(photo: Colleen Schena)
“I told him, I told him not to go out,” Theodor said as he brushes aside a branch and waits for Cassie to pass through.
“I know,” Cassie said as she walked under the branch and back to the main path. They have been wandering around the eco lab looking for Chase for a little under an hour and getting horribly lost in the process.
“And what did he do?” Theo said angrily, falling into step beside her.
Cassie sighed, “he went out anyway.” A look of utter boredom on her face.
“He went out anyway, that’s right-wait!” he looked at her apologetically. “Sorry, I didn’t realize I was saying it that much.”
“you’re fine, and you’re right. We’ve been out here for so long. I’m not even sure how to get back.”
“It’ll be fine.” He slid his knuckles against hers. They walked in sync with each other like that for a little while. Both wearing a faint small. They walked down a path that led to wooden planks making a bridge over a wetland. Cassie took the lead, walking down the blanks.
“Do you think he came out this fair?” Cassie asked as she looked over the side at the half-frozen murky water. It had flurried this morning. She lives about forty minutes away from Marian and is used to Indiana’s constant shift in weather. One year you’ll get the snowiest winter you’ve ever seen, the next, a never-ending fall tell spring creeps up in February. She had fun listening to Theo rave about the snow over breakfast. It was a pleasant distraction. If only for a few minutes.
“I don’t know, but we should give it a try. Plus, I heard a rumor that there is a bridge way back here.” He grinned.
“A bridge?” she turned and looked at him, raising an eyebrow. “What rumor could possibly interest you this much to take me there?”
“One that I think we’d both be interested in, and that’s all I’ll say tell if, and or when, we find it.”
She just rolled her eyes and kept walking. “So, what else do you know about these woods? Since you’re so into spreading rumors.” she chuckled.
“Not much. Though I did hear something very briefly at the orientation.”
“Yeah?” she said, trying to get him to talk more.
“I’m not sure I want to bring it up.” He rubbed the back of his neck, weighing the options. It’s an unsettling nugget of information, especially given their current circumstances. The last thing he wanted to do is scare her out here in the middle of the woods where one of their classmates died and the other went missing. Hell, he’s scared just being out here. He tried to cover it with anger and small talk. He guessed Cassie is doing the same. Giving herself a distraction. But this was not the time to talk about what he heard. He started to regret bringing it up to begin with.
She twirled around as soon as she stepped back onto dry land. “Oh, come on, you have to tell me now!” she pouted.
His cheeks burned slightly at the sudden outburst of enthusiasm. It was nice seeing her exited. He didn’t want to damage that. But she should be able to decide that on her own, “Well, it’s pretty unnerving, you sure you can handle it?” he asked with genuine concern in his tone.
Cassie straightened a bit at the warning and thought about it for a second. “Yeah, the worst thing we can do is hold stuff back. Who knows how important one minor detail could be? Especially coming from these woods.” He nodded, and they kept walking.
“Ok, but I’ll keep it brief.” He took a moment before speaking, “So, you know Allision Mansion?” she nodded. “Well, back when the guy lived there, these woods is where he’d come to let off some steam. He had an entire business dedicated to cars, so he wanted a place to drive them. He spent a lot of time driving in these woods,” Theo paused. “Well, what I heard was that one night while he was driving, his car stopped responding to him. He ended up driving right into the river. He died on impact as the car exploded. Some speculate one of the wife’s did it to inherit his fortune, but no one really knows.” He wached Cassie's face dran of coller. He bit his tough on the next nugglet of information. manly the fact the his secont wife went missing the same day.
A shiver ran up and down Cassie’s spine. “So, your saying that Greg is not the only one who… passed away… in these woods?!” her outburst made him take pause.
“You ok?” He really should not have brought it up.
She bit her tongue. “Yeah, I’m fine. Totally. Yeah, for sure. Didn’t freak me out one bit.” She said with different combinations of head nods and false confidence.
“Sorry, should have waited to tell you.” He knew it was stopped to tell her. It certainly didn’t make him feel batter.
She knew that it would be bad, but dang! Still, she didn’t regret having him tell her. She didn’t know what they were yet, but regardless, this felt like a big step for them.
“Here, let’s get your mind off of that for a second. This place isn’t all that bad. Like here!” he said with joy as they turned the corner and looked upon the bridge. He was hoping they’d fine. The small sized walkway and low tree branches provided a hidden little pocket of the world for those who seek alone time. “This is the bridge I was talking about.” He led her over to the foot of the stone arch. Snow covered the rock walls.
“It’s cool, but not as existing as I expected.” She said as she strolled up to the peak. It only took three steps.
