Chapter 5

I continued down Maple Street and then turned left onto Oak Street. Six blocks down and on my right was Ms. Jones’ old house. She had a corner lot house and it was beautiful. What a shame that she had to sell and move to Florida. She had a colonial style house w/ a beautiful weeping willow tree in the front yard. Someone had definitely moved in and started making changes. She had some gorgeous rose bushes in her front lawn and those were ripped up and replaced with some small lilac bushes and there was fresh mulch all along her fence line.

Her garage was detached and since she was on a corner lot, her house was on Oak but her garage was actually facing out onto Pine. I turned the corner and started to jog past her garage and that’s when I ran into him. Literally, I ran into Cole.

“Ouch! Do you watch where you’re going?”

“I am so sorry”

“Were you stalking me? Why were you jogging past my house staring at it?”

“No I was not stalking you! I knew the previous owner and I was sad to find out she moved. I wanted to take a jog past her house because I felt bad that I never said good bye to her”

“Well, she’s not here to say goodbye to”

“I know that”

There was a brief silence and I couldn’t help but notice how amazing Cole looked in lounge clothes. He had on gray sweat pants and a black t-shirt. His hair was a mess and he was holding the morning paper in his hand.

“Well, since she’s not here to say goodbye to I suppose you could say good morning to me instead”

“Good morning Cole”

“Good morning Shelby”

“So I see your family has made some changes to Mrs. Jones’ old house.”

“You wanted to stand here and talk about landscaping?”

Could he have more of an attitude? Has Cole never heard of small talk?

“No not really. I’m going to finish my jog now”

I started jogging away when Cole called out after me “Hang on, I’d like to jog with just let me get my shoes”

Was this really happening? Now I was going to share my morning jog with ‘Mr. Attitude’. I don’t know why I waited but I did.

A few short minutes later Cole was by my side and we were jogging back into town. Not sure what to say to him I played tour guide and showed him local stores and told him about things to do in town. I don’t think he was really paying attention but at least it made our run less awkward for me.

Chapter 4

I had a hard time sleeping after my conversation with Mike. When I saw it was 8am on my alarm clock I decided to just get up for the day. I put on my running clothes and decided to take a jog to clear my mind. I was having a hard time trying to figure out exactly what Mike and Becka saw in the woods. I also couldn't get Cole out of my mind.

"Mom, I'm gonna go for a jog into town."

"Ok honey, see you later."

I ran out down the drive, turned the corner and headed down Main street. It was a beautiful morning, the sun was out but it was only in the upper 70's so far. Since it was Saturday morning the town was pretty quiet still. The only place that was busy was the diner with people having breakfast. Monday I'd be waitressing, at least I still had today and tomorrow all to myself. I turned onto Maple and ran past Mike's house. I decided to turn around and stop for a quick hello.

Mike's parents had a beautiful house, it was a victorian and just off of the main strip where the giant houses needed to upkeep their antique looks. I walked up the drive and decided to go to the side kitchen door because I was sure everyone would be having breakfast.

"Oh Shelby, come on in" Mike's mom was doing dishes at the sink and had the window open. I jumped a bit because I didn't expect anyone to acknowledge me before I even knocked.

"Is Mike up?"

"He's in the shower. There's some extra pancakes on the counter and there's still a half pot of coffee if you want anything help yourself."
"Thanks, I think I will." Mike's mom was always so nice to his friends. You could come over at any time of day or night and there would always be something ready to eat.

"So, Mike told me you got a job for the summer too?"

"Yes, I'm going to be working at the diner a couple days a week."

"Did Mike tell you that he's going to be working with his father?"

"Yes, he said he'll be doing some light office work"

"His dad's hoping he'll become interested in real estate and maybe persue it one day; he'd like to make the agency a family business. Has Mike ever talked to you about college or what he plans to do? He never talks to us."

"No, actually he hasn't. Hopefully this year things will become more real to all of us and we'll make better decisions once we figure out what colleges we want to go to."

"What do you want to do Shelby?"

"I don't know, my mom is always telling me about all the positions I could hold in the hospital if I decided to study medicine but I just don't know if that's something I want to do."

I never really liked talking about my friends to their parents, I always feel like I'm being probed for information. I was really hoping this conversation would end soon and decided to help myself to some coffee in hopes to distract his mom from further questions.

"Mrs. Miller, where do you keep the extra sugar? your sugar bowl on the counter is empty"

"Oh, it's over in the pantry, I also have some french vanilla flavored creamer in the fridge"

Now she was talking about something I was interested in. French Vanilla is my favorite flavor coffee.
Just as I finished making my coffee Mike came down and walked right past me to the pancakes. He just picked one up, rolled it up and ate it then he took my coffee from me and drank a huge gulp.

"Mike, I swear you are such a pain sometimes."

"What? There's more coffee"

"Ok kids, I'm going out to the garden for a little bit, I'll see you later Shelby."

"Thanks again for breakfast Mrs. Miller"

"Anytime hun."

Mike wandered over to the cabinet and grabbed a mug for himself.

"What brings you over so early?"

"I was out for a jog and since I ran right past your house I figured I'd stop by and see how fake sleeping worked out for you last night?"

"Good actually, they came in & left me alone. I haven't heard any more questions about bumping my head since before you called last night."

"Well that's good"

"So it's good to see you decided to jog through town and stay out of the woods for once"

"Whatever, I love running on the trails, they are right by my house and I have my other fellow morning joggers that I always say Hi to, but you are right, I figured it would be safer to jog around town for a little while."

"Any plans today?"
"No, none yet. I'm gonna finish my jog and then head home to shower. My mom's been bugging me to go shopping with her."

"Want to meet up for a movie at the mall after you go shopping?"

"Sounds great!"

"Alright, call me when you're done shopping."

"Bye"

and with that I left Mike's and decided to take an extended jog down past Ms. Jone's old house.

Chapter 3

"Becka, how are you feeling?"

"I feel fine. Mike's good too. It really wasn't a big deal."
"My mom said you were rear ended?"

"Yeah, it was the strangest thing, we were about 5 minutes from your house out on highway 7, we were getting ready to turn onto Main and just as we turned the bend in the road this crazy animal came out of nowhere."

"What was it?"

"I have no idea. Mike didn't even see it. He was about to send you over a text that we were on our way so he was looking down at his phone when it happened. The guy behind me saw it too and he didn't notice that I slammed on my breaks to avoid hitting whatever it was, that's how we ended up getting rear ended."

"Was it big?"

"It was about 6 feet tall and furry and fast. I thought it was a bear because of the size but I have never heard of a bear being that fast."

"Well I'm just happy that you are doing ok and that no one was seriously hurt."

"Shelby, I don't think I want to go to the lake or on any hikes for a while. If you want to take jogs into town that's cool but whatever this thing was ran right into the woods near the lake and I don't want to come across it again."

"Don't worry Becka, I think I will be avoiding the woods for a while too. My mom got pretty ticked at me for falling asleep and I must have two dozen mosquito bites."

"We'll be pretty busy with work starting up on Monday anyways"

"Yeah, I'm sure you'll have a blast working at Mrs. Walsh's fruit & veggie stand"

"Whatever. She needed someone to keep the produce neat looking and to help with the customers, she's paying me $8.00 an hour and I could use some extra cash. What about you? Which job did you end up taking? The diner or the book store?"

"I decided to work at the diner. I figured the pay was $6.50 instead of the $7.00 the Smith's offered at The Dusty Shelf, but I had the opportunity for tips so hopefully I'd have a chance to save up a bit more. Plus my mom and some of her friends from the hospital stop in for coffee and pie after work and I'm sure they'll be nice with the tipping."

"I don't know if you heard, but Mike is gonna be working with his dad at the Real Estate office. He's going to be doing filing and basic office stuff like that. I don't know if I could work with my parents, I'd feel like they were watching over me all the time."

"Yeah, I know what you mean. You just reminded me though, I need to give Mike a call later. I wanted to see how he's feeling and I ran into some new kid today near the lake and wanted to find out if he knew of any new family that may have moved into town."

"I haven't heard any thing about new people, but I try not to listen to all the gossip. I'm gonna let you go anyways, I wanted to paint my nails and relax, something about an afternoon at the hospital that just stresses you out."

"Alright. Talk to you later Becka"

"Bye Shelby"

Well, Becka sounded like Becka. Even though she had a day that would send most people to bed early she just shrugs it off and acts like nothing happened. I'd still be freaked out from being rear ended and then I'd probably freak out more trying to figure out what the heck ran out in front of me.

