Chapter 20- Let's hang out Tomorrow

Kate and I make our way outside with everyone else. I slept in late this morning, if Kate didn't wake me up I might've slept until noon. After that night I had I'm surprised I even slept at all but I guess I was really tired. We eat breakfast then we all take our belongings and prepare for our next hike.

The trees are not as tall as the ones before, they are much shorter but very broad and shaped very oddly. It's mostly dirt ground that we're walking on, the ground is dirt with large rocks at almost every step. The trail gets higher and higher and I know we're going up the mountain. We took a different route up to the mountain last night, we didn't walk on a trail and we took 20 minutes to get to the top and we've been walking for at least two hours. The leaders probably don't even know another route up to the mountain but he knows many shorter routes. Of course, he would, no one knows his forest better than he does, well they. We now pass an oddly shaped tall tree taller than many we've passed so far and there is a rope hanging on a branch above me.

''Alright everyone! So you all remember that story of the death of the little girl and her doll right? So this very rope the man used to hang himself. He hung himself on this tree with this rope over 40 years ago and was found by some police officers a couple of days later'' Mr. Brown informs us as everyone stays silent.

We continue our hike up the trail and we still haven't reached the mountain. Everyone looks exhausted as am I.

''Alright everyone, we shall set up camp here for the next 5 days' ' Miss Wilber announces to the group.

We all set up camp, eat dinner and Kate and I hang out with Easton for sometime before heading to our tent. I have 4 missed calls and 5 new messages. Two missed calls are from my mother, 1 from my mother and the other from Nelson. I feel incredibly guilty and I don't feel like talking to Nelson after what happened with me and his last night. Gosh, I really wish I knew his name instead of having to refer to him as him all the time. In fact, he doesn't even deserve for me to call him by his name even if he has one. I text my mother telling her that I'm exhausted from today and I do the same with my father and Nelson. I reply to Erin and April telling them that I will text them tomorrow.

Tomorrow I will be much more relaxed and have more time to catch up with them. Kate does the same with her parents and Elliot. She still hasn't told me about their conversation the other night but she promises that she will tomorrow. We both exchange good nights to each other and Kate pulls the covers over her head. I try my best not to think about him but it's hard, he is literally everything that I think about every since last night, actually, he has been in my head ever since the first time I saw him. I lie on my spot on the ground and look up at the ceiling thinking about him.

Every time I think about him I remind myself of how much he's not worth it. He's a psycho creepy masked man of the forest who does evil rituals in the forest and don't forget the worst he sleeps around with girls and he doesn't date.

Of course, he doesn't date, why would someone like him a date? I remind myself of how he limited me last night and how he just had to take her phone call when he was touching me like that. He doesn't care about me or anyone, he has no respect for me, for women and for anyone in general. He just commands people around all the time and expects them to do as he wishes, well I'm not gonna be one of them. I hate him and I never want to see him again. I call him all the horrible names I could think of and eventually I fall asleep.

*******

Five days, it's been five days since I've heard from him and I can't stop thinking about him. He hasn't tried to reach out to me and well I would never try to reach out to him, he always reaches out to me, just to annoy me and he will ruin my internship with him as my distraction.

This internship means everything to me and I will have no distractions in the way, this internship will benefit me a lot for the future and I don't need some psycho masked man distracting me from that. Maybe he actually decided to leave me alone. I'm thankful for that but I can't seem to stop thinking about him where he is, what he's doing and most of all who he's with. It's been five days, it feels like much longer but it's just been five days.

The past five days were spent the same. We woke up, ate breakfast, looked around for information on these 'masked men' which made me think about him even more. We return every evening with the usual, nothing on these men, no information and no clues. Everyone else is clueless about these men except for me. I've discovered more about these men in the last two weeks than investigators have, who've been studying this forest and its mysteries for years.

It really bugs me that he hasn't tried to reach out to me in the last five days. I know I should be grateful for that because after all that's what I've wanted him to do but a small part still wishes that he did.

