Page 47 of Don't Scare Me, My Love

“Can I join the party?” Alex said in the deepest voice that no one who wasn’t there when we rehearsed could figure out it was him.

I searched for Nicholas to see if he believed it.

He didn’t move, his head fixed on the guy in front of us. “Jason,” he whispered, “I know what you’re thinking, but this isn’t…” He pushed himself to his feet, taking a stance between me and the attacker. He raised his arms and clenched his fists, ready to fight him. “Stay back.”

“Don’t do anything stupid,” I said, pushing myself up as well.

Alex took a step toward us, the creepy smile on his face not going anywhere. “You better listen to your boyfriend.”

Jack groaned as he lifted his head to look at us. The fake blood was all over him. “What are you doing?” He tried to pull himself up, but his knees buckled.

Nicholas stared at the puddle of blood mixing with the dirt. He took a step toward him, but?—

“Run…” Jack gasped, coughing up more blood. “…and get help.”

Alex stepped behind Jack. He wrapped his fingers around the knife and pulled it out.

Jack screamed as he fell to his side, his face contorted.

Alex leaned down over him. “You’re lucky. I don’t enjoy going after wounded deer.” He turned to us. “It’s no fun.” Slowly but with confidence, he stood up and grinned at us.

“Save yourself,” Jack cried, his eyes pleading.

Nicholas took a step back, his feet brushing against mine. “But Jack?—”

“Run!”

“Damn it,” Nick grabbed my wrist and pulled me behind him through the woods before I knew it. He led me back to the pathwe came from, his head turning back to check if we were being followed. “That’s not part of the plan,” he yelled. “We… We have to run now. There’s nothing else we can do.”

“Jack,” I yelled, trying to slow down, but Nicholas’ grip tightened around my wrist to keep me going.

I couldn’t make out his face. I couldn’t be sure where he was leading me because it was too dark for me to see much. All I could hope for was that he would do what he always said people should do in horror movies—in this case, run to the car and get out of there as quickly as possible.

Five minutes later, the forest thinned out, allowing more moonlight to shine through the trees. The clearing got closer, and after another ten steps, we were back on the lookout. Only one thing was missing: the minivan. There were only tire marks where we had parked it.

Nicholas panted and leaned down, resting his hands on his knees. “Fuck. What?” He searched the area as if we had run to the wrong place.

“Nicholas, this isn’t funny anymore,” I said. “Where’s your car?”

“It should beright here. I don’t understand…” His mouth hung open, still working to catch his breath.

I frowned, even though I knew exactly what was going on. I had secretly taken his spare keys yesterday and given them to my friend Dany, who was also in on it. I figured this was the most likely thing to happen, so we moved the car to force Nicholas and me into an old abandoned cabin just half a mile down the road.

Nicholas put his right hand to his neck as he turned around as if the car would appear in front of us if we only waited long enough. His eyes widened as if he had just remembered something. He shoved his hands into his pockets, his whole body tensing. "Bloody hell."

I raised my arms above my head. “So, this guy isn’t part of your plan?”

“No. I’ve never seen him before.”

“So… Jack …?” I dropped to my knees and buried my face in my hands. “He’s going to be okay, isn’t he?” I sobbed, trying to rub my fingers into my left eye to make it red and look like I’d been crying.

Nicholas placed his hand on my shoulder. He took a breath, ready to say something. But even after ten seconds, the words didn’t leave his mouth. Instead, he dropped to his knees and pulled me into a hug. “Jason, we can’t stay out here in the open.”

“It’s like a three-mile walk down to town. It’s dark as shit. I can barely see.” As if checking out our options, I lifted my head and turned away from him. I had to make sure he saw as little of my face as possible so I wouldn’t risk giving away the ruse. “And what about Jack? We have to go back. We have to help him?—“

Nicholas pulled me in closer, rocking me back and forth as if he hoped the movement would help me calm down. “There is nothing we can do for him right now. We have to save ourselves first and call for help.”

I pressed my face into his chest because it was perfect to keep up my act. “But how?”

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