I figured I would upload my pics from my camera and then give Mike a call. I had managed to take 47 pictures, it didn't seem like I took that many at the time. Lots of flowers, a few I was able to enlarge and crop and they looked like they would be awesome as posters in my room. The hawk in the sky was amazing. I have never seen a bird so large. I played around w/ editing that pic a bit too and decided I would also order that as a poster. It was already nearly 9 o'clock and Mike's parents were strict about no phone calls on the house phone past 9:00pm so I figured I better stop playing with photo editing and give him a call.

one ring....two rings....three rings.....four rings.....Mike has caller ID, he should be home, usually his mom is nuts about the phone being answered by the 1st or 2nd ring. Five rings....six rings....

"Hello?"

"Hey Mike, it's Shelby"

"Oh hey Shelby. What's goin' on?"

"Nothing really. I just wanted to call and see how you were doing"

"Oh I'm good. No one was hurt in the accident."

"Yeah, I just talked to Becka a little bit ago, she said you guys were fine. How come it took you so long to get to the phone? Usually your mom freaks out if it rings for a while"

"I know...she was freaking out. We were outside on the patio talking about the accident. My dad told me to just let the phone ring but my mom insisted it could be work related and that someone had to answer it."

"Everyone sure is making a big deal about this fender bender"

"It's not really the accident. Becka's car will be fine. It's that bear, or whatever it was."

"Becka told me you didn't see it"

"I didn't want to freak her out. She seemed pretty freaked out once she saw it. I was digging around in my pocket for my phone and was looking out the passenger window. I saw it running along the highway before it darted out in front of us."

"Well what was it? A bear?"

"I don't think so. It was HUGE. I mean HUGE. It was easily the size of a bear but it was not as fat as a bear. It looked more like a wolf but I've never seen one that big before."

"Did you tell anyone?"

"No, the cops came and took the accident report and I agreed with Becka and the guy who rear ended us, it must have been a bear or something. I didn't want to sound crazy. That's what I was outside talking to my parents about. I told them and now they think I lied and must have hit my head when we got rear ended."

"I'm sorry your parents can be so difficult sometimes."

"No biggie, I'm use to it."

"Hey, I wanted to ask you a question"

"As long as it's not 'Are you sure you didn't hit your head?'"

"Funny. No, I'm sure you didn't hit your head. I wanted to ask you if you knew of any new people in town? I know your dad's agency gets the bulk of the listings. I ran into a guy at the woods today that I've never seen around."

"You randomly run into some strange guy in the woods and you just what? strike up conversation?"

"No. Well, yes. I don't know, it wasn't like that. He was about our age. He was in the parking lot getting ready to leave and I came running out of the woods like a psycho, I think he heard my feet on the gravel and stopped to see what was going on."

"Why were you running out of the woods like a psycho?"

"Ok, psycho is a bad choice of words here. I was jogging. I fell asleep at the lake and my mom called my cell."

"Wait,...you fell asleep at the lake? By yourself? Are you nuts?"

"Listen, at least I'm not seeing some strange wolf bear hybrid thing, don't call me nuts"

"Go on...."

"Mom called and told me about the accident and then told me it was 6 o'clock. I was rushing to get home before the mosquitos ate me alive and I heard some strange cracking in the woods. I thought it was hikers off trail but then I heard it again further down the trail and got spooked. I just started jogging to get to the parking lot faster and that's when I saw this new guy by his car."

"Well at least he was at a car and not just being wierd and randomly standing in a parking lot"

"Yeah, that's why I didn't really think twice about a small conversation with him. I found out his name is Cole"

"And....."

"And what?"

"and what else did you find out?"

"nothing."

"So how long were you standing there talking to him?"

"I don't know, a minute, maybe 2"

"And you didn't ask if he was new in town?"

"No...."

"Oh Shelby.....seriously? He could have snatched you and drove away with you in his car"

"I didn't get a bad vibe off him"

"Ok....I'm done with this conversation, sometimes you are so clueless"

"Whatever Mike. I just wanted to know if you heard of any new people moving into town."

"I did hear of a few houses selling. I know Ms. Jones ended up moving to Florida to live with her daughter. She fell and broke her hip last winter and ended up in a walker."

"Yeah, I know, I'd see the community bus at her house taking her out to do her shopping"

"She said her house was to big to take care of so she sold it cheap to get out"

"That's a shame, she was so nice. Well, maybe Cole's family bought that house."

"Cole. You already talk about him like he's your best buddy"

"Whatever Mike, I don't even know him"

"Well, I have to get going, I want to fake sleep before my parents come in and ask me again if I hit my head."

"Alright, talk to you tomorrow."

"Yup. Bye."

