CHAPTER 15
After our little fun in the woods, Annie and I head back to our campsite.
I fumble with my phone, shaking it until the flashlight comes on.
My head spins as I sit down on my nearly flat air mattress, kicking off my shoes.
My body is sore as I lie back to get my shorts off in the cramped space.
A crunching sound startles me when my head hits my pillow, and the distinctive sound of paper on paper makes me come to a complete halt.
What in the world is that? I know for a fact I did not leave anything on my goddamn pillow.
Maybe it’s nothing, just something silly from Annie.
When my hand returns from above my head, I see the red folded paper.
I debate throwing whatever it is in the fire before even reading it, because if it’s not from Annie, I’m not sure I want to know what it is or who the fuck left it.
My hands shake as I flip the folded paper open.
My little prey, you’ve been tempting me far too long. That’s going to change. I see everything, including your raging desire for your best friend. But little prey, you belong to me and only me.
-Your shadow
I’m not crazy. Someone has been watching me.
Well, Annie and I, but for how long? This note makes it sound like it’s before Ironcliff Falls, but they could just be dramatic.
Or it could be him, and he followed us all the way from Maple Brook Falls.
I have no way to know for sure, and that scares the living daylights out of me.
If I knew what was best for me, I’d take this note right to the girls and to the managers of the campgrounds, who would most likely call the police.
But that would out Annie and me to everyone, and I know that's the last thing she would want. So, for her sake, this stays with me until it can’t any longer.
Hopefully, this guy is all talk and no action—or better yet, if it’s who I think it may be— he won’t hurt either of us. At least I don’t think he would.
I snap a picture of it on my phone, then fold it up into a tiny square, stuffing it into the pocket of my yoga pants.
My fingers fly on the barely lit screen, emailing myself a copy of the note, then deleting it from my phone.
Now it’s permanently on my drive, and I can get rid of all traces of it when the time presents itself.
“Are you okay?” Annie asks as I exit my tent, clearly not hiding my nervousness from her. She knows me too well.
“Yeah, just answering texts from mom. I missed my check-in.”
That’s not a lie, I did, but I still haven’t talked to my parents. That’ll be a problem for later.
“What’s that?” I notice a large brown box sitting on the picnic table.
Could it be from ‘My Shadow’? Or is it from someone else completely? My stomach flip-flops as Annie leans in, attempting to use the light from the hardly lit fire to read the shipping address.
“It’s from Hunter and the rest of the group. Do you have a knife?” I let out a sigh of relief, thanking the gods it’s not from the same person who left the note.
I reach into my tent and grab my pocketknife from my jeans pocket. I hand over the blade, letting Annie do the honors of revealing the contents of the box.
“How did they know where to find us, or what campsite we’d be at?”
That’s a very good question, and honestly, I don’t have an answer for her, not one that makes logical sense at least.
“Maybe one of our parents told him, or Miss Apple Bottom.”
“But we didn’t tell anyone what campsite. We didn’t know until we got here.”
Once again, she isn’t wrong there. We didn’t get to pick our site, they were assigned to us upon arrival. To mail something here, you’d have to know in advance where to find us, which just doesn’t make sense.
I start to spiral with the possibilities of what’s going to happen, how this week is going to end, and who the hell is stalking us… I just really hope it’s him.