The following week seemed to go by in a blur for the teens as they prepared for their camping trip. Something about being the only people in on the secret had added a little bit of excitement to what would have otherwise been another mundane week.

Kyle had managed to convince his coach that he needed extra time to study for the upcoming maths test so that he wouldn't need to play at the weekend. Although it wasn't true for Kyle, a lot of the team were required to keep their grades up to a set standard in order to remain on the team so it wasn't too much of a stretch for the coach to believe him.

Meanwhile, Katie had checked on the availability of the rest of her family and confirmed that she didn't need to be at home to look after her dad at all. She'd make sure to spend some time with him before and after their trip.

For once, Matt and Jess were thankful for their lack of responsibilities.

Despite their new side project, the group still didn't socialise when in school, keeping up the ruse that nothing untoward was going on. However, they couldn't avoid each other completely.

As the student body was making its way from one class to the next, Kyle noticed that the three boys, who'd been bullying Matt when he'd first met him properly, were now walking behind the outcast, and looking pretty suspicious.

Unlike many schools in the area, Falls Peak High employed a one way system in some of its corridors to ease congestion. This meant that everyone was walking the same way and no one was meant to turn back.

From his own place in the slow moving herd, Kyle watched as they sneakily unzipped Matt's trusty backpack until it was wide open and all of his books came tumbling out.

"Aw man," Matt groaned before realising it had been deliberate.

"Sorry," Lied one of the boys as they bypassed Matt who was now crouching down in an attempt to save his belongings from being crushed by the student stampede. A few of his books were even kicked away from him by some other students.

Everyone looked down on Matt, literally, as they turned their noses at the obstruction he was causing. Watching him mumble his apologies to everyone over and over again was finally too much for Kyle to take.

"Need a hand?" He asked as he crouched alongside him, offering up some of the stray sheets of paper and books.

"Thanks," Matt smiled and Kyle nodded. He could have said more, but Matt's expression spoke more than any words could.

*

After school, Kyle and Jess were at the nearest park, sat at a rundown picnic bench, doing more research on the Falls Peak Beast.

"Isn't it amazing how we still connect to the school WIFI from here?" She laughed.

"Not as amazing as some of these stories here," Kyle pointed to his open laptop. "According to this report, the Gorgoya is really like an alligator or something. It can live in, and out, of the water. That's basically just an excuse for not being able to see it right?" He asked.

"You know I found something similar, except saying that it has wings and can fly. That's why nobody can find it."

"If you were a giant monster that could fly anywhere, why would you keep coming back here?" Kyle mused.

"Danny's parties, obviously." Joked Jess. Kyle grinned before turning serious.

"This is stupid isn't it? The whole Gorgoya thing. I mean, nobody can decide on one story, even the people who believe in it are arguing over it. No wonder nobody believes in this thing."

"At least we'll be safe in the forest this weekend? You know, except for the potential serial killers," Jess shrugged.

"Part of me thinks we didn't think this through" Kyle laughed despite honestly feeling that way.

Before Jess had the chance to offer up her thoughts on the matter, Katie and Matt joined them, and one of them was not happy.

"Go on!" Katie shrieked. "Tell them what you just told me!"

"Is everything ok?" Jess asked, noting Matt's uncomfortable squirm.

"Not anymore. Tell them!" Katie demanded.

Finally, Matt sighed in defeat and began to tell his story.

"Ok so there's something that I never told any of you before, about the night my brother murdered that little boy".

"Go on," Kyle said curiously.

"Well the day he went out to . . . do it. Our parents were out to dinner and I was just watching TV. Cameron came out of his bedroom and told me he was going out. We didn't really talk that much anymore but for some reason I asked him where he was going anyway. I expected him to say something about minding my own business or whatever but he didn't. Instead he told me "I'm going to look for the monster". I thought it was a pretty weird thing to say anyway, especially because he always acted so popular and cool. Trust me; being into monsters is not popular and cool!" Matt laughed, despite his chilling story.

"Why on earth didn't you mention that to anyone?" Kyle asked, incredulous.

