It was shortly after Tyler and Emma got me inside the house that Mr. Peppermint showed up. Nettie and Nathan had gone home already. It turns out they also live in Slaughterville. What a coincidence ha-ha. I swear it was as if they were mutes. I don’t think I heard them talk at all. They must’ve just been shy. Anyway, my efforts of trying to distract my thoughts were futile. I kept imagining shadows everywhere and couldn’t forget the warning on the tree. Or was it a warning? Were they, whoever they were, just trying to tell me something, or was this something more serious? My muscles keep having these spas attacks. I feel like I have freakin’ turrets. I’m pretty sure I’m pitting out right now too. I nonchalantly checked my underarms and yep, I sure was. Great. Couldn’t all this wait for later when I wasn’t around the guy I was crushing on? Of course it couldn’t. That’s just how everything works.
Tyler got me onto the couch. “Well, uh, I think Emma’s mom is coming to get us soon.”
“Yeah, I texted her, and she’s on her way.” Emma scratched the back of her head. I could tell she either was nervous about something or was uncomfortable. Maybe it was because she knew I was crushing on Tyler, and she was giving him a ride home. She was probably thinking I would get jealous. Which I wouldn’t. Well, maybe a little. You couldn’t blame me. He was just so gorgeous.
I laid on the couch for a while letting my mind clear itself of terrible thoughts. Tyler and Emma left soon after telling me they had a ride. I think Mr. Peppermint frightened them a bit too. I don’t blame them. He even made my skin crawl. There was just something about him.
My mom made spaghetti for supper. It wasn’t the best choice, but I liked it. Of course, she had made me a separate batch. You see, I absolutely hate mushrooms, one of her favorite ingredients in the dish. Blah. Who would want to eat those slimy, disgusting things? Gross, gross, gross. I was in charge of setting up the table, so I took out our stupidest looking plates, which had flowers all over them, and our most bent up silverware. I did not want to make a good impression. My mom soon caught on to my act of defiance and made me get the best dishes out.
“You are not going to ruin this for me, Hayley. I will finish getting everything ready, and you can just go upstairs or something.” My mom took the silverware and plates out of my hands and laid them onto the table. I shot her a murderous glare and shuffled upstairs.
Once I was in my own room I collapsed onto my bed and took out my phone. I had five text messages. Who would be texting me? I saw that most of them were from Emma. She was just seeing how I was doing and all. I didn’t blame her. I did freak out and everything. I know what I saw. I just know it was there. Things were getting really weird around here, and I have to admit I was really scared.
My phone interrupted my thoughts with a catchy ring tone. I saw that Emma was calling me. I didn’t really feel like talking to anyone at the moment but had nothing else to do, so I answered it.
“Hello,” I spoke hollowly into the phone.
“Hey, Hayley. It’s Emma. How are you doing?”
“Oh, pretty good. Just lying on my bed.”
“Oh, I see. Well, my mom is visiting a friend here in Slaughterville, and I was wondering if you wanted me to come over for a little bit longer.”
“Emma, you know my mom doesn’t really want anyone to come over again. Sorry.”
“I know, but I really want to check out the timber again. You looked pretty scared, and so I wanted to look around out there. Maybe there really was something; maybe we missed it. Anyway, I am bored out of my mind.” I didn’t know what to say at first. I think ten seconds passed before I replied back to her. Trust me, ten seconds can feel like a long time.
“Well, uh, sure. If you are out in the timber then my mom wouldn’t know. I could even go out there with you maybe. I don’t know if I really want to though. I’m not sure if I’m quite over it yet.”
“Ok, well I will be over to your house in a couple minutes.” I was going to say something back to her, but the line went dead. I had a look of confusion on my face but got over Emma’s strange behavior quickly. I slowly set my phone down and crawled out of bed. I could hear my mom talking to someone downstairs. Mr. Peppermint, no doubt. I shoved my cell phone into my pocket and sauntered down the stairs.
“Oh, here is Hayley! She is in a bit of a bad mood; you will have to forgive her.” They were already eating at the table without me. Hmph. My mom was treating me like I was a disease. I grabbed a plate and filled it only a little. I wanted to make sure I was done eating before Emma got here. I sat down at the table and looked at the two familiar faces sitting across from me.
“I’m going to go outside when I’m done eating.” I told my mom in between mouthfuls of spaghetti.
“I don’t care,” she started, “as long as you don’t get yourself lost out there. Hayley, why don’t you go get us some drinks.”
“Why can’t you get them yourself?” They were just sitting there staring at me like I had spoken a foreign language. Seriously, they were sitting closer to the fridge then I was. I could see that this was going to turn into an argument, so I stood up with a huff and stomped over to the cupboards. “What do you want to drink, Mom?” I gritted through my teeth.
“I would like some water. Actually, make that two waters.” She gave then gave me the most fake smile she could come up with. I hurriedly turned on the faucet and let the water overflow before turning it off. Then I stomped back over to the table and slammed the glasses down right in front of them. I know, I was acting childish, but what would you do in my situation? My life was being taken over by some fat, ugly guy that somehow caught my mother’s heart and won’t let it go. I couldn’t stand either of them anymore. I had it.
“Would you please just leave?!” I accidentally spoke that out loud. I hadn’t meant to. It just happened. This was bad. My mom was just staring blankly at me with disgust in her eyes.
I saw him start to protest, but my mom cut him off.