Chapter 2

He was standing by an old blue chevy malibu just looking right at me. It was as if he were looking through me.  I'm guessing that he probably heard me jogging out of the woods. It seemed to me as if the crunching sound from the gravel under my boots was echoing, maybe I was right? My first glace at him caught me off guard, he was as still as a statue, just looking right into my eyes.

His eyes were a deep intoxicating green. He had to be my age but I had never seen him around. He didn't attend my high school, There were only about 300 kids in the whole school, I would have remembered this boy. He was about six feet tall and slender. His skin had a dark complexion as if he spent his afternoons out in the sun. Maybe he was a new kid. With school starting up in a few weeks; I figured his family probably just moved to town.

I walked up to him and we never took our eyes off of each other.
"Hi, I'm Shelby"
Nothing.
The silence seemed to go on forever.
Finally, he took a deep breath and introduced himself, "Cole"
"Ok Cole, do you always stand around staring into the woods?"
"Sometimes. Do you always fall alseep at the beach and become victim to aweful sun burns and bug bites?"
"Sometimes."
"What were you doing hiking by yourself? Don't you know there can be creeps in the woods?"
"I've lived here my whole life and have never heard of a creep in our woods. "
"Just because you've never heard of them doesn't mean they don't exist"
"Ok, well this was a great conversation but I need to be on my way"
"Bye Shelby"

As I started walking away from Cole I couldn't help but look back over my shoulder at him. He was still staring at me. What is with this guy?

I got out of the parking lot from the woods and started down the street. Cole drove by in his Malibu and obnoxiously honked as he sped past me. In less t hen 5 minutes I was home. My parents lectured me about falling asleep at the lake (again).

"Shelby, it's one thing if you are there with your friends but you were there alone this time!"

"I know mom, I'm sorry, I was planning on just getting a tan and then before I knew it my phone was ringing and it was 6:00pm already"

"Listen, we know that this is a safe town, but sometimes things happen here too and you need to grow up a bit and start thinking about your safety"

"Seriously mom? What are you talking about?"

"Well, you never know, what if you decide to go away to college and end up in New York or LA? You can't just be so unaware of your surroundings and assume that everyone is out to do only good."

"Ok mom, I get it."

"Do you?"

"Listen, I want to upload my pictures that I took today in the woods, is this conversation over?"

"Almost. I needed to talk to you about Mike and Becka too."

"I thought you said they were ok? That it was a minor rear ending?"

"Yes, they are ok and it was a minor rear ending but I over heard some things at the hospital today. I heard them talking to their parents in the E.R waiting room and apparently they saw something in the woods that freaked them out and whatever it was ran across the street in front of them.  They slammed on their brakes and the car behind them had also seen this strange animal. Since the driver behind them wasn't paying attention to the road they ended up rear ending Becka's car"

"What was it? We don't have a lot of strange animals here"

"That's just it...they don't know. They said it just looked like a blur. That whatever it was ran so fast they couldn't make out what it was."

"Wow, that's crazy. I'm gonna have to give them both a call tonight"

"Shelby, that's why I want you to be careful in the woods. It could be some crazy bear or a wolf or who knows what. You just fell asleep and some dangerous animal could have come across you."

"Ok mom. I promise I'll be more careful now. I'm gonna go call my friends and upload my pics now."

Chapter 1

It's August. Great. This means that summer is coming to an end and I have to live by the rules of everyone else again soon. My mom is already pushing me to go shopping with her this weekend for back to school clothes. I should be excited since this year marks the beginning of the end of high school for me, but I'm not. Senior year; when most people my age are excited to be looking into college and finding jobs and feel like they are on the brink of adult hood. I feel like I am in my 30's, not a normal 17 year old.

I remember the last day of school for my Junior year like I am reliving it every day of my life. It was a hot day for early June and we only had a half day of school at Forest High. Becka, Michael and I were planning on going for a hike in the woods and then taking a swim in the lake after lunch. We had all found jobs for the summer and we wanted to at least have one afternoon out in the sun having fun. Once school let out we all went home and agreed to meet at my house after lunch. I rushed home, put on my swimsuit under my hiking clothes and made a quick lunch. I was getting restless in the house so I decided to head out to my front porch and wait. 1:00pm rolled around and my friends were no where to be seen. 2:00pm came and went. I tried calling their cells and didn't get answer. Mom and Dad were at work so I decided to leave behind 2 notes. My first note I left on the kitchen counter for my parents.

