C H A P T E R I
“I
triple dog dare you!” Kristy Monroe, my best friend since Pre-Km whispered as
we sat in my room, listening to Hot
Chelle Ray on blast.
“If my mom catches me at Deadman’s
Path, I’m dead! I would be grounded for a month for sure.”
Deadman’s Path was a popular hot
spot for daring youth. A lot of kids snuck there, against parent’s wishes, to
spot the “ghost” that guarded the path.
“Oh come on, Kay!” Kristy knew I
would eventually agree to her dare.
I rolled my eyes, “Fine. My mom
better not find out.”
“And, you have to do it alone!”
She smirked.
I threw my pillow at her, “You’re
insane!”
“Sneak out the window?”
I sighed; I knew there was no
way of getting out of this dare. Kristy was very persistent when we played
truth or dare, and if you picked dare, she wouldn’t let it drop until you
agreed. “When mom leaves for bingo.”
We watched mom get into our blue
station wagon, and drive out of sight. She went to bingo every Friday night; I
secretly thought she was going to meet up with some mystery man. She hasn’t
seen a guy since dad left. I opened my window, and we both slid down the rain
gutter. Without making a sound, we darted out of my back yard. My grandmother
was babysitting me and my little sister, Tessa. Gram had supersonic hearing.
Deadman’s Path always scared me
to death, the way it was abandoned most of the time. Except, when teenagers
decided to get their jollies on walking the path by themselves, the ones that
clearly had no brain, like me. Kristy and I recognized two girls who were at
the base of the path, Alison O’Donnell and Jessica Thomas. They were two of the
popular girls in middle school, and that popularity was following them to high
school.
“What are you two nerds doing
here?” Alison asked, laughing.
“Kayla is going to walk the
path,” Kristy smiled, putting her arm around my shoulder.
I rolled my eyes, Jessica and
Alison both looked at me. “This nerd is going to walk Deadman’s Path? Alone?
You’re bluffing.” Jessica shook her head in disbelief.
“Fine, don’t believe me.” I
walked past them, looking into the black abyss.
“I dared her,” Kristy mentioned “Kayla
isn’t afraid of anything,”
“No one in their right mind
would go in there alone, unless you were some dumb jock,” Alison rolled her
eyes.
“Watch me,” I looked back at
them, waved to Kristy, and began to go through the darkened jungle.
I noticed Alison and Jessica
clinging to each other, and Kristy just smiling by herself. She knew that if I
made it through Deadman’s Path without being killed, I would be a legend. And
since we both didn’t believe in this ghost of the path business, it was most
likely I would return a victor.
It was really cold on the path,
which seemed odd because it was the end of summer. But, this path was so cold;
it felt like a winter’s Night. I couldn’t see the road in front of me, so I just
walked this way and that. Eventually, I had known I had gotten lost. Not being
able to see where I am stepping, I was starting to get scared.
Owls were hooting at me, and
spiders were falling on me. Everything was making me jump and twitch. I crouched
to the ground, hugging my knees to my chest. I could see my breath, and hearing
the slightest sound made me paranoid. I heard a branch snap, which made me
stand straight up and look around.
“Who’s there?” I shouted, hoping
to scare off any wild animal that was staring me down for dinner.
“Hush, hush.” A deep voice came
from the blackness.
“I said who’s there! I know
karate!” Luckily, my predator wouldn’t know that I couldn’t even harm a fly.
“Hush, hush,” The voice said
again.
The voice stepped into view, his
whole body was glowing. He looked to be about sixteen, and he had a pasty white
complexion and dark brown hair that stood in spikes. His eyes, his gorgeous
eyes, were bright baby blue, and I just fell into them as I stared.
“Who-who’re you?” I stood, mesmerized
by his perfection.
“Deryk,” He walked over to me,
placing a delicate hand on my cheek “You?”
“K-Kayla,” I gulped, “Kayla Van
Gayte.”
“Well, Miss Van Gayte, what
brings you to this path?” He smiled, showing pearly white teeth. He was
gorgeous.
“My b-best friend, K-Kristy…she
dared me to walk this path alone,” I couldn’t stop staring into his eyes, “Are
you the ghost?”
He looked shocked a bit, and
then laughed. He shook his head, “Anything but, Miss Van Gayte.”
He was so proper, and he dressed
as though he was from the 1600’s. I wondered why he was wondering this path
alone, “Why are you walking this path alone? I never seen you around before,
are you new?”
Deryk shook his head, “Nah, my
family lives in the center of this path. I’m home schooled.”
“Wow, I never knew people
actually were home schooled,” I laughed. His eyes seemed to just glow now, like
the rest of his body.
“Stare…into my eyes…” He
whispered.
I complied, I couldn’t complain,
they were gorgeous. “Okay…”
“You are a very pretty girl,
Kayla,” His smiles made me melt.
I think I blushed, “I’m nothing
special,”
“This is going to make it less
painful, just stare into my eyes…please…”
“Make what less painful?” Panic
hit me. This was it. He was going to kill me.
“Close your eyes,” He whispered
into my ear.
I nodded and let my eyes fall
shut. That was all I remembered.
