“We don't know where she is, maybe we can call for help in the car,” I suggested while somehow holding onto a shred of calmness. I quickly moved to the front door and opened it. My heart froze as I stared at the empty spot the car used to be. My phone beeped and I looked down.

UNKNOWN: Forget the car, it's time to play a game.

I slowly shut the door and backed away after locking it. We were trapped. We would never make it out of the woods. It wasn’t possible. Everything seemed to be going so slow and yet time seemed too short. I looked back at my phone and responded wetness slipping down my cheek.

ME: You are insane! What have you done to Lillian?

UNKNOWN: You will see.

Lights out time!

Amy was staring over my shoulder and our eyes only had time to meet before everything went dark. Silence filled the air, I wanted to scream but I couldn’t seem to. The only light was from my phone and another beep brought my eyes down to see a single word.

UNKNOWN: RUN!!

My heart started beating faster and turned my phone flashlight on and turned around. At first, there was nothing. Then the beam fell onto a shadow in the back corner near the kitchen. Something was glinting in the shadow’s hand. My legs quickly carried my legs away and up the stairs as my hand grabbed Amy’s hand dragging her with me.

The light was waving everywhere as I dashed away. As I ran up the stairs my foot caught a step and my chin hit the wood. Everything went foggy until I felt a hand grab my foot. A scream filled the air as I kicked. I felt something cold drag along my leg before I managed to get free and climbed the rest of the stairs.

Amy ran into my room and I quickly followed her. We shut the door and locked it before backing away. “You can run and hide, but I will get you!” A familiar female voice shouted from the other side of the door. It couldn’t be her. Why?

My eyes flew around the room and landed on a dresser on the same wall as the door and I quickly moved over to push it. There was pounding on the door, but I ignored it as I tried to block it. Amy was sitting on the bed staring wide-eyed at the door. She was muttering things, but none of it made sense.

Finally, I got the dresser in front of the door. Before I could step away, there was a splitting noise and a shiny object was directly in front of my face. I screamed as I leaped away from the door. A thunk on the ground brought my eyes down to my fallen phone. I wanted to tell her. I lunged forward and grabbed my phone and found my mom’s contact.

ME: I love you.

That was all I said and then I sent the same message to my dad and brother. How could we get out? I needed help so I typed in a number and put the phone to my ear.

“9-1-1, what is your emergency?” said a calm voice over the phone.

“She is attacking us. I don’t know why. She has a knife.”

“Where are you, mam?”

“Cabin 16 in Lake Ridge Forest.” 

“Help is on the way, what is your name?” Before I could respond, there was a crash from behind me. I swung around and from the light of my phone flashlight, I saw a figure in the window. My body instantly leaped into action as I ran and grabbed the dresser. Amy was next to me and together we pulled it away and slipped out the door, the phone forgotten.

Footsteps followed behind us and then a scream. I turned to look and couldn’t see Amy. I couldn’t see anything, but then there was more screaming. I should've run, but instead, I moved to the bedroom door next to mine. I felt as if I was walking in slow motion, I didn’t know exactly what I would see and I most certainly wasn’t prepared. The screaming ceased, and soon a soft dripping noise replaced it.

As I looked in all I saw were shadows until a phone screen lit up. Its light was right in front of Amy’s face, the shadows making her look like a zombie. Her eyes stared lifelessly at me. My eyes drifted up and I saw the light glinting on something in the hands of the woman crouching over Amy. I ran. I turned and ran toward the stairs, I needed to get away from her. Footsteps behind me. Heart pounding.

I made a few steps and then a weight pushed into me and I went flying. Everything was fuzzy as I lifted my head up only to see a foot next to my face. I rolled away and something cut into my side. Another scream and I scrambled to my feet trying to run. A hand grabbed my hair pulling me back to the ground.

I kicked out. Something made contact and I was released. I moved again for the door. Sirens. Help was coming. She tackled me back to the ground before I could make it. We wrestled around, but it ended when pain erupted from my shoulder. I couldn’t move it as I found myself staring up at my attacker.

I could see the blood on her face. Blue and red lights started to shine through the window making her seem more demented. I knew her, but didn’t. She pulled the blade out of my shoulder before more pain filled my chest. Cold soon followed as light filled the room from the door.

A whisper left my red lips, “Lillian, why?”