“It will be when you hear what they call this bridge.” He grinned but stayed at the bottom, nerves coiled in his gut. This is so risky. They’re both on the cheer squad and she is one of the first people he met coming to campus. He really didn’t want to mess all of this up. But she has been his rock through all the craziness happening to them. She raised an eyebrow at him as she sat down on the stone ledge, not caring about the cool bit of snow, her back to the corner in which they just turned on. He railed his courage and sat down next to her. “Well, according to some people I talked to, it’s called the Kissing Bridge. Sense theirs not a lot of places on campus to get some privacy, couples come here for dates.” His face turned rose red at the implication. “I was hoping to ask if you wanted to go on one, a date I mean, with me?” Their it was. The question he’d been trying to ask for two months now. He couldn’t look at her as he spoke. As he finished the silenced that fallowed left him regretting his life designees. This was a mistake! Coming here was a mistake! A cool breeze passed by as he looked over at Cassie to read the damage to the friendship he just slashed a sword through.
But Cassie’s face was purple. The veins in her forehead rose to the surface. White long lines formed on her neck, like an invisible hand griping her skin.
“You ok?” Theo pushed off the stone wall and knelt in front of Cassie. He searched her face desperately looking for some kind of explanation. But her eyes were fixed on something just above him. Something more frightening than her lack of breathing as she sat frozen, fear dancing in her eyes.
Theo said, shaking her, “Cassie! what’s wrong!? CASSIE!” no reaction. He needed help. He needed to get her out of here!
“Sorry for this.” He said as he hocked his arm under her legs and behind her back. He lifted her off the wall and started moving to the only exit he knew. As soon as he left the bridge, Cassie gasped, inhaling deeply in sharp, uneven breaths. The white on her neck subsided and left behind red bruising. She held her hands close to her throat as if to protect her damaged windpipes.
A terrible screeching erupted from behind them. “HE’S MY HOSBEND! YOU CAN’T HAVE HIM!” Something old and sad and angry was howling on the bridge. Theo spun around and barley held on to Cassie with the movement. He dropped her legs as he stood face to face with a blue eyed, feminine figure, screaming. A white mist made up the form of her body. Small tendrils of vaper dripped off her like fire, stretching up into the sky, then disappearing. The lines of her body blurred. Her white dress had a large unsightly red stain in the stomach. The splatters had pooled and dripped down the front of the dress, dripping blood on the white snow. She thrashed, agencted the stones. Holding the sides of her head with both hands as it shook back and forth.
And that scream. Wholly inhuman. Cassie clung tight to Theo’s shirt as she still caught her breath. She stared at the thing that just held her life in its jealous hands.
This was one of them. The white things everyone but Chase had been seeing.
“ALLISON IS MINE,” the girl made a lunge for them, Theo fell backwards in shock, Cassie soon fall with him, but the thing stopped at the base of the bridge. She screamed again.
Theo looked down at Cassie, who is now pale as the surrounding snow. He started shaking from the cold that cut into him, from the fear settling in him, like a rock sinking to the bottom of a lake. The thing said Alison is her husband! She’s one of the wives. That dumb rumor…! He didn’t want to say all of it to Cassie. That his second wife, the day she went missing a gun shot was heard coming from the woods.
Could Chase had run into one of them on his ride and had his neck strangled?
‘Where is he?! Where is the other wife?’ Theo thought.
But this was not the time to be thinking about that. “let’s go!” Cassie rasped. He nodded and took her hand in his and lead her back to which they came.
Only to find it blocked by another white figure, with long hair and red eyes. Chills ran down both Theo and Cassie’s spine as they beheld her. Her facial fetors warped by the white fire like smock. One thing was clear in all the haze, she’s out for blood.
The couple stopped dead in their tracks as the floor fall out from under them. They stood still, holding their breath as to not alert the new ghost of their presence.
But those red eyes did not so much as flicker in their direction, but to the bridge beyond them. At some point the screaming had stopped. Only to be replaced by quiet whimpers. The couple dared turn around and fallowed the red-eyed gaze, only to find the once raging girl is now sat on the stone wall. Her back to them in the same passion Cassie was in.
A click, click, click sounded softly over the subs. Theo looked first.
He moved only on instinct as he threw himself over Cassie, covering her eyes and hugging her tight as if it could protect her from the-
BANG!
Birds screeched and flew away.
The bullet had gone right through him.
This isn’t what was supposed to happen. Theo cupped Cassie’s cheeks and looked at her with nothing but sorrow and pain and regret. “I’m sorry.” But no sound came out of him as the light slowly left her eyes.
The young couple crumpled to the groaned in a loving in brace.
~to be continued~
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