Three Rocks Woods (Open)

[impish_pixie]

Lauren Cabot

"Hmm... I guess I really deserved that 'dumbest' award. I think I have us heading in the wrong direction...Shelbyville must be the other way...I don't recognize...I am certain I would remember that tree if I had seen it before."

Lauren slows the car enough to make a U-turn in the middle of the road and heads back the other way. He brows draw together as she tries to figure out how she got turned around in the place.

 

[ObsideanWarrior]

After a few minutes, Lauren saw the familiar site of her staged, ketchup-splattered murder, with the other car parked where it had been left before. Everything looked the same. The forest stood, silent save for bird calls and the rustlings of small animals, in the late afternoon light. The yellow-orange light of the westering sun brought out the hints of autumn colors that were making their annual debut in the foliage.

 

[impish_pixie]

Lauren Cabot

"Ok, Drea. Obviously, I was right about being wrong. Now does that make me less dumb or more dumb?" Lauren looks at the site they set as she drives past it.

"I guess Shelbyville it that way" She points straight ahead and keeps going. "We are going have to make this quick, or will be setting up camp in a race with the dark."

 

[ObsideanWarrior]

After going a couple miles, the pavement on the road peters out, and she finds herself on a rude dirt road that the passenger car is ill-suited to navigate. Other than the road behind and the winding dirt road ahead, Lauren sees no sign of civilization. Off 200 yards to the right, a couple buzzards are doing a lazy circle in the clear late-afternoon sky.

 

[impish_pixie]

Lauren Cabot

Lauren slaps the steering wheel, "Dammit! This isn't right either."

She doesn't remember seeing any turn-offs or cross streets, she can't imagine why she has't been able to find her way back to Shelbyville.

She turns to Drea, "There has got to b something we missed. Did you see any other roads?"

Lauren looks at her watch, "We might as well go back and set up camp for the night, it will be dark soon anyway. We can spend all day tomorrow cruising the roads for the way back to that miserable little town."

 

[ObsideanWarrior]

Paused, waiting for Drea.

 

[ChaosDAmore]

Drea gets a bit worried

"Lauren you have to be kidding me. It wasnt that hard to get here. " Drea mumbled some and looked out the window with a look of worry. " You know the stories about this place right? About people coming out here but not coming back..........." She glanced over at LAuren with a rather worried look on her face

 

[impish_pixie]

Lauren Cabot

Lauren shakes her head, "Drea, hun, I am a city girl. My cellphone is has no signal, my GPS has no sattelite, and I see no hotel. I'm out of my element."

She sighs, "We can either keep driving and sleep in the car if we don't find our way out by dark or set up camp and continue in the morning. However, we have to consider the Pledges - they may be safe and sound back in the House or they may still be wandering around looking for us. If that is the case, the only hope they have of finding us is if we stay put."

"Right?"

 

[ChaosDAmore]

Drea

Drea glanced at Lauren and nodded some, " I figured thats what you would say. I guess we do have an obligation to the pledges but still. We dont have any cell phones so what if we get lost and cant find our way out. Honestly I dont want to spend the night in the middle of nowhere with no cell phone." She shook her head some and looked around a little noticing that the sun was starting to set. "....................................................You've heard the stories about what happened out here right? Those ghost we use to tell as kids..............."

 

[ObsideanWarrior]

The two college girls got back to the original site...it was as they left it, complete with smeared ketchup. Then Drea saw the video camera they had left in the tree. On the camera, a large raven was perched. It turned its head to view the girls with a piercing gaze, then looked out over the land as if it owned everything. The camera turned and twisted slowly as the bird, nonplussed, looked on.

As the bird watched, it was joined by another that fluttered to a landing on an adjacent branch. The sun was close to setting now, maybe in twenty minutes or so.

 

[ChaosDAmore]

The Ravens

Drea looked over at the Ravens and blinked some then glanced At Lauren. " Lauren.......the suns about to set. Do you really want to spend the night out here?" She looked back at to the Ravens then got out of the car and started to walk towards the camera. If the pledges had been here and left the camera would surely have captured it. Drea slowly walked to the Ravens and waited for them to scatter so she could get the camera

 

[impish_pixie]

Lauren Cabot

"Drea, please. Not the ghost stories again. My bet is it was all a bunch of crappy Jenny made up to scare the Pledges."

Lauren looks around....

"We can set up the tents, organize the gear and sleep locked in my car."

 

[ObsideanWarrior]

The ravens were surprisingly bold for wild birds...not until Drea got within ten feet did the birds take flight with a flapping of ebony wings. The one on the camera gave Drea a last look before taking to the sky.

Drea took the camera, rewound, viewed the footage. No one had come to the camp. The pledges were still out there somewhere, watching videos or drinking milkshakes or lost wandering the wilderness.

In the corner of the display, Drea saw a bush move. There was a face peering out from behind it. Then it vanished back into the brush. She zoomed in on the face, but could make out no details.

 

[impish_pixie]

Lauren Cabot

Lauren watches Drea as Drea watches the video.

"Did you see anything?"

 

[ChaosDAmore]

Drea starts to panic

Drea walked towards Lauren quickly, her face was a pasty white. " Theres someone out there that was watching us." Thats all Drea would say before shoving the camera at Lauren and getting in the car then shutting the door

 

[impish_pixie]

Lauren rationalizes

Lauren follows Drea back to the car, gets in and then hits the button to lock the doors.

"There you go, hun. Snug as bugs in rugs. Now, just relax. Ok?"
Lauren looks at her friend with more than a little concern.

"Drea, I think we should consider this is all part of Jenny's scheme. The pledges weren't supposed to be the victims, we were. I bet they are out there, right now getting ready for the next phase of their practical joke."

She pats Drea's hand, "That is all this is, its just one of Jenny's jokes. Can you blame her? You have gotten her pretty good quite a few times."

 

[ObsideanWarrior]

The last of the dying day's light was leaving the treetops now, briefly crowning them with reddish gold. The air was cooling now as the heat of the day faded away. No sign of the pledges. No sign of anyone. The girls saw the rock formation a little ways away. The pattern seemed definite, the rocks catching the gold, red, and then ochre rays of the setting sