THIRTEEN: INTO THE WOODS

I woke up from bed with a slight headache, still recovering from Saturday's drama.

If I had known all that would happen, I would have stayed at home.

On Monday, the school was quiet.

Saturday's events really made a mess of things.

Pink told me all that had happened that night, and it was awful.

Clary was not in school; I guess she is still recovering from Resa's death and Annie's disappearance. The incident at the clinic shook the town so much that Clary's parents conducted a search party for their missing daughters.

Rejoice was still recovering from the injuries she sustained during her fight with Regina; it turns out the vampire regeneration process is slow.

She was sent to heal at Caveroop City Hospital, while the school clinic was closed off because Raymond was put on suspension. It was believed that he had something to do with Charles's death since his body was found in front of the clinic.

As for the games, they were canceled and put on hold until further notice. I'm not sure the team is taking it lightly, especially Jesse, who was really looking forward to the scholarship.

With all that has happened, the school refused to take a break.

Classes continued as usual, and the staff room was under repair, so teachers were assigned to classrooms for the meantime.

Meanwhile, at the old garage, Nemus met with Regina, who had told him all that happened that night on the phone, and he seemed pretty pissed.

"I can't believe you fought with Joy," he said.

"Yeah, she was really a tough opponent," Regina replied with a smirk. "But I managed."

So determined, as if wishing he were the one there, he made a fist and said,

"I still think you could have ended her once and for all."

Not impressed by his reaction, Regina sneered,

"I was losing moonlight."

Just then, Jennie marched in with Sofie behind her. She slammed her fist against the wall, calling out angrily,

"Nemus!"

Nemus sighed as he turned slowly to face her.

"What is it now?"

"We had an agreement, and then you double-crossed me!" she yelled.

"I'm not sure I understand what you're implying."

"Why the hell did you send Regina to do my job? We had a deal; don't you trust me?"

"No one does, Jennie," he replied.

"Fuck!" she shrieked. "Deal's off; have fun taking the wand yourself." Then she turned to leave.

"Good luck finding the alpha," he smirked.

"I think I'll do just fine on my own." And they left.

...

At school, during recess, Pink and I went to the basketball court to pick up a few things we had left behind during the blackout.

When we got there, we saw Jesse sitting on the bench; he didn't look happy at all.

"Hey, Jesse," Pink called as we walked over to him.

He didn't respond or frown upon seeing us; he only sighed. Then Pink sat down next to him, placing her hands on his shoulder. She asked,

"How are you?"

"I'll be fine," he sighed.

The atmosphere was pretty intense as Pink was really trying to comfort him. Before I said without realizing it,

"Hey buddy, it's just a game. It'll hold again; no need to be all moody about it."

They both stared at me, and I think he was pretty upset.

"Terra," Pink whispered before I realized what I had said.

"I'm sorry; I didn't mean it that way."

"Yeah, you should be. It may look like just a game to you, but it's everything to me," he yelled. For the first time, I felt his rage towards me. "It's my life."

Seeing how angry he was, I didn't know whether to apologize or let it slide.

"I'll excuse myself for a bit," I said, walking away.

"Hey, I'm sure she didn't mean that," Pink said to reduce the tension already in the atmosphere.

"How's Clary?" Jesse asked, changing the topic.

"She's doing fine. It's not going to be easy for her," Pink sighed. "But I believe she'll come around." Then she brightened up. "By the way, Zack is organizing a search party for Annie. We're going to search the woods after recess. You wanna come?"

"I think so," Jesse said. "I need to clear my head."

After recess, everyone gathered outside and got ready to search the woods for Annie. They were all equipped with safety tools when Mrs. Adams came to address them.

"Hello, students of Caveroop High. We are all gathered here today to show the Brodways that we are indeed sorry for their loss and as a token of our love and friendship, we lend a helping hand in finding their daughters. Now we must be careful as we go out into the woods. Once you find anything, say something."

The crowd applauded her, then Zack stepped forward.

"Okay, good luck out there, Let's all hope we find at least a clue as to where they might be."

With that, we all departed to the woods in groups. I was with Jesse, Summer, and Eska.

"Man, this woods is creepy," I said, trying to stick to them like glue.

"You might wanna stay close," Summer said as she led us through.

Throughout, she and Eska were discussing and laughing. I was at the back with Jesse, who didn't seem to notice me much. He was quiet the whole time, not saying a word to anyone.

"Erm… so, Jesse, erm… what are you going to do now that the games are canceled until further notice?" I asked, hoping to start a conversation, but he totally ignored me. Then I figured he was probably mad at me for what I had said earlier.

"I'm sorry for earlier; I didn't mean that."

"Okay," he said, with no traces of emotion in his voice.

"Okay, so... what now?" I asked.

"You tell me."

Fuck! Why is he so impossible to talk to? I want to put our differences aside and see if we can be friends, but he's making it so difficult for me.

"Well, I'm just curious as to what you would do now that the show is off."

He smirked.

"Me too."

And I had just had enough of it. I stopped and shouted,

"Why are you like this? Why is it so impossible with you?"

He just turned and stared at me, pretending not to know what I was talking about.

"Why do you hate me so much? What did I ever do to you? I'm trying my best to be at peace with you, even though I don't know why you dislike me."

"Well, I think it's time you stop trying your best," he said, and left.

Deep inside the woods, everywhere became quiet. We searched but found nothing, not even a clue, and I was becoming tired.

As we moved on, I heard laughter coming from behind, so I turned to see if anyone was behind me, but no one was there.

Creepy!

I turned to keep moving forward, but I saw no one; they were gone. I was completely alone.

Oh no!

This was the last thing I wanted.

Despite how scared I was, I remained calm and kept moving on, hoping they hadn't gotten far.

As I was going, I heard footsteps behind me. Fear gripped me as I hastened my pace.

The footsteps stopped, and I suddenly felt relieved. But then I heard a twig crack, and I paused.

I looked down to see if I were the one, but no, it wasn't me.

I looked back and saw the cracked twig, but no one was stepping on it.

"Summer! Eska? Jesse!" I called out to them, but there were no replies. I turned to leave, and behold, there was a woman standing directly in front of me. She had brown skin, dark long hair, and wore an ancient black robe.

She looked pale; her golden eyes sparkled at me. I was surprised because she looked different and had a strong presence that intrigued me.

"Wh-who are you?" I asked, too timid to speak up.

She smiled, a look of pleasure on her face, but it was hard to tell whether it was an evil grin or not.

Then she began to fade away.