Chapter 14

"Where did you find her?" "She was deep in the forest; we were lucky to find her before someone else got to her," Nicole stood there confused, her eyes having dark circles beneath them.

She looked frightened and uncertain of her surrounding; Jack and Rick just hoped she wouldn't get back that memory of what had happened that day.

*Memories*

Standing on the balcony, Nicole gazed at the darkened and starry sky above. Silence surrounded her as she glanced at the deserted park before her. Memories bombarded her mind. As a young girl, the park was her favorite place to go. One cold winter's night just like tonight, as she looked upon the dark sky, she had decided to go for a walk and wrapped up in her elegant scarlet red winter coat with gleaming black buttons descending the front, keeping away the winter chill. Wearing thick leggings black as coal and leather boots lined with fur kept her feet cozy.

It was a beautiful night. It was perfect for a walk. As she strolled further into the park, a figure approached me. It was as dark as pitch, so she couldn't determine who it was. It was late; she wouldn't usually see anyone at this time. Her heart was beating faster and faster. The strange thing was she wasn't frightened; it was just her heart beating rapidly. As the masculine figure approached, she began to walk slower. That was when she heard the voice. "Nice night for a walk," she heard from ahead.

It was strange to see someone at that hour. Nicole had not answered, as she had started walking faster, she heard footsteps behind her, she looked back, but there was no one, was it her imagination? She had slowed down when out of nowhere, three men came out of a dark alley; all she could see was a shiny object in their hand under the streetlight. She heard a whistle as the guys came from opposite the street, walking towards her.

Nicole had started to walk faster as these three men picked up their pace, walking towards her; she had started to run as the three men started chasing after her. She ran as fast as she could when she heard them saying, "shoot her in the legs."

Nicole panicked as she ran between houses, desperate to escape; while running, she was constantly looking behind her. They were no longer in sight, ducking around a corner behind a tree. Breathing, the rapid pulse, the trickle of sweat; as her heart pounded, all she could think of was getting home.

She stayed behind the tree for an hour before standing up and running between the houses home.

If those men had caught up to her, anything could have happened that evening.

*Present*

Jack glanced over at Nicole sitting on the red sofa, close to the window; he then turned to Rick, who was on his left side, "do you think she will remember what happened that day? Now that she is home, people will ask questions, and let's hope that does not trigger a memory."

Since Nicole can't remember anything, Jack and Rick were off the hook for a while.

Meanwhile, Angela was missing home, but what is home without a mother? "Hey, are you going to join us this evening? We are going out in the woods." said her roommate. "Sure, who will all be there?" She questioned. "almost everyone."

They had set off in the car from her mom; Chrissy was a charming girl, always happy, no matter how hard life was.

When arriving there, there were a lot of people. The music was loud.

The enchanted forest beckoned them into its pulsing heart. How could she resist such a lush Garden of Eden? The deep, haunting ballad of its ancient song called out deep into the woods as the various animals made sounds that echoed through the still night. The forest was steeped in plushness and opulence as old as Adam.

With a light heart, she plunged into the over-arching vault of leaf and limb. It was not what she had expected. The exquisiteness of the dawn's light had not yet lanced to the lush, green turf. Because of this, hoods of black shadow hung in the groves.

Coils of vaporous mist enwrapped the fuzzy heads of the oak trees. They writhed around them like a conjuror's milky smoke, sensuous and illusory. Sieves of moisture caressed the lichen-encrusted bark. Adding its phantasmal gas to the damp breath of the forest, it glided with deadly intent. It deadened sound, haunted glades, and poured into empty spaces. A sepulchral silence overhung the hallowed ground where the trees dared not to grow. Nothing stirred, nothing shone, nothing sang. A hollow echoing, like the hushed tones of a great, slabbed cathedral, entombed the wood.

Then a finger of supernal light poked through the misty mesh, followed by a loom of light filtering down in seams of gold. Like the luminal glow of the gods, it chased the shadows, banished the gloom, and spilled into spaces where the mist once stalked.

The fluty piping of a songbird split the silence just as the forest flooded with light. A barrage of trilling and warbling detonated all around them as the primordial forest came alive with the troubadours of the trees. As I admired the butterflies, Angela darted between shafts of lustrous-gold light. They pirouetted in the air, their wings a-whirr like little ripples of silk.

The glory of the forest was revealed in the birthstone-bright light. Almond-brown trees stood serenely, awash with a tender glow. Their bark looked like riffled toast, and gems of amber clasped their crusty exterior. The first blush of the morn gave the leafy bower a green-going-to-gold complexion.

Idling past suede-soft flowers, She caressed them softly, getting tingles in my fingers. Her ears perked up at the metallic, tinkling sound of a stream. It flashed with a tinsel tint through the lace of leaves. When the trees parted, She could see it was sliding into an infinity pool. The pool looked like a polished silver mirror, with swirl-white skeins twisting slowly on the surface. A shiny spillway led to a choppier pond. Boulders colonized the edges of the pond, buffed with pillows of moss.

They caused a rocky gurgling as water met stone; a swish, a clunk, a swell, and a clop. Sweet fragrances, alluvial and palliative, seemed to flit in and out of my awareness. Sight and smell vied for attention in this soul-enriching dream world.

She put my back against a noble boulder, leaning her head against the mossy pillow; Chrissy walked up to her. "Don't tell me we had come all this way just for you to fall asleep." she then heard a voice, a mawkish voice behind her saying, "Yes, we don't always get to do this; it comes once in a lifetime," Angela looked up, and Sam stood there, the popular guy on campus, blue eyes, black hair, and six feet.

She could not let words escape her mouth for a moment until she gulped, "Hi there." Sam lets out a laugh exposing his perfectly white teeth, as he reaches out and shakes her hand.

"Chrissy, she told me about you," "She has?"

"Yes, don't worry, only good things;" he had reached out his hand and pulled her up; "let us go over to the fire?"

Without hesitation, she stood up and smiled faintly, "sure."

Sam had a girlfriend, Jessica, who was studying law and came from a wealthy background. She stood with her friends close by as she glanced at Angela walking with Sam.

They walked over to the campfire; there were tree logs where everyone was sitting, "so Angela, how are you finding it here?" "How am I seeing it here?"

He laughed, "nevermind, so have you been out here?"

Angela shook her head and smiled; "no, I have not, but I like it, especially the water flow."

Jessica walked over and placed her hand on Sam's shoulder; "who's your new friend?" She let out a fake smile, " Jessica, this is Angela, and Angela, this is Jessica" his girlfriend Jessica reached out her hand, "so Angela, where are you from?" "Not too far from here," Angela said straightly, cutting her off.

"I have to go," she stood up; Chrissy stood up, "the party has not started, and you are leaving. Please stay you my lift Chrissy pleaded," "okay, but I wanted to go before midnight,"

"That's the time the party starts," Sam answered; "why don't you stay? I promise you won't forget this night," Jessica nudged Sam. "Why are you so eager for her to stay?" Sam looked up and smiled at his girlfriend; "you know why?"

"Are we doing that tonight?" Sam shook his head, with a smirk on his face, "yes, we are."

"What are you doing?"

"A game we play when we come out here, you will find out if you stick around."

With everything that had recently happened, Angela was not bothered by what could happen, her dad not being her dad, her brother in trouble, and her mom dying; well, what was there to lose? Little fun can't harm.