After, we would spend the rest of the day hanging out and roasting marshmallows over the fire. We would then head back to our tents for a good night's rest and I would talk to my mother and everyone else whom I need to update. As the days went by, my thoughts about him have lessened and lessened. I really hope he does stay away from me and I never think about him again, although I know that's impossible. Even if I never see him again, there will be a time that I will think about him. Maybe just once but that's it. I'll just think about him once and never again. Kate told me about her conversation with Elliot and how he asked her to go to dinner with him and meet his fellow colleagues who will be also be participating in their school's annual spelling bee this year.

She said she felt really special and was really shocked when he asked her and of course she said yes. I keep telling her to tell him how she feels about him and she says that she will once she gets back home.

We are moving from our spot today that we've stayed for the last 5 days. We gather all of our stuff and head to our next destination.

''Ouch!'' I almost scream as I trip on a tree root.

''Are you okay?'' Easton asks with great worry in his eyes as he helps me up from the ground.

'' I think so'' I respond, I really didn't see that tree root. It was really wide and high off the ground and my mind was far off that I wasn't paying attention.

I dust off my jeans as Easton's hands remain on my shoulders.

He picks up my bag from the ground and holds it in his hand. I check for any bruises and I have a few. A few scrapes on my upper arm and my wrists are now both bruised from my impact with the ground. I used my hands to save myself from falling but I just fell on both my wrists. Great! so now I have 5 bruises on my skin, 2 on my arm, 2 one both of my wrists and one on my knee.

I'm gonna be covered in band-aids tonight and for the rest of this internship, I hope I don't get anymore. I slowly get up with Kate and Easton's hands on my shoulder and my arm helping me to my feet. After saying 'yeah I'm okay' for what feels like 10 times we finally continue our hike. We stopped multiple times for water breaks which I'm thankful for. I just need to rest tonight, that fall was really hard today. We finally reach a large open clear dirt ground.

''Okay everyone this is where we'll be staying for the next five days'' Mr. Brown informs.

I feel a sense of relief wash over me as the words leave his mouth. This hike was remarkably long today. It's now 7 as we arrive, we've never hiked till this late before, we all just head to our tents to get a good night's rest. Today was so long and my hard fall today made it feel even longer and made my day worse. I put band-aids on my bruises and change into my pajamas. I don't even check my phone or anything, I just pull the covers over me and sleep.

My eyes snap open in surprise as I hear a loud snap in the distance. It sounds like a twig just snapped. I'm not going out there, I'm not. It's either a rabbit again or it's him. It's probably him, I know it is. This is what he wants, he wants me to come out for whatever reason may be to just laugh at me again but I'm not going to. I ignore the noise and close my eyes. I hear the noise again, this time it's louder. Oh my god, why can't he just leave me alone?

I ignore the noise again and close my eyes and try to sleep for the third time. I hear the noise again, this time it's a different noise, it sounds like leaves rustling followed by a twig snapping. He's not going to stop. God, I hate him. You know what, I'm going outside, I'm only going out there to tell him that I never want to see him again and to stay away from me.

I make my way outside with my flashlight and I'm furious. I walk in the direction of the noise and there's no sign of him. I hear the leaves rustling again and it's coming from another shrub. Oh god, not again. If the noise jumps to another shrub that's it I'm heading back because I know what happened last time after I followed a noise. It led me somewhere and I witnessed events I never thought I would have, especially right now.

Maybe I would've seen those events sometime in the future when I become a paranormal investigator but I never expected to see that now, it scared the hell out of me, it was so terrifying that I couldn't bear to see anymore I had to get out of there. I part the shrub and it's a rabbit again. It's chewing on its paw in the shrub. It's a different rabbit, much smaller than the other one. Maybe it wasn't him after all, maybe it was just the rabbit. I leave the rabbit chewing on its paw and turn to head back.

