Danica

Friday, July 26th, 11:47pm.

The dunes are quiet this time of night, the sky dark and infinite above me as it stretches across the sky. There's no moon out by now and the stars must be covered by a layer of clouds because I can't see them. The wind kicks up and I shiver against the chill that comes with it as it blows over the lake water.

Sand whispers around me, the grains dusting at my bare legs as I fall to my knees.

****

Past: May 17th

My body sways to the movement of the truck as it jolts through potholes and ruts in the road.

I don't know where we're going.

I don't know if...if maybe I'm going to die tonight too.

My hands cradle Olivia's head, her face obscured by a beach towel. Paxon sits across from me, not a single emotion on his face as he holds one of her hands, the color having long drained from it as the fingertips have turned a faint shade of blue.

I hate Derrick.

I hate myself.

I hate the fear and control the gun had on me as I stood by and let them wrap her in a beach towel before they loaded her body into the back of the truck.

Body.

My friend is a body now.

A corpse.

I grit my teeth when the truck comes to a stop, the brakes squeaking as I wince at the noise.

The doors open and shut, once, twice. Derrick smiles at us as he stops next to the bed, the headlights of Noah's car shining over him as he pulls up behind us and gets out. Adam walks around to the back and stops a few feet away from Derrick, his eyes looking everywhere but at us.

"Let's get this over with," Derrick says as he props the pistol on the edge of the bed.

Noah walks over and flips down the tailgate of the truck and climbs up into the bed, the smell of alcohol following him as he sits crouched not too far away from us. His amber eyes are too bright, too eager as they shine with something sinister. My stomach twists at the thought of what might happen to me.

Paxon tenses next to me, his hands clenching into fists. I put out a hand to steady him as Derrick watches us, a smile spreading across his face.

"If he wants to punch Noah I won't stop him," Derrick promises in a low voice.

I don't trust him for a second.

I don't trust him to not make all of us into bodies by the end of the night.

"I can carry her myself," Paxon growls.

It's something I didn't expect him to say but he picks up Olivia's swaddled form and gets out of the bed of the truck as he grunts from the effort of jumping down. He stands holding her, his eyes blank as he looks to Derrick.

I can't breathe as I shakily climb down from the truck and stand waiting.

The passenger in Noah's car gets out and I recognize Michael, Nikki's brother as he hesitantly stands next to the car before he steps over to stand next to me.

"Listen up because I'm not going to repeat myself," Derrick says as he picks up the gun and strolls towards Noah's car, "I didn't want to have to do this, but I can't risk a murder being on my record."

I want to say something, anything at all but the words die in my throat.

"We're getting out of here," Michael says in a voice that is a breath beneath a whisper as he stands at my shoulder.

I close my eyes, desperately wishing that I wasn't here anymore, that I was anywhere else in the world. But I'm not.

The trunk to Noah's car is opened and shut with a slam as I flinch at the noise.

Something is pushed into my hands and I startle as I open my eyes to see that Derrick stands looking back at me. I glance down at what's in my hands.

It's a shovel.

"Start digging," he says with a smile that sends ice down my back.

****

I fall, my leg abruptly being sucked into the sand as I reach out a hand to keep myself from falling completely under. My foot catches as I stand on top of something that crinkles. It moves as I climb out of the hole and reach back down to dig through the sand.

What's in here with me?

Plastic crinkles under my hand as I dig at whatever is writhing under the sand. Something that is wrapped in black plastic is struggling to get out and I reach down to pop a hole in the plastic.

Fingers spring out of the hole to rip through it, the nails broken and bloody as they rip desperately at the plastic.

Oh god, it's a person.

I'm frozen as I stare in horror, a face suddenly poking out of the hole.

Derrick stares back at me, his eyes wide and discolored as they blearily focus on me. He opens his mouth. His teeth are moving and it takes me a moment to realize that it's not his teeth.

They're maggots.

As soon as I realize this they start to fall out of his mouth and he chokes out a few words.

I try to scream but nothing comes out.

****

I wake up, my heart jumping in my throat as I try to get up, but fall to the floor of my bedroom. My legs are tangled in the sheets and I frantically throw them off of me as my hands shake. Sweat has soaked through my nightshirt making the fabric stick to me as my room is unbearably hot.

I gasp in several breaths of air as I open the door to my room and stumble down the hall for the bathroom. It's dark and I shuffle my feet in case any cats or dogs are lingering in the shadows so I don't step on them.

In the faint light of a nightlight I fumble for the sink and turn on the tap before I stick my head under and take a few gulps of water. My hair falls into the sink and I irritably twist it over my shoulder. I rinse my face, cleaning off the sweat that's gathered there before I dry off with a towel and glance up in the mirror.

"Shit!" I hiss when I see someone else staring back at me.

I spin around, my back slamming against the countertop as I wince, my temples throbbing as I can only stare at them.

"Sorry, I heard you get up," Matt whispers from his place in the doorway.

"You could have made some sort of noise," I mutter as I toss the towel onto the countertop.

"Why are you up?" Matt pries and I shudder at the thought of my nightmare.

You can't tell anyone.

I take a couple breaths to steady myself as he watches me and I suddenly feel uncomfortable.

"I got hot," I lie as I step past him and start back toward my room.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," I say even though my heart is still beating too fast for comfort.

I pause in my doorway and look back at him as his light eyes scan mine. Even though he's so much younger than me, I suddenly feel like the younger sibling as he watches me.

"Dani...," his voice drops to less than a whisper as he looks over his shoulder at the dark hallway.

There's a long pause, like he's expecting one of our parents to wake up and check on us but no one comes. It's just he and I in the dark hall and the utter silence between us.

"Did you do something...bad?"

I shake my head, "No, of course not."

I turn away and step into my room as I gather up my sheets from where they lie on the floor and toss them onto my bed.

"I won't tell anyone if you did," Matt whispers and I can't help but smile as I nod.

"Matt...everything's fine," I say and he stares up at me.

"Promise?"

In that moment, his eyes are full of trust and the breath catches painfully in my throat as I force the lie through my teeth.

"I promise."

****A/N: So...what do you think happened? Comment below!****