Goodbye My Friends

Packing up after the weekend getaway is hard. Especially knowing that this might be the last time I see any of my friends for a very very long time. But I know that I have to keep my distance, they are in danger every moment they spend with me. And they have been for a while now, since I have been being stalked for years.

This, this is something I cannot put them through, never. Especially not if it will eventually cost them, and myself, our lives.

"Hey, who's taking the trailer?" Nick asks, specifically looking towards Tom and I because we each drove ourselves here.

“I don’t have my hitch setup.” I admit sheepishly as I look at my dark SUV. Then I look over at Tom’s old grey truck. He brought it originally, and he also had many more places to store it than I did in my little duplex in Niagara falls.

“I can, it’s no issue.” Tom says, and the rest of us nod our heads as we make moves to connect the trailer up to the back of his truck.

Tom’s family owns a farm, around the Orillia area, meaning that it wouldn’t be too difficult for him to take it there for storing before heading back out to Ottawa for school.

The trailer isn’t large, though if it had a place for driving it would be a fairly decent sized RV. Luckily it was easy enough to hook up and it only took us a few minutes to get all the cables and chains all hooked up and working right.

We then all start packing our stuff into our respective vehicles. Jake, Clary, and Nick are all getting ready to take Nick’s slightly older SUV, together to get back to Ottawa themselves.

“Are you going to be okay driving alone with the trailer?” I ask Tom, as he helps me put my own stuff into my car.

“Of course, don’t worry so much. It’s barely an hour to my grandparents farm from here, and besides they always want to feed me dinner when I come out this way.” He laughs lightly and I can’t help but smile at my friend.

“At least you get a nice home cooked meal out of it.” I agree as I close my trunk once all my bags are in.

“Are you going to be okay?” He asks me, taking a look at the deep purple coloured bags under my eyes, the ones I neglected to put makeup on this morning.

But before I can respond, the three others come bounding over, and I am pulled into a hug.

"See you next time my friend." Nick says, while hugging me in a normal one armed hug. Clary and Jake both take their own turns, hugging me. Clary whispering in my ear to keep in touch, since I was the only one of our group that was at a school in a different city than their own.

"I promise I will." I tell her, pulling away from her hug, feeling my eyes start to burn with tears. I try desperately to hold them back, as I know it will only serve to startle my friends if I do start crying. And I have no way of telling them why.

Maybe now, my only promise that I could keep to my friends would be to keep in touch. That is, now that I had sold my life away to the monsters of nightmares.

"Do I get a hug now?" Tom asks from right beside me and I laugh a little, stepping towards him and wrapping my arms around his waist. "Keep safe" Tom says after a short pause, breaking away from the hug. I nod and step back, getting into my car.

"Bye guys!" I call, starting my car and pulling out towards the road. I take a few deep, calming breaths, trying to make myself not burst into tears. I don't want to cry, not now, not ever, at least not for this reason.

I can't be weak. I need to be strong. Or I will crumble under what is going to happen next. I know I don't know what exactly is going to happen, but I know it's not going to be pretty. It's going to hurt and I'm going to see things that no one has seen or ever wants to see. And I'm going to live. I'm going to have to re-enact those things in words across a page. But I am going to live.

The dirt path I had been driving on before finally turns into a gravel road, leading me towards the highway and my path home. I sigh and prepare myself for the two and a half hour long drive but, how could I not, I have to go home sooner or later.

Tom's last words continue to play through my mind. "Keep safe" he had said, keep safe, almost as if he knew something was wrong. Like he could tell I had dug myself a grave too deep for me to claw my way out.

My thoughts reeling from the possibility that Tom knew more than he let on. But also just trying to accept that he is a friend concerned for me without needing a specific supernatural reason to be. I make my way home. Just as twilight shows its face, I pull into my driveway. Parking my SUV in front of my garage door, I turn my car off and just sit there for a few moments in silence and safety.

Eventually, I convince myself to step out of my vehicle. I grab my bags from the back and take a moment to stare at the worn out backpack sitting in my trunk still. The one with all my books in it. I take a deep breath before throwing it over my shoulder as well and I close my trunk, clicking the button on the key, locking my car.

All of a sudden a feeling of unease washes over me. Of course, I had been feeling uneasy since my meeting with Geoff the Killer, but this, this is different. The hairs on the nape of my neck standing up, a shiver running down my spine. I look around, paranoid to the point of frayed nerves. Of course, I see nothing, but I know that doesn't mean anything anymore. I am being watched by someone, or something I can't for the life of me locate.

"Is it better to live knowing? Or die unknowing?" I ask myself, and my answer to that question. One hundred percent I would go back and live a normal happy life not knowing the monsters everyone thought were fake aren't. I would love the luxury to go back and have it never happen, any of it.

Of course, time travel isn't really an option at this point, plus I'm pretty sure it would just kill me quicker. The strain on my nerves and stuff.

Taking every ounce of power I have left in my tired and frail feeling body I keep myself from dashing into my side of the duplex, instead I walk, trying to show whoever... or whatever... is out there watching me that I'm not afraid. Although I'm pretty sure everyone and their grandma would be able to tell the difference.

"Ah who are you kidding Jaden, you're a freaking wreck and it hasn't even been twenty-four hours yet." I scold myself under my breath before heading up the stairs to my porch quickly. Right before I get to my door though, I notice the odd silence of the air around me. I mean yes, It's usually quiet, in this part of the suburbs of Niagara Falls, or not overly loud I guess is a better way to say it, but it's so quiet that I can hear my own blood racing through my veins.

This just reminds me of last night, and I can’t help but shudder from the connection.

I shake my head at myself, I am so freaking paranoid it's almost comedic. I work with my keys for a moment before I come up with the key to the house. Just as I'm about to shove the key into the lock though, I realize that my door is already ajar.