I promised you this would be longer... and it is! Here you go, the scene in the forest :) Hope you like it! Drop me a comment to let me know :D

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The wood surrounded the lake from all angles, meaning there were few exits back in the direction of town and it was extremely easy to get lost. There had never been many people choosing to enter anyway, but after Brooke’s father had bought the land, it was off-limits to the general public, meaning it was deserted at any given time of day.

The place as a whole was extremely dangerous anyway, many of the paths obstructed by fallen trees and overgrown plants that tripped anyone who tried to walk over them. There were so many trees that loomed above, it made the area even darker, and with huge thick trunks everywhere in sight, it arose the constant suspicion that someone may be hiding in there, waiting.

Ethan had enlisted the help of some of his friends, fellow jocks, which bumped up their search party to a grand total of seven people. They each held a flashlight in their hands, but they were of barely any help when their light was just consumed by the overpowering darkness that the wood emitted.

"So where the hell do we start looking?" Alyssa said, placing one hand on her hip and sighing. It appeared as if she wasn’t even bothered about her friend’s disappearance, but inside, she was trying desperately to convince herself that everything was okay… and failing. The prospect of being alone in an unknown, dark forest scared her as much as any other person, but she’d rather give away all her Gucci, Chanel and Versace handbags than admit that she, Alyssa Taylor, was afraid.

"She can’t have gone far," Ethan answered her. "I guess we just wander around a little and hope she turns up."

Suddenly, there was an ear-piercing scream and a flashlight dropped to the ground with a smash, causing the light to flicker a few times before going out completely. One less flashlight – which meant a whole lot more darkness.

Alyssa glanced in Kayla’s direction, shining the torch on her scared face, which was looking worriedly at a small clearing in the bushes.

"What gives?" she asked.

"Oh my God, there’s totally something in there!" Kayla screeched, grabbing onto Alyssa’s arm in fear. "I swear, I saw it! It could be a lion or something! What if it eats us all? Oh my god, I’m too pretty to die!"

Olivia glanced at Ethan, her eyebrows raised, but it was too dark for him to notice.

Alyssa sighed heavily, irritated by her friend. "Don’t be such a dumbass, Kayla. And now look what you’ve done – you’ve broken your flashlight. That’s just great isn’t it?"

"I swear, I saw something!" she persisted, biting her lip. Her eyes were fixed on the bush, not daring to risk looking away for even a second.

"Yeah, right," Alyssa said, her voice practically dripping with sarcasm. "Let’s just hurry up and find Courtney. I’m not exactly having the time of my life in here, believe it or not."

The group continued walking for a few minutes longer, before Olivia suddenly felt a hand on her arm, pulling her back. Her heart jumped at the initial feeling, but she spun round to see Alyssa, whose firm grip was dragging her sideways. She shoved her, sending her walking backwards slightly until she felt the trunk of a tree behind her.

"Wait, wh-?" she said, as Alyssa stepped closer.

"Be quiet," she snarled, looking down at Olivia’s confused and slightly scared face. It was a good feeling, being so powerful over someone like her.

"I don’t know what you saw back at the cabin, but whatever you did see, keep it quiet," she hissed, narrowing her eyes.

Suddenly, it clicked in Olivia’s mind. She remembered what this was all about, letting a small smile creep onto her face. Maybe it would be fun, to have something over Alyssa. Something that would enable her to see the fear in Alyssa’s eyes whenever she was around. Fear of her.

"Why should I keep it quiet?" Olivia said, a little more confidently than she felt. It was quite intimidating being cornered by the toughest bitch in school, who was at least four inches taller than her when wearing flats.

"Because," Alyssa said, her grip tightening on Olivia’s wrist. "If you do anything to ruin my relationship with Carter, I will personally ruin you. You got that?" She glared at her – a look so fierce it seemed as if she genuinely wanted to kill Olivia.

"Um... yeah," Olivia said, her air of confidence disintegrating with the intensity of Alyssa’s expression.

"Good," Alyssa said, stepping back slightly. "Because you know, what happened this week... That was only a taste of what I’m capable of. You can’t even imagine what I could do to you if I wanted. So, if I were you," she said, narrowing her eyes. "I’d keep my big mouth firmly shut."

She smiled sweetly, taking another few steps back. "I’m glad we’ve come to an understanding, Olivia."

Olivia stood frozen to the spot for a few seconds as Alyssa turned around and started walking briskly to catch up with the group. Her brain could barely begin to process what had just happened. She shook her head slightly, trying to shake it off, before speeding up to follow Alyssa back to the group.

"Hey, guys," Alyssa said calmly, as she returned. "Olivia and I just went to check out this little clearing in the trees – but no luck." Her lie was so effortless, so believable, the words sounded like the truth even when Olivia knew first-hand what had happened.

The group continued walking for a short while, shining their flashlights in every direction and occasionally calling out Courtney’s name in the hope of her calling out in reply, but to no avail. After they had been walking for at least twenty minutes – although it was difficult to tell the time as each second spent in the darkness felt like an eternity – it was starting to become apparent that they were getting nowhere.

"Uh, guys," Ethan said, stopping and turning round to look at the group. "Does anyone even know where the hell we are?"

There was an eerie silence as they all looked round, suddenly realising that none of them knew where they were, let alone how to get out. The only sound that could be heard was the whistling of the wind through the leaves of the trees, biting at their bare skin and entwining itself in their hair.

Olivia shivered as this realisation sunk in, biting her lip as she wondered how they were ever going to find their way back to the cabin. They would be stuck in the forest for days, no one knowing where they were, unable to find them in the labyrinth of trees. Eventually they would freeze, slowly perish, as the mystery of their deaths was never solved.

