Chapter 8 – Chap 8

7:40 am. Thursday morning. The destined meeting between three very different students. The quiet kid, the outcast, and the mourning cheerleader, all bound together by the death of a jock who tried to hide a love of the occult.

Needless to say these were not happy circumstances, nor were they normal ones. Yet as much as none of us wanted to be there, it was the situation we were unfortunately stuck in.

I was the first to be in the spot of the meeting place outside of the auditorium. I figured that it would be smart to be the first one there in order to be the medium between Josh and Amy, who, as far as I knew, were total strangers to one another. Josh was the first to arrive after me. He quietly stood in the corner with his arms crossed until Amy arrived just a few minutes later. I gave her a nod as she approached as Josh stepped away from the corner and closer to her, uncrossing his arms as he did so. I eyed him suspiciously while I introduced the two classmates.

“Josh, this is Amy,” I said, “Amy, Josh.”

Josh smiled when he made eye contact with Amy.

“Do you really want to do this out here?” Amy asked while looking up the hallway.

Though there weren’t that many students sitting around, there were several that would cross through every minute or so. While what we were planning wasn’t as elaborate or illegal as some master heist, it wasn’t something we wanted to be discussing out in the open. Especially considering the chances were quite high that we could be overheard by one of Ronnie’s friends.

“You’re right,” I agreed. I cracked the auditorium door open to peek inside. The room was a pretty typical auditorium. It had rows and rows of decrepit brown chairs, much like a rundown movie theater would.

The chairs would squeak unbelievably loud when an attempt was made to put them down in order to take a seat. This meant that, at the start of every assembly held in the room, a brigade of ear piercing squeaks would drown out the sound of anything and everything being communicated. The chairs all faced the giant stage that leveled off about four feet above the ground.

We decided to have our discussion on the stage, as it was the furthest area away from the main entrance. Students weren’t supposed to be in the auditorium without permission for obvious reasons. Being on the stage, we would be able to hide behind the curtains if a teacher walked in. It was also better than sitting down in one of those chairs and having the obnoxious squeak of the chairs alerting a teacher that we were there.

“So,” I said once we got situated. I meant to say more but I didn’t really know what words would fit the situation. Thankfully, I didn’t have to.

Perhaps sensing the uncomfortability of what we found ourselves in, Amy took the lead.

“You said you’d pick us up on Saturday. What time?”

“It should be late,” Josh finally spoke, “It’ll be creepier that way.”

I hadn’t told him that Amy was a friend of Ronnie’s. I especially didn’t tell him that she had wanted to be more than friends at the time of his death. Thankfully, Amy didn’t show if she was offended or not.

“Good point,” she said, “Those woods are crawling with spooky lore, night would be the best time to go.” She was playing it cool.

I looked at Josh to see what he’d say, only to see a familiar look on his face. See, although Josh and I’s relationship was rocky at best at this point in time, we were once inseparable.

He was my best, and oldest friend. That meant that I came to know him well, in some aspects better than he knew himself. By this I mean in his quirks and mannerisms. I’m sure he was in the same shoes, only pertaining to me instead of him.

One of the things that I knew for a fact that Josh was very bad about was falling for someone too easily. It didn’t take a whole lot of attention or friendliness from a girl for Josh to develop a crush, especially if the girl was rather attractive. I had seen it happen several times throughout our friendship, and I grew to recognize a specific look on his face and in his eyes when it was happening. And on this day, I saw that look once again.

Any doubt that I would have had in that Josh was on the onset of a crush went away with one look at Amy and the situation. Amy was agreeing with Josh about the occult, something that he was very passionate about. Also, as far as he knew, she knew something more about the death of Ronnie. While this did turn out to be true, with her being the very reason Ronnie went to the woods, it most definitely wouldn’t be what Josh was expecting. Lastly, Amy was a very attractive girl.

All that together made Amy, in Josh’s mind, not really knowing her either, Josh’s perfect girl. I knew that I’d have to pull the rug out from under him and get the ball rolling again.

“How does eight work for you guys?” They both nodded.

