Afflicted

I hadn't realised she was listening in but nodded my agreement just as Demi lost her temper.

“Shut up!” she shouted, causing most of the others to stop arguing. “We’re going through the forest - I want to get home as quickly as we can and that's the straightest path.”

My heart sank as an old fear twisted my gut. I knew it was silly to be afraid of the darkness beneath those trees but I'd never liked going into the forest. Grams always said I was too much of a city girl and needed to spend more time getting to know nature. So one year dad had taken us all camping up state. Between the bugs, rain and pitch black in the middle of the night (not to mention Reese scaring the hell out of me whenever he could) I'd sworn never to reenter the forest again. And sure, Highborn Forest was hardly what you'd call the wilderness but it was still way too big and dark for my liking.

“Have you ever crossed through the forest before though?” Tommy objected. “If we get lost it could take twice as long to find our way back, not to mention the fact that we'll be able to move faster along the sidewalks-“

Demi let out a groan of irritation. “I'm going through the woods. Spencer are you coming with me?” she asked, singling out her on/off boyfriend for instant backup.

“Course I am babe, I'm not gunna leave you to walk through the forest alone.” He gave Tommy an apologetic look as Demi turned her attention to the rest of the group, looking for more supporters.

“Ella are you coming with us?” she demanded.

“Oh, umm…” Ella glanced at Tara who was on her left, clearly still undecided and Demi cleared her throat irritably, demanding an answer. “Yeah, the forest is a shorter route so I guess-“

“Tara?” Demi asked, ignoring Tommy’s continued grumbles of disagreement.

“Yeah, the forest,” Tara agreed brightly, earning an eye roll from Demi.

“So she's the head cheerleader?” Rose asked quietly as Demi continued to single people out and glare them into agreement.

“Yeah,” I confirmed. “She generally gets her own w-“

“Kaitlyn?” Demi snapped as she noticed me talking to Rose.

Most of my friends had already agreed to the forest so I knew I was outvoted anyway but I still hesitated. Highborn Forest was the source of most of the local ghost stories that I'd grown up listening to. It was an ancient woodland filled with towering oaks that blocked out the light even in the middle of the day. I'd never spent much time in them but we'd ventured in in search of ghosts a few times when we were younger. Those towering trees gave me the creeps. And even if they didn't, I wasn't convinced that stumbling over uneven ground that we were unfamiliar with was going to be any faster than just following the highway.

“Are you coming with us or not?” Demi demanded.

Whatever I thought of the plan, I realised it didn't really matter. She had most of the group convinced and if I didn't join them I was left with the option of navigating the streets without the relative safety offered by our large number. Once again Demi got what Demi wanted. Why wasn't I surprised?

“Yeah,” I agreed, glancing at Rose. “We’re coming.”

Demi’s gaze slipped to Rose, her eyes dropping to take in her clothes and tattoos. She pursed her lips in quiet disapproval before shrugging dismissively. “Fine, bring your little friend too. Lacey, are you coming?”

“I'm in,” Lacey agreed.

I gave Rose an apologetic smile but she seemed to find Demi’s assessment of her amusing. Demi quickly finished her vote, making everyone agree with her before finally turning back to Tommy.

“Changing your mind or are you going it alone?” she asked with a smug smile.

“Whatever Demi, we’ll take the woods but I'm not the one who’s gunna struggle to walk through them in my shoes,” he said as he turned away from her.

“There's still a good couple of miles before we even get to the forest,” Rose said loudly. “So maybe we should get going.”

Everyone looked at her in surprise then back to Demi who was smiling a little too sweetly. I wondered if I should warn Rose about getting in Demi’s bad books. As I caught sight of her face though, I could tell that Rose knew exactly what she was taking on with Demi and wasn't the least bit afraid.

“Yes, let’s go,” Demi agreed before turning away and starting back out of the alley.

Ryan slipped between the group until he reached me and offered his hand for me to hold. I took it and gave it a little squeeze as we followed our friends back out into the street.

The crazed man’s screams had stopped and there was no sign of him as we emerged.

“I still don't get where everyone else has gone,” Ryan muttered as we began to make our way along the quiet streets.

“They all ran for it when the cougar was here,” Rose said. “I hid in an alleyway - must have been when you guys were in the cinema.”

“Cougar?” I asked in surprise. “In town? But we're so far from the mountains here, I've never heard of one coming into town before.”