She shivered again, trying to force the thought out of her mind as she watched the panic in everyone’s faces become slowly visible.

"We’ve gotta get out of here," Aiden, one of Ethan’s friends, said.

"No kidding…" Ethan said. "But how?"

The group turned to look all around them, as if an exit was going to magically appear out of thin air, but unsurprisingly nothing happened. It was getting colder and colder with every second and Olivia pulled Ethan’s jacket closer to her skin, slightly guilty that he was now without it himself.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, a loud bang sounded – from somewhere uncomfortably close to where they were standing. Olivia jumped as Alyssa and Kayla screamed – an ear-piercing noise that continued to ring in her ears even after they had stopped.

"What the hell was that?" Alyssa said, her voice now consumed with fear. She was clutching onto Kayla’s arm in panic, turning her head sharply whenever there was the slightest noise, although all that could be heard was the sound of everyone’s shallow breathing.

"Hey – where’s Aiden?"

They turned round sharply, shining their flashlights in the spot where Aiden had been only seconds ago – which was now eerily empty. The wind whistled around the trees as Olivia’s heart began to pound inside her chest.

"Oh my god, is that–" Olivia looked down at the spots of dark red liquid that were now on the floor, a sight which made her stomach drop and her whole body become overtaken with a wave of nausea. Yet again, the air was filled with an ear-piercing shrill of screams coming from Alyssa and Kayla’s direction, which this time did not stop. The noise rung in Olivia’s ears, her heart beating faster and faster as she became slowly dizzy with fear.

Suddenly, they were running and her feet were pounding on the floor, crushing the dead leaves and twigs below, stumbling slightly as her foot caught on a twisted branch.

"Don’t fall behind," she whispered inwardly to herself, feeling her insides tighten as she began to run out of breath. There was a belt round her lungs, slowly tightening, forcing all the air out and restraining her from inhaling as they ran on. Alyssa and Kayla’s screams had faded now, and the only audible noise was the sound of pounding footsteps on the forest floor and the heavy, forced breathing from the people around her.

The bitterness of the wind rushing past her face was overpowering and her face was stinging. Everything in her body ached, ached with fatigue, ached with fear. She could not run much further, but if she didn’t carry on she would lose the others.

It all happened in a split second. One moment she was sprinting, the next her foot had collided with a fallen branch and she was lying on the floor, her head throbbing and an increasing pain in her leg. She tried to call out, but she could barely catch her breath, and the others were running so fast they were now out of sight. They hadn’t even noticed she was gone.

She lay there for a few seconds, shivering in the cold and watching the clouds of her breath form in front of her face. She tried to sit up, rubbing her head and then inhaling sharply as a stab of pain shot through her leg. Upon closer inspection, she found that there was now a fairly deep wound where something sharp had cut through her skin, glistening with fresh blood.

"Ow…" she said, trying to manoeuvre herself into a position she could stand up from.

"Hey… who’s that?" she heard a voice call, causing her heart to skip a beat in panic. She stayed silent, hardly daring to breathe as the rustling in the bushes gradually became closer.

"Aiden?" Olivia said, squinting as a figure came into her sight, clutching his arm.

"Oh, it’s you," Aiden said. "I thought it was some serial killer or something, you know."

"Where did you disappear to back there?" Olivia said, taking hold of a stable-looking branch nearby and trying to hoist herself upwards. "You scared the hell out of all of us."

"I tripped backwards and cut my arm as I went down. Then you all started screaming and before I knew it, you were all running off." He lifted his hand, which was clasped over his arm, and winced in pain. "Man, this hurts."

"This place is a death trap, huh?" Olivia said lightly, glancing at her leg. "You know, we should really think about getting the hell out of here."

"No kidding." Aiden looked around. "So… which way?"

Olivia looked around, trying to determine which direction looked like the one that would lead them back to the cabin, when she froze. Was that a voice calling?

It was obvious Aiden had heard it too. He was rooted to the spot, his eyes glazed with fear, although he was trying his best not to show it.

"Wait, is that…" Aiden’s voice trailed off as the voice called again, louder this time, closer to where they were standing.

"Carter?" Olivia said, as a tanned blonde guy suddenly emerged in between two trees. His hair was looking messier than usual and his shirt was only half buttoned. Despite the dim light, it was clear that he wasn’t looking his usual, perfect self.

"Who’s that?" he called. "Is Alyssa there?"

"No, dude, it’s me, Aiden. And… what’s her name? Olivia."

"Oh." His voice hinted disappointment, yet relief at the same time.

Aiden started to make his way over to where Carter was standing, Olivia following closely behind, limping slightly with her injured leg.

"Why are you hanging about in here anyway? You’re fucking crazy, man."

"We were looking for Courtney. Apparently she went missing when the power cut out."

"Oh, um, Courtney?" Carter looked shifty. "She’s uh… back at the house. Yeah, she’s fine. I don’t think she’s even left the place."

"Great," Aiden muttered, shoving a fallen branch aside with his foot that was obstructing his way.

"What about the others?" Olivia said, stopping and remembering that Alyssa, Kayla, Jack and Ethan were still in amongst the cold, lightless wood. Even though she hated Alyssa, she still didn’t like to think of her stuck in the midst of the trees, unable to find her way out.

"Ah, they’ll find their way out. Alyssa will call her precious Dad and get them all airlifted to safety in a diamond-encrusted private helicopter."

Olivia bit her lip, unsure, even though she knew Aiden was probably right. Alyssa was the best connected person in the whole of Serenity Falls – she was bound to have someone on speed dial that would get them the hell out of there. Or so she hoped.