“Good,” I said, “Then is there anything else the two of you think we need?” “Like, aside from flashlights and stuff, right?” Josh asked.

“Right,” I confirmed.

“Honestly,” he said, “I think we’re good. We’re just gonna look around and go to the spot. In and out.”

“Great,” I said, “Then I’ll see you guys on Saturday.”

And with those closing remarks, our little group disbanded.

Do you ever wish that you could freeze a certain moment in time? A moment that you almost want to treat like a ship in a bottle, you just look at it, never daring to linger too long. Or maybe you’d rather re experience it, like watching a scene from a movie over and over again.

For me, this is one of those moments.

The three students that dared to walk along hallowed ground. That was what this was at the end of the day. Just three kids getting involved in something bigger than they had anticipated.

I know I said before that this all began with Josh sliding me those papers in the lunchroom, but it was the Saturday that the three of us went to the woods that truly intertwined my fate with that of Josh, Amy, and Ronnie. We were about to find out so much more than we had hoped for.

My palms were still shaking due to nerves as I sat down to take my picture for my drivers license. Thankfully, I had passed. The only real problem I got marked off for was parallel parking, which the instructor said was “passable.” Needless to say I was in no position to complain.

Although my mother sat in the passenger seat, it was a very independent feeling being able to drive home for the first time. In large part because, although my mom was there, I knew that now, with a license, she didn’t have to be.

Hours came and went until it came to be that, instead of my mother in the passenger seat, it was Amy, with Josh sitting in the back behind the driver’s seat. I had told my mother that I was going back to Kas’ house, she was under the impression I was hanging out with that group again. She said that it was nice that I was making new friends and said only to be back by 11 at the latest.

Instead, the first place I went was to pick up Josh. I knew how to get his house without the need of GPS and I really didn’t want to have to look for Amy’s place alone. I arrived a little early but he didn’t seem to mind. He informed me that he had brought flashlights for all of us so I wouldn’t have to use my phone again.

Finding Amy’s house was a bit trickier. I had texted her for her address and had to type it into my GPS app while Josh watched and told me where to go according to it. Ultimately, we arrived just a few minutes after eight. Josh, as a means to try and impress her, gave up his front seat to her, not caring or not listening to her insisting that it wasn’t necessary. She rested the backpack she had brought on her lap as we took off towards the woods. I meant to ask her what was in the bag, but perhaps in my eagerness to get going, it didn’t cross my mind for a while.

Josh made several failed attempts to start a discussion with Amy. She would answer him but it was clear from her tone of voice that Josh was the only one that had any romantic interest. She was nice enough to try and keep the conversation, but Josh struggled to keep the conversation alive. He’d often accidentally end them on an edgy joke that no one really knew how to respond to.

Regardless, by the time we pulled into the parking lot of (Redacted), I was actually glad to get going.

We all gathered together in front of the car, Josh handing out flashlights to us.

“Amy,” I said, “What’d you bring?”

She smirked as she unzipped her bag to reveal an absurd amount of granola bars.

“Jesus,” Josh remarked, “That’s enough to feed a small village.”

“I didn’t know if we’d get hungry,” she shrugged, her face turning red in the moonlight.

“It’s not that far a walk,” I assured her, “But thanks anyways.”

I let out a sigh as I saw that sign over trail two. Even now it gave me the chills. Josh walked forward, passing the threshold with no problems.

“You guys coming?” he asked.

I saw Amy behind me. Her hands were gripped tight on the straps of her backpack and she had a look on her face like she was going to throw up. I knew what she was feeling. It had all seemed like a good idea on the ride down, but being there, knowing you were about to see the very spot that one shed their mortal coil, it hit you fast.

I felt the same thing when I first arrived to these woods on our quest to find the very spot. Only Amy actually knew Ronnie. She had a strong emotional attachment to him. Whatever I had felt upon first arriving was surely nothing compared to what she was feeling.

I didn’t know what to do. My only instinct was to stick out my hand for her to take and give her a weak smile. She gave me one back and took my hand to continue forward into trail two.