"Mom (or Dad if you get home first), I went for a hike on the trail. It's 2:30, I should probably be home before you guys get here, but just incase, I'll be down at the lake. See you for dinner! Shelby."

Then I taped my second note on the front door for my friends, "Becka & Mike, what the heck? I waited long enough, see you guys down at the lake. Shelby"

We have all lived in Forest Glenn since we were born. It's a typical small town. We have some amazing hiking trails and there's a gorgeous lake about 30 minutes off the main trail that is photo worthy. Most of the people in Forset Glenn are outdoorsy types. We have bike trails, hiking trails and you can't drive down Main street w/ out seeing a few joggers. The lake is where most people go for canooing, fishing and even sun bathing since it has a nice beachy area. I figured my friends would just meet me there.

My house is located about 3 blocks off the main trail which is why we all just meet here for our hikes. I walked past my neighbors and Mrs. Walsh called to me to make sure I stop by on my way back, apparently she has some veggies for my parents from her garden. I picked up the pace because Forest Glenn is one of those neighborhoods where everyone knows everyone and you have to stop and say hello and I really have no interest in talking to my parents friends.

Less then 10 minutes later I made it to the trail. I brought my camera with so I could take some pictures. I was planning on redecorating my bedroom and thought some enlarged nature photos would look nice. I stopped to snap a pic of some wildflowers and then a beautiful hawk was circeling in the sky and I was able to get an impressive picture of him. I checked my watch, 3:00, I better stop putzing around, I wanted to swim a bit and try to get a little tan before the mosquitos came out in full force. That's the only thing that sucked about Forest Glenn lake, Sunset in the summer wasn't until 7:00 or 7:30 but around 5:30 the bugs were so bad that you basically had to abandon sun tanning and tanning oil and go back to your bug spray and pants.

3:10 and I reached my destination. Oh God I love this lake! The pier is beautiful. Strange, no one is sitting on it fishing today. Usually you feel as though you're interrupting some private fisherman party just trying to walk down the pier and get a great view of the lake! You can only say "sorry, excuse me" so much before you just give up on even stepping foot on it. I just have left it to the fishermen.

Since I had put my swimsuit on under my clothes I was undressed from those hot hiking clothes and in the lake in about 30 seconds! As I was swimming I noticed that the lake was really quiet considering it was the last day of school. I expected there would be a lot more kids here. There were a few random people enjoying the sun and I could see some hikers in the woods, but usually on a day like today there'd be about 20-30 people around and today there were about 5 or 6.

What a refreshing swim. The water is perfect. Sometimes a random fish would nip at my toes but other then that it just seemed like a perfect day. I got out of the lake and laid out in the sun to relax. Before I knew it my cell phone was ringing. I was so disoriented and it took me a few seconds to even realize I had fallen asleep. It took a few more seconds to locate my cell phone in the pocket of my hiking pants.

"Hello?"
"Oh, Hi mom, what time is it?"
"6pm? Oh my god, I fell asleep at the beach. I'm so sorry, I'll be right home"
"what?"
"An accident?"
"Are Becka and Mike ok?"
"Thanks for letting me know, I'll be right home"

Well crap. At least I knew what happened to Becka and Mike. Apparently on their way to my house they got into a minor accident. My mom works in the hospital admittance department and was the one who admitted both of them into the E.R. They were rear ended on their way to my house and called their parents. Neither one of them was injured but their parents insisted they go to the hospital to be checked out. Their cells didn't have signals in the E.R and that's why they missed all of my calls. When my mom got home she saw the note I left for them on the door and immediately knew I didn't know about their accident. I have to admit that I have an awesome relationship with my parents. We have our normal disagreements but we also get along. My mom can be annoying but she really means well and tries to be involved in my life but not to pushy.

I put my hiking clothes back on and headed for the trail. Whoa, I'm the only person at the lake? This never happens. Well....the bugs are out so that probably explains why. About 5 minutes down the trail I hear the snapping of sticks from my right. There isn't another hiking trail but people go off trail all the time. All of a sudden I get that feeling like someone is watching me. Sunset isn't for at least another hour so everything is very well lit, I look as far into the woods as I can from my trail and see nothing. Oh well, probably just an animal. I decided to jog my way out of the trail to get home sooner and then I heard it again, another snapping to my right. I stopped dead in my tracks as I had the prickly feeling down my spine and arms as if someone was watching me. I looked all around and saw nothing. Now I was getting a little freaked out. I finally made it out of the woods and back to paved surface and thankfully I wasn't alone.