Two is Better Than Three

My foot catches on a twig that I hadn’t seen because the smoke from the fire that tried to take this section of the forest a few days before is still thick in the air. I catch myself before I fall, but not before my friends see. Their laughter takes over the comfortable silence that had settled over our group.

“Its not funny!” I defend myself as I regain my footing.

“C’mon, Benji. You have to admit that it was kind of funny. You almost faceplanted!” My best friend, Monty, says with laughter still in his voice.

“Whatever. Let’s just keep walking,” I grumble, “How long until we get there, Ty?”

“Umm I think we have a few more hours left before we get there?” The newest member to our group relays as he leads us through the smoky filled woods.

Monty and I have been friends for the entire twelve years of our existence. We were born on the same day at the same hospital to different parents. Both of us had complications that forced us to be in the hospital for weeks which is where our mothers had bonded. We have been inseparable ever since.

Ty, or Tyson, is a different story. He came to our school less than a year ago and attached himself to us. He’s really pale and skinny and always has shades on even in the class. I hardly ever see him eat anything even when he sits at our lunch table. Honestly, if he hadn’t been trying so hard, we probably wouldn’t have kept hanging out with him. Well, that and our moms forced us, because he has problems at home. Monty still treats him more like a pest than anything else, but it doesn’t stop him from tagging along with us most of the time.

Even today, Monty and I had been fully capable to come out here by ourselves, but Ty fervently insisted that he was going to come with us. See, there was a wildfire here last week which is pretty common in the area we live in especially recently. It was bad enough that we had all had to evacuate for a few days and I had gone to my grandparents for that time.

While we were evacuating, I had been playing with something of my dad’s that I shouldn’t have had, but I was mad at him for something that happened earlier that day, so I wasn’t listening. My window was down and next thing I knew my dad’s favorite signed baseball was out it. He had yelled and grumbled and grounded me which had made for a pretty terrible week. My dad was normally cranky, but he had barely spoken to me all week unless he needed to. It has been bothering me and making me wish I had never touched the ball.

Monty suggested that we go looking for it. It hadn’t been far from my house, and it had gone down the hill near the highway we were on, so I didn’t think it would be too hard to find. We had made a plan and then made the mistake of mentioning it to Ty. He claims to always go hiking in this area with his dad which apparently makes him an expert. Tyson is gone from school all of the time especially when its sunny out and says that he and his dad go hiking. I had assumed they went somewhere more fun, but apparently this neck of the woods is exactly what they wanted.

“Can we take a break and eat something? I’m starving!” Monty exclaims after a few more miles.

“Yeah so am I.” I agree to no one in particular.

We stop by a tall tree and take our snacks and water out of our packs. We weren’t sure how long it would take, so we came prepared with snacks and water stored in our packs. Our bikes were at the entrance of the woods, but it was obviously impossible to use them in here, so we had to walk the rest of the way. It had been a few hours already, and the sun was just starting to set. My fear heightened only a little bit by the nearness of nighttime, but I really wanted to make my dad happy, so I squashed it down like a bug.

“Monty! Get down from there! You’re gonna fall.” I warn my tall best friend as he starts climbing the tall tree apparently done with his snack.

“Nah! I got this, Cat!” He shouts from the branch. Monty has been calling me that since we were kids, because I scare easily (hence Scaredy Cat), and he is the complete opposite, a total risk taker. I just feel like I’m more practical and I don’t want to risk my life if I don’t need to.

The warm air and nervousness are taking hold of my body and sweat beads are rolling down my back and forehead. I search through my bag for a towel only to hear a loud CRACK coupled with my best friend’s terrified shout. I look up in time to see him hit the ground. Hard.

“Monty!” I rush over to help him, horrified of what I will find. “Are you okay? What happened?”

“I think my leg is broken and my neck. It burns.” He groans with tears dripping from his eyes and streaking his dirt covered face. “Benji...” My best friend doubles over in pain, gripping his leg before he can finish what he was saying. His long neck is covered in blood that should be in his body.

My head swivels back and forth looking for our third member, but he is nowhere to be seen.

“Tyson!” I yell as loud as I can in case he went further up the trail.

Something to my left catches my eye and I squint at it to see what it is. Or rather who.

“Ty?” I question. The thing standing in front of me looks like the boy who we befriended all those months ago, but also doesn’t. The shades and his shirt have disappeared. His scrawny, pale chest is littered with what look like bite marks. The eyes attached to his head are pitch black and menacing. I almost pee my pants as we make eye contact.

“I can’t wait to get a taste of you.” His voice is deeper, his tongue darts out to lick his scarlet red colored lips. “Monty was good, and I couldn’t stand him, but I think you will be better. I have been waiting for months to get you alone somewhere where no one would find your body. But he was always there, so I just had to get rid of him.”

I look back towards the boy who I have shared my life with and realize that he isn’t groaning in pain anymore. He isn’t moving or making any jokes like he usually does. Tears flow from my eyes as I get closer and realize that my partner in crime isn’t breathing anymore.

“Monty.” I cry softly, acutely aware of his murderer behind me. I spot the bite mark on his neck and remember the red dripping from Ty’s mouth that I didn’t quite process.

It isn’t until I hear a crack of a twig behind me that I realize I need to run. I can’t save my best friend now. Only myself. Nails scratch my left arm as I take off in the opposite direction of the thing that used to be Tyson. My red tennis shoes pound into the dirt as I try to outrun him.

My efforts prove to be useless with his inhuman speed. He jumps amazingly high and lands on me which sends me tumbling down the short hill. My head bumps on the ground and various rocks a few times and I can feel the blood dripping down my forehead. The cuts on my bare arms and legs sting. I try with all my energy to get up, but my body forces me back down. I think I hit my head too hard and now everything is dizzy and weird.

I lift my head to see the monster coming towards me with my best friend’s blood still covering his mouth and dripping onto his gray shirt.

“I can smell your blood from here and I just know that its going to be even better than I have always imagined,” He sneers, “After months of waiting and pretending, I finally have you. Thank you for your sacrifice, Benji.”

My neck gives out and my head falls to the ground as the world starts to fade to black. I turn my head to look away and I see something white lying under a pile of leaves. I manage to grab it before he grabs me.

My dad’s baseball. I finally found it.

I hope he’ll be happy now.