"Because it's freaky as hell!" Matt snorted. "When Cam and I were kids, we used to go out into the woods to look for the monster. It was our thing until he became a teenager and discovered girls and alcohol and all that stuff. This monster is the last connection I have to my brother from before. Back then he was my partner in crime. Now he's just a murderer." A glum look crashed across Matt's face.

"For what it's worth, I'm sorry that things turned out that way," Kyle offered, not really sure what else he could say. "And I get now why you're so set on finding the Gorgoya."

"Tell them the rest!" Katie remained unsympathetic to Matt's cause. Kyle found this somewhat ironic, as she'd so far been the one to sympathise with him the most.

"Ok fine!" Matt groaned, sounding like he did when his mother told him to do something that he was already planning on doing. "Those guys I saw, with the body. I remembered where I recognise their voices from."

"Well don't keep us in suspense," Jess told him, her smiling and joking with Kyle long forgotten now.

"They'd been to the house a couple of times. Friends of Cameron's," Matt sighed.

"So wait," Kyle began. "Your brother. Your murderer brother, was hanging around with a group of guys that we think killed somebody else? This is insane!"

"I don't know their names, but it was definitely them," Matt claimed, as if that made things any better.

"Have you told the police any of this? This is a pretty big deal!" Jess cried.

"Of course not!" Matt snapped. "You heard him before; he already thinks that I'm just trying to get Cameron off. This just looks even worse. I just wish I knew what he meant when he said he was going to find the monster. I mean, is that literal?"

"Haven't you asked him?" Asked Katie, somewhat surprised. Matt was never one to shy away from asking things.

"He won't let us see him. None of us have been to visit him since he got locked up," He explained.

"He doesn't want to see anybody?" Jess asked sceptically. Perhaps it was her innocence and naivety that prevented her from believing that someone could be truly that uncaring.

"Well not family."

"Friends?" Kyle offered.

"Not exactly."

"Spit it out will you?" Katie growled, clearly annoyed today.

"According to our liaison officer at the prison, he gets love letters from random girls," Matt finally blurted out.

"Love letters?" The group all asked in unison.

"Yeah, you know how you see on TV there are always these crazy women that fall in love with murderers for some reason. Apparently he gets a real kick out of these letters and he always lets them see him, but nobody else."

"That's sick," Jess sneered.

"It's too bad we don't know any crazy lovesick girls that we could send in for info" Kyle joked, hoping to somehow brighten the mood. The lack of replies told him that he'd failed.

"Well what if we did?" Katie finally asked the group.

"What are you saying?" Jess asked cautiously.

"I'm saying I once got told I look like somebody who'd be in jail," She smirked.

"No way," Kyle warned her. "It's too dangerous."

"Relax Kyle!" Katie snorted. "It's not like it would be a safari. There'll be guards everywhere and I'm pretty sure that there'd be glass or something between us."

"And what if he see's right through you?" Kyle pressed.

"Then we aren't any worse off than we are now," She shrugged. "Look, maybe he doesn't even know anything anyway and when he said that stuff to Matt, he was just being an asshole. But before we go off hunting bad guys, wouldn't it be smart to at least try. I bet you've exhausted all angles on the Gorgoya," She pointed to the laptops and waited for another argument, but nothing came.

"Someone should go with you," Matt finally suggested.

"No way. He's less likely to talk if there's a group. Unless he thinks he's getting a three-way with me and Jess?" Smirked Katie.

"I'd rather get eaten by the Gorgoya," Jess said emotionlessly.

"There's still time," Katie reminded her.

"Would you really do that?" Matt asked, interrupting the impending argument between the girls. "Would you really go to the prison to see if he knows anything useful to us?"

"Sure, why not?" Katie shrugged. "It wouldn't be the stupidest thing I've ever done. Just as long as somebody can give me a ride tomorrow after school?"

After consulting the rest of the gang of misfits, Kyle shrugged and said "I guess we could take a road trip."

________________________________________________________________________________

Well this is interesting, right?

The gang's roll of making potentially stupid decisions continues haha

I'd love to hear what you guys think about this particular direction of the story as its probably a bit of a swerve!

So not only in the next chapter will we have Katie in prison, we finally get to meet Matt's murderous brother!

Dun dun dun!

If you're enjoying reading the story, then please vote!