“No, Hayley, I think you should leave.” She said it really calmly causing me to look at her with shock and confusion. I then got up and threw my plate across the table. It landed with a crash against the wall behind my mom. Ok, well maybe I was aiming for her face, but it’s a good thing I hit the wall instead. The plate itself had shattered into several pieces which were now laid strewn out on the floor. I didn’t know if I should have said sorry or not, but before I knew it, I was stomping, again, towards the door. I was so infuriated that I even slammed it closed.
Once I was outside I started to run. I ran towards the timber as fast as I could. I didn’t think my mom would come out for me; I don’t even know why I was running. Out of anger possibly? Perhaps it was just the terrible feeling I had deep down. I couldn’t even describe the feeling. My heart was pounding fiercely, and my legs were turning numb. I cut through the pointed tree limbs and started for the little clearing we were in before. My legs felt itchy; my hair was falling all over my face. Despite the irritations, I was still running. I got to the open part of the timber and finally stopped. I sat down then stood up quickly, remembering the ants from before. I proceeded to pace around in circles. There was only one person I really wanted to see right now. I didn’t know when Emma would be here, so I texted Tyler giving him a brief explanation about my position and promising to tell him the rest if he came back over to my house. He answered saying “yes” which made me extremely happy. I was so angry with my mom right now. Sure, Emma would help to cheer me up a little, but Tyler would make everything better. Or so I hoped.
It had been five minutes of my pacing and neither had showed up yet. Then I heard some leaves rustle around. I turned to look to see that no one was there. I walked towards the trees then got the s**t scared out of me when Tyler stepped out.
“Flippin’ Fudge Pops! Don’t scare me like that!” I fell flat on my a*s in an awkward attempt to jump backwards. I probably looked entertaining but felt extremely embarrassed.
“Ha-ha. I didn’t mean to scare you. I went up to your house-” I cut him off.
“You went up to my house?! Did you knock on the door? Did my mom see you? What happened?!” I bombarded him with questions.
“Whoa. Calm down. I didn’t think you were inside because I saw your mom and some guy through the window. I decided to come out here because I thought that’s where you would be. Your mom didn’t see me, I don’t think.” He had come out to help me up now. I grabbed his hand and let him pull me. Then, for the second time tonight, I heard the leaves rustle. Out stepped Emma. She had a look on her face that I couldn’t quite get. It was almost confusion and hate, which totally took me by surprise.
“What is he doing here?” She finally said.
“I asked him to come because I was having some difficulties with my mom and didn’t know when you would get here.” I squinted my eyes trying to see through her. Something still didn’t feel right. I saw her right arm move and traced it down to her hand.
“Oh My God! Emma, is that a gun?!” I had instantly recognized the object in her hand. She wasn’t as fast as to note that I knew. I saw her face turn to shock then guilt then anger all at once.
“You shouldn’t have told him to come here.” She stated calmly then held the gun up and pulled the trigger. It was an earsplitting blast. I was too frozen to move; too scared to run. I just stood there and stared at the barrel of the gun. Everything turned quiet. It was a scream that interrupted the silence. I thought it was mine until I heard Tyler drop to his knees. I ran over to him instantly, unaware of Emma still standing there. She didn’t mean anything to me anymore; she wasn’t even a threat. She had shot Tyler. Why had she done that?
Tyler was writhing in pain clutching his stomach. I got to him as fast as I could. I felt like my whole world was in slow motion and just couldn’t get there fast enough. I saw the pained expression in his face; the look of confusion in his eyes. Then I couldn’t really see anything. My eyes had filled up with tears. They were falling down my face in streaming lines of anguish. I felt my heart choking my throat with its furious pounding. I couldn’t contain my stomach for long, holding back the heaves I felt coming. I got to Tyler and threw myself to the ground, oblivious to the sharp sticks. I held his face up and looked into it.
“You’re going to be ok! You’re going to be ok!” I was trying more to convince myself then anything. I knew I was too late. I knew that the wound was fatal. I just couldn’t assure myself that. He looked up at me with dying eyes. I could see the color washing out of them.
“Am I dying? Tell me.” His voice was strained as though he hadn’t spoken for days. I could tell it was hard for him to talk. I didn’t want to tell him the horrible truth but also could not lie to his face.
“Possibly, yes. I’m so sorry, Tyler. Stay with me. It will be ok. We can call 911 and everything will be fine. Just stay with me. Stay with-”
Before I could say another word Emma started to talk.
“This is your fault. If you hadn’t told him to come out then he wouldn’t be dying right now.” She stood there looking smug.
I was still crying, but my tears of sadness now turned to tears of anger. I stood up, allowing all the blood to rush to my head, and started to run towards the trees away from Emma. I didn’t think about the gun and didn’t want to look back. I just wanted to keep running. Nothing even seemed real. Tyler couldn’t be dying. Emma wasn’t capable of doing something so evil. She had been the bouncy friend that was too optimistic, not a killer. Why would she do something like this? How? I didn’t see it coming, nor did I see the tree root sticking out of the ground. It was too late by the time I noticed. My foot caught underneath it causing my body to be dragged to the ground. My head made contact with a tree stump, and I felt dizzy. My vision was blurred; I felt nauseous. I rolled to my back, and the last thing I saw before losing consciousness was Emma walking towards me wearing a smirk on her face. Everything went black. I was lost in a world of despair.
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