Just as I turn around to walk back a voice stops me in my tracks a voice. I've become too familiar with it in the last two weeks that I already know who it is.

''Stessian'' he says calmly but his tone is stern.

'' Leave me alone and I told you to stop calling me that'' I look at him then walk away.

His mask looks even creepier than usual, his outfit is the same, black pants, black sweater, black shoes, black gloves and of course the stupid sheep mask covering his face. I feel him following me and my pace begins to pick up. He is much quicker than me and pulls me back by my upper arm.

''Get away from me, I never want to see you again'' I say in his face.

''I thought we were better now?'' he says

''No we aren't just go away'' I tell him.

'' Let me explain'' he says.

''There is nothing to explain, leave me alone''

''Let me make it up to you''

'' No''

''What happened to your arm? ''

''It's none of your business, now let go of me and leave me alone''

''Let's do something tomorrow'' he says. Is he serious? Did he hear what I just said?

'' What? ''

'' Let's hang out tomorrow''

''No'' I try to get out of his grip but it's impossible, he's much stronger than me.

''Yes, I'll take you somewhere'' he demands.

''No, I can't just leave tomorrow to go somewhere with you, I will have no excuse, this is my internship and in case you forgot I hate you and I want nothing to do with you'' I spit but I really don't mean those words, they are probably the most horrible words I have said in my life.

Should I apologize?

''Just tell them that you have some things to do and that you'll be busy for a couple of hours''

''No, they'll know something's up''

''Well make it believable''

''No''

''We will hang out tomorrow and I will make it up to you. I will show you something that you've wanted to see for a while and let's just say it will surprise you'' he says, his voice much calmer than mine.

''Meet me at 3 by the oak tree at the end of the dirt trail on the left. You will see a rock shaped like a bean bag chair, stand there and wait for me.'' he orders and walks away without giving me time to respond.

I watch him walk off and make my way back to the tent. As I lie down on my spot on the ground I think about what it is that he has to show me. I don't want to hang out with him tomorrow but I'm curious to see what he has to show me. Maybe he's gonna show me something about their rituals or whatever that they call S.E.P. I still don't know what that means. I wanna ask him what's the meaning of SEP for the longest while now.

Why can't he just leave me alone? Gosh! doesn't he have someone else to bother? apparently not, Why doesn't he bother Brooke? She would surely love his company unlike me.

I contemplate for some time on whether or not I should meet him tomorrow so that we can 'hang out'. Should I meet him tomorrow? I am beyond curious to see what he has to show me but I also don't want him to think that he can just go around demanding me all the time and I will listen to his every demand and follow him around like one of his yes-men. I wonder what he has to show me?

Maybe he wants to tell me what SEP means? or maybe he wants to show me what S.E.P. means which I don't how but maybe he would. What if he wants to show me something with Brooke? Oh god! I hope it doesn't have anything to do with her, I don't even know her but I already don't like her and the fact that he slept with her, I think he did and she's involved with them with the rituals that they do which make me really dislike her. Oh my god, what if he wants to lure me into a trap?

He says that it will surprise me, what if all of them are waiting for me wherever he wants to take me. Okay, it's official, I'm not going.

I can't trust him, for all I know it could be a trap. But what if it's not? I mean he didn't hurt me or anything the last time he took me somewhere, well at least not physically but he just took me on top of the mountain to see the view when he could've done something because I mean we were alone on top of the mountain far away from everyone else but he didn't do anything. He told me that if he wanted to kill me he would've done that a long time ago but that doesn't mean that he's not luring me into a trap tomorrow. My eyes feel heavy, I'm too tired to think about this further. I will decide in the morning.

*Author's note: Hey guys new chapter coming out tomorrow. Are you guys excited? I am, I can't wait to come home from school and start writing. Yeee! How's the story so far? Do you guys think that she'll go or not? Would any of you guys go? I might. Please vote, comment and follow me. Bye, I love you guys, see you in the next chapter!*