Song of the chapter is All is Lost by Katie Garfield

-27-
-Veronica D'Rosario-
-Present-

_______________

Wentworth Woods
1 December, 2019
3:56 pm

"So, you had a dream."

I said as we walked through the dirt road leading up to the backwoods. A scent of magnolia and mud gushed in the atmosphere. The pitter patter of the rain echoed all around, accompanied by occasional thunder. The rain was still comparatively less and thus, we could continue on our way.

" A nightmare." Moose mumbled , looking at his feet.

" I don't really know the difference." I said, my voice an echo in these silent woods.

I watched him from my peripheral vision, seeing wisps of his raven hair flying atop his head.

" What do you mean?" He asked.

" I almost never dream and when I do..." I paused , looking at him,
"  Let's just say, things get pretty ugly."

He gulped and nodded. It's weird but I hope he understood.

" What was the dream about?"

" Uh...well, it started out all right. It was kind of like a memory in the form of a dream." He said.

" That sounds nice." I whispered, my voice in tune with that of the soft breeze.

I looked at him again. His face looked so angelic , soft and sweet, just like his true self. His softest green infused with caramel eyes darted at me and a slow smile etched on his face.

" Until , it was not." He laughed, but it was short, barely honest.
" I saw us all. We were back at school, in the detention room on the night that she went missing."

I sucked a deep breath.

" We were all laughing and playing that stupid game. And then all of a sudden.... everything turned black. I could hear screams,.... Alishka's screams. She was begging us all to help her. But none of us moved. The dream just turned into a nightmare in seconds."

I looked at him sadly. He looked traumatized and his eyes had a twinge of grief and guilt in them.

" Moose...it was just a nightmare, okay? There's nothing you could've done." I reassured.

" Yeah... I know....but ever since she was found dead.... I always had this thought, you know. What if....we could've done something? What if we could've saved her? Things would be so different now." He said and sighed.

The wind whistled around us, it's gust moving through the trees' leaves to make a harmonious melody. I shivered slightly.

" Maybe we could have. But Moose,.... there's no going back now , is there? What's done is done. We can't fix it. What we can do....is save the lives of those who are with us now." I replied.

He nodded slightly and looked at me, " Yeah, you're right. I don't want to deal with any more deaths either."

I smiled slightly and mouthed 'same'.

We walked through a patch of vines, moving the low branches that could potentially smack us in the face. As we reached a clearing, Moose said, " What exactly are we looking for here, Ronnie?"

My brows creased. " I don't really know.... I just had this hunch that if the guy that she was planning on escaping with, wanted to make a quick getaway, then he would've probably took the gravel road for a short cut. They would want to be as inconspicuous as possible and get out of the town fast, right?"

" Right, but what are we going to find here now? I mean, this happened a month ago. I don't think there will be any traces of his car's tires or even if there were, it would probably be covered by autumn leaves." He replied.

" No...we aren't looking for the car traces. We are looking for the place that he actually killed her." I said as another shiver went down my spine.

He took a step towards me, his brows creasing, " What?"

" Moose...do you remember what Detective Gomez said on the day when he announced they found her body? " I asked. His face showed no signs of recollection so I continued, " He said that Alishka was tortured for two weeks and then killed and buried in Oakwood beach on the 13th of November. The police found her body on the 14th. And they told us on the 15th."

He nodded slightly. " So you're saying....that the killer actually tortured and killed her here?"

I heaved and nodded. " It's a possibility."

He gulped and sighed.
" Wow...okay so you think his secret hideout might be here?"

" Yes. Think about it, Moose. Why would the person kill her out of town and then come back to town and then bury her here? It just doesn't make sense for them to do so much work." I said.

"Yeah....but then again, Ronnie, we are dealing with a psychopath here. He could just be lunatic enough to do that." He reasoned.

I nodded, " I know. But I can't overlook the possibility of his hideout being in here."

" Fine then, let's look around. Maybe we'll find something." Moose said and touched my arm. I gave him a tight lipped smile.

As we walked through the dirt pathway covered in leaves and broken twigs, Moose handed me a flashlight. Both of us turned them on, shining a light on the path ahead of us. The sky was getting darker by the moment and thunder cackled loudly in intervals.

As we walked through the forest, I could still vaguely see the road beside us, but we were deep enough to look for clues. Both of us walked in silence, the only sound heard was the crisped leaves being crunched under our feet.

I eventually started to wander behind, shining my flashlight at anything and everything when I suddenly lost balance and stumbled upon something.

" Ow!"

Moose turned around, only to find me on the ground, having tripped.

" Hey, you okay?" He asked, lifting me up.

" Yeah , I'm fine." I said, brushing my hands and the sleeves of my flannel. I looked back to look at what I tripped over. So did Moose.

" Wait-....is that-?" I asked, not wanting to ask my question.

" I'm not sure." Moose said, as he hunched down to take a closer look at the object.

I passed him some gloves which I had in my pocket and he put them on, shoving the leaves away so he could see the object.

A gleam of silver caught my eye sticking out of the dirt, it was almost a large square metal object.

But before one of us could take the object out, the loud sound of thunder boomed and the sky lit up , helping me see what were actually stepping on. And even though my eyes widened at that, my scream remained guillotined in my mouth.

A long trail of dry blood, seeping under the autumn leaves....

_________