*** in the Dark

We hurried into the trees, juggling torches and water balloons. I had already fallen and popped two balloons, that’s why I was in the lead shining the beam of light over the leaf littered ground.

I looked back over my shoulder. Marty was behind me, closely followed by Kassidy and then Danny. They all had sly little smirks tweaking the corner of their mouths. I laughed internally. I couldn’t wait until we found Riley and Johnny. I could picture the scene in my head.

I grinned as we crept and weaved through the trees, our footsteps quietly rustling the fallen foliage.

Suddenly I stopped. I felt Marty bump into me.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, concern coating his voice.

I didn’t reply.

“Jada?” he asked, coming to stand in front of me and placing his hands on my shoulders.

I looked at him and saw the worry on his face.

“Sorry,” I said, “I thought I heard something.”

The look of worry faded and he hugged me tightly to him, kissing the top of my head.

“You and your overactive imagination.” He said laughing.

I poked my tongue out at him.

“Hey what’s going-”

But Kassidy was cut off as we heard a rustling to our right. Slowly we turned in the direction of the noise. I could feel Marty’s heart beating as I pushed my head against his chest. The rustling came again and I heard it skip a beat.

I bit my bottom lip and prepared for the worst as a shadowy figure stepped out in front of us.

“ARRGH!” screamed the figure as it appeared in front of us.

We screamed in unison, Kassidy, Danny and Marty dropping water balloons and me the torch.

Just then we heard tinkling laughter.

“I got you guys so bad!” laughed Belle.

We all looked at her, pouting, arms folded.

“What?” she asked innocently shrugging.

I rolled my eyes and turned to the other three. They were all surrounded by little coloured bits of plastic and puddles of water.

I giggled. They all looked like they’d peed themselves.

With this thought I bent and picked up the torch. It flickered eerily. I hit it on the palm of my hand. After a couple of whacks it shone strong.

“What are you doing here anyway?” I heard Danny ask.

Contempt lightly coated his voice. I sighed, knowing that this could lead to a fight.
I looked up at Belle who put her hands on her hips and said:

“Actually I’m looking for Nicole. Chandler was getting worried.”

“Oh.” He replied.

I felt relief flood me and mentally thanked Danny for biting back whatever retort he had in mind.

“Well I better be off.” said Belle, waving.

“We’ll come with you.” I said, not liking the idea of her wandering by herself.

“Nah, it’s ok, I’ll be fine.” She replied, shrugging.

I frowned but didn’t argue further.

We watched as she walked away, fading until she was nothing more than a wandering shadow.

We continued on our way, constantly scanning the trees so as to make sure no one else snuck up on us. I felt a little less enthusiastic about this idea of murder in the dark right at this moment. I moved with extreme caution as if there was a psycho out there instead of my best friends. I slowed down a tad and matched my steps with Marty’s. I entwined my fingers in his, shining the torch with the other hand, illuminating the knotted trunks of the ancient trees. Marty walked close to me and his nearness was a big comfort. I mentally chastised myself for getting all jumpy. There was nothing to be afraid of out here. Belle had just played a trick on us, there was no need to get worked up.

“Hey guys.” called Kassidy, “can we stop for a bit?”

“Yeah sure.” I replied.

We found a large gnarled oak tree. We all sat on the contorted roots and chatted for a while.
Just then the torch started flickering again. I furrowed my eyebrows and smacked it against my leg, but the flickering continued. Frowning I gave up and let my arm hang by my side.
Just then though, a scream riverbed through the woods. The four of us exchanged frightened glances and scrambled to our feet.

So we ran, kicking up leaves and twigs, me in the lead, my torch bright and shining.