Suellen

Charlene, Deanna, and I begin walking on the trail to give Julie some privacy to pee. We're still chuckling about the creek crossing fiasco. We all agree that Julie was the funniest, running across the possessed log before diving in. Deanna was runner-up because she thought she was more intelligent than the rest of us before one slippery rock was her undoing.

"Is it just me, or is Julie taking forever?" Charlene asks, concerned.

We all realize it has been several minutes, and Julie should have been done by now.

"Let's go back," Deanna suggests.

Charlene and I agree. We make our way back to the creek, but we don't see Julie.

"Julie! Julie! Where are you?" Charlene calls out, nothing.

"Damn girl, where the hell did you go to take a piss," I yell.

We begin to scour the surrounding area, but nothing.

"Maybe she started back on the trail but made a wrong turn." Deanna shrugs.

"Yeah, maybe," I agree.

We go down the blue trail, looking for another path Julie might have taken. We don't see one.

"I hate that our damn phones won't work." Charlene has her phone and is willing for it to work.

"What should we do?" I ask, confused by the turn of events.

We all stare at each other for several moments.

"We could split up and search the woods," Charlene offers.

"I don't like that. What if another one of us gets lost?" Deanna counters.

"What if we backtrack, head back to the truck, and find help?" I put in my two cents.

"Then what? We leave her here?" Deanna, the voice of reason, replies.

"What if one of us went back to the truck to get help, and the other two stayed here in case Julie finds her way back," Charlene suggests.

We all look at each other and make a decision. "Who stays and who goes?" I ask.

"I'll go," Deanna offers.

"That's probably a good idea. You know this area better than all of us." I admit.

We make our way back to the creek and watch as Deanna crosses back through the water without removing her socks and shoes. This time she doesn't fall on her ass.

She turns our way and calls over to us, "Keep calling her name. I can't imagine that she went that far."

"We will." Charlene and I respond in unison.

We wave goodbye to her, and she gives us a thumbs-up before disappearing into the foliage.

Charlene and I look at each other with a 'what now?' look.

"Should we go together and search the area? What if Julie tripped and hit her head?" I point out.

"Shit! I never thought of that. Maybe that's why she doesn't hear our calls," Charlene says with concern for our friend.

I look around the area. I have no clue which direction to start our search.

Charlene interrupts my thoughts. "I think that we should start at the water and go left. We'll make a half-circle around the area until we return to the creek. We'll go out a little further each time we circle, but we stay together the whole time."

"I like that plan. Let's do it," I concur.

We walk to the water's edge, go left about five feet, and then begin to come back to the creek. Once we arrive back, we go left about ten feet and circle. We call out to Julie the entire time we're searching. We continue to widen our search perimeter and find nothing.

After a few sweeps of the woods, we sit on a log by the creek to rest and regroup. I look at my watch and notice it's been an hour since Deanna left.

"Any more suggestions?" Charlene asks me.

"I don't know. Maybe we should continue down the path. What if we missed Julie somehow." I shrug. I'm baffled at this point.

"We only have a few hours of daylight left," Charlene says. 'Here, drink." She pushes her water bottle towards me.

I take it and press it to my parched lips. I swipe the back of my hand over my lips. "Thank you."

"How much longer do you think that Deanna will be?" she asks while examining the direction Dianna disappeared from.

I shrug. "I have no clue." I take one more swig before giving Charlene her water bottle back. "I think that we should expand our search."

I look to Charlene, and she nods in agreement as she reattached the bottle to her hip. I take my phone out for the fifteenth time to see if it has dried enough. It hasn't. I'm beginning to feel defeated, but I don't want Charlene to know my feelings, so I paste a halfhearted smile.

"Ready to start again?" I ask as I stand.

"Yep."

Charlene joined me, and we started walking further through the brush than before. We make our half circle and then go even further.

Charlene stops in her tracks. "Suellen... is this blood?"

I walk over to where Charlene is standing. A ton of blood is mixed with mud, twigs, and leaves. I look closer, and the ground is saturated. Looking back at Charlene's wide eyes, we both realize something is seriously wrong.

"Was this from an animal?" she asks, her fear evident in her shaky voice.

"I don't know?" I whisper.

Drip, drip, drip.

"Do you hear that?" Charlene chokes out.

Drip, drip, drip.

"What the hell is that?" I look up at Charlene and gasp.

Her blonde hair is discolored. I reach into her hair and see crimson on my hands.

"Holy shit!" Charlene exclaims as she moves her eyes above.

I follow her eyes with my own and scream when I see a naked, bloodied Julie hanging from the branches above.

My fight or flight takes over. I grab Charlene's hand, and we run like hell. My instincts take me rushing back to the creek. I try to cross over, dragging Charlene with me when pain shoots up my leg.

"Ahhhh, shit!" I collapse once we make it across the stream.

Now it's Charlene's turn to drag me.

"Ow, ow! I can't do it! Shit!" I scream and fall into the leaves.

"Go!" I shout to Charlene.

"I can't leave you here, Suellen. I won't." Charlene kneels into the dirt and pulls me into her arms.

"You have to. It's not safe for you to be here. I'll only weigh you down. Please, Charlene, you have to go get help," I cry, tears rolling down my face.

She pulls me closer. "No way. There's no way I'm leaving you here alone."

I know that we're not safe here. I know that Charlene should leave me and save herself, but damn if I'm not so relieved that she refuses to leave me. My thoughts go to Deanna, please, Deanna, we need you to find help now.

Charlene and I both break down, mourning the loss of our friend. It seems like forever ago that we were laughing and carrying on after our fall into this same damn creek only a few hours ago. How is it possible that our lives have turned upside down so quickly? What evil lurks in these damn woods?

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