Forest Secrets

“How did you -?” I stammered trying to wrap my head around the situation.

“STAY AWAY FROM ME!” Josh shouted grabbing his notebook and taking off in the other direction.

Standing there shaking and thinking about what just happened I was taken by surprise when Andrea came up behind me and tapped me on the shoulder.

“Is everything okay?” She asked as I shook out of the daze I was in.

“Did you see any of that?”

“Yeah, what was up with him?”

“I’m not sure but what he was drawing really freaked me out...” I turned and sat down on a bench with my head in my hands, the fresh image of the drawings still stuck like glue inside my mind.

Andrea sat down next to me, “What did he draw?”

I gulped in a breath of air realizing she still didn’t know about the memory that was stuck in my past. I slowly began my story, starting out with my abusive father and what he did to my sister and I and then finally got around to mentioning the night my father died.

“Does anyone know that you’re the one who made the chandelier tumble?”

“No, I told the police it fell on its own that maybe there was a loose wire or something our landlord didn’t get around to looking at.”

“And ever since then you’ve been able to do those....things. How do you think Josh knew about all that, I mean you said he drew it very detailed.” She wondered becoming interested in the situation.

“I have no idea, but I’ve been drawing him too; surrounded by fire. Even before I knew who he was, and you said something about him being in a house fire as kid.” Things where slowly starting to fall into place.

“Yeah, both of his parents died in that fire. Wait, you’re not thinking that maybe he has the same thing you have going on and started that fire? Because as strange as it is, it would make sense.”

“I have to find out! He took off that way, towards the west forest. C’mon!” I got up and started walking as fast as I could towards the forest, as I recalled the forest was only a few blocks away.
“Wait! Don’t you have another class to get to?” I heard Andrea huff out from behind me, I did but it was only an elective class.

“Hurry!” I felt like something was pulling me back from going to the forest, but I knew that’s where my answers would lie. Despite all the random warnings I had received I ignored them and pushed my way onwards.

As I neared closer and could see the entrance I spotted Josh lurking around some bushes, as soon as he saw me he scurried into the shadowy lonely forest.

“Are you sure we should be doing this, it doesn’t feel safe at all.” Andrea muttered as she caught up to me breathing heavy.

I shrugged and started making my way into the forest, the world behind me seemed to disappear the further I descended. It was like my entire life was being built up to this moment, this true moment of ultimate freedom.

‘You must turn around.... you cannot be here.’ Hissed a voice from the back of my mind, as soon as I heard it I got a nauseous feeling in the pit of my stomach, everything was becoming foggy and heavy.

“Are you okay?” I was hunched over, my head between my legs feeling like I was about to vomit.

“Get her out of here. Now.” Josh muttered through gritted teeth a few feet away from us.

Andrea immediately lifted me up and slid an arm around my shoulder and assisted me out of the forest. As soon as I was away from the darkness the feeling of sickness and dread lifted off of my shoulders and I felt like nothing had happened.

“Huh?” I muttered standing up straight. “Did you feel that?”

“I feel fine, I’m more worried about you; what happened back there?” Andrea asked me as we crossed the street and waited at a bus stop to go back to the dorm.

“I’ve never felt so sick and disoriented in my life.” I reflected kicking at a small pebble under my foot.

“Josh practically screamed at me to get you out of there, there’s something strange about him like he’s keeping something from you.”

“I need to find out, it’s weighing on me.”

“We’ll figure it out some other time, c’mon the bus is here.” She replied as it pulled up almost right away.

****

“Extra gravy please.” I told the cook who was making my poutine for me for dinner, Andrea rolled her eyes and took a sip of her Pepsi.

“I don’t get how that’s enjoyable.” She laughed sitting down at our usual table.

“You can move out.” I said with a straight face but ended up bursting into laughter. Andrea giggled and started picking into her perogies and chicken fingers she was having.

“So what are we going to do about Josh? He clearly knows something about you, and you clearly know something about him. Are you going to confront him or keep letting him treat you like dirt?”

“I’ll give it a few days…he clearly didn’t want me in the forest, but something else told me to keep going and I would have if I didn’t feel so sick going in there.” I replied finishing my dinner and taking out my cell phone to check my Facebook. “I still haven’t gotten a reply back from that weird message I got the other day, they haven’t even read it yet.”

“That’s so strange, I wonder if it was Josh who sent that.”

Just then an angry Samantha ran up to our table practically screaming at us. “What’s this I hear about you little sluts partying with MY boyfriend the other night?”

“Someone’s actually dating you?” Andrea laughed taking a sip of her drink.

“Hahaha, so funny; I found out from Jordan’s phone that you two partied with him and Matt the other night!” She yelled at us, which made me laugh harder.

“Well considering we didn’t know he HAD a girlfriend, you should probably be talking to him about flirting with other girls. Considering it takes two to tango; if you know what I’m talking about.” I laughed winking which made her even more upset.

“You whores SLEPT with him?”

“Oh god no, just saying before you come yelling at us; maybe you should be thinking about what he did.”

She groaned loudly and ran off to her friends who instantly turned around and glared at us, and Andrea shot up a peace sign for good measure.

“Well he wasn’t lying about having a girlfriend.”

“Yeah, after we turned him down.”

“Alright, I’m done here; I need to go get started on my stupid essay.” Andrea groaned getting up to leave. I followed her out of the cafeteria and as we turned a corner I saw Josh talking to someone quietly about something. As he noticed me the person he was talking to pointed me out and nodded.

Andrea noticed it as well and nudged my side, “That was odd.”

“Very, who was that he’s talking to?”

“I have no idea but he seemed suspicious.” She said as we reached the elevator, we walked in and pressed the button which closed it abruptly.

It stopped at the second floor and we saw the same guy that Josh was talking to earlier get on, he was dressed in a suit and tie which was strange for a college setting after class hours; me and Andrea looked at each other but didn’t say a word. The man just took one look at me and had a sly smile on his face.

“Are you Jewel?” He asked reaching into his coat pocket slowly.

“Yes… why do you ask and how do you know my name?”

“This is for you, don’t open it until you are alone.” He handed me a sealed envelope and gave a glance at Andrea to hint that I needed to be really alone.

The elevator stopped at our floor and we got off, the man just nodded his head at me and glanced down at the floor until the elevator door closed completely shut.

“I am not opening this alone, you already know everything.” I whispered to her as we walked to our room fumbling with my keys.

I wasted no time opening the letter, like the last one it was typed and printed out on a computer and had an eerie message.

‘You disobeyed our warning, which is not okay; you were warned to not enter the forest. The feelings you felt where for a reason to keep you away from the secrets. But, since you are curious and we know you will continue to try to go back; you may but you have to know of the consequences. Do not stray, go as soon as you discover your past and his. You have until months end.”

“My past AND his.” I repeated to myself knowing exactly who that meant.

“You and Josh I’m assuming.”

“Yep.” I muttered. “I guess I have no choice but to talk to him.”

I opened up my laptop and sat on my bed, I went to the school website and checked if their where any updates from any teachers; I saw one from Mr. Armstrong.

‘Partner Lists’, Wow it was up already; I scrolled down the list and saw that my name was next to Joshes.

“Of course!” I replied pretending to be surprised at the outcome. “You’d never guess who I was paired up with for this project.”

“Well it will give you a good opportunity to figure things out with him.”

I read the instructions on the assignment and it said to email our partner as soon as they got assigned and a list of emails for each student. I held my breath and composed a simple email to Josh only pertaining to the assignment and nothing else.

Hey Josh, it appears we are partnered for the assignment. If you have any ideas of what we should do get back to me and we can set up a time to meet up, I know it’s not due to the end of the semester but I would like to keep the procrastination to a minimum this time around.

Thanks, Jewel Hamilton.

“Is this okay?” I asked Andrea before nervously reaching over to the send button.

“Yep, straight to the point nothing else mentioned. Send it.”

I closed my eyes and pressed the send button, and anxiously waited for a reply.

“You know, he’s not going to reply if you keep staring at your email.” Andrea laughed, and I just sighed and turned off my laptop.

“When do you have class tomorrow?” I asked her going through my clothes to pick out something to wear to bed.

“Not till noon.” She replied stretching out on her bed happily.

“Same.” I turned on a show on my phone and started watching until I fell into a deep sleep.

*******************************************

It must have been around 3 am or so when I woke up suddenly, I had fallen asleep with a heavy sweater on and was sweating. I sat up and looked around, it was dark but I felt like I wasn’t alone in the room.

Getting up slowly I still felt eyes watching every move I made and walked over and opened the fridge and grabbed some juice.

I decided to check my email and noticed that Josh had replied to me, at around 1 am when I was already asleep.

‘I noticed that we were partnered, which is a huge coincidence. I figured we could meet up maybe Wednesday and discuss what to do for the project. I also have something else I need to talk to you about…. Here’s my number, text me tomorrow since its late and you’re probably sleeping right now lol. 734-232-5321.’

I smiled slightly at his message and that he left me his number, but also worried for a moment that he needed to talk to me about something but I already in the back of my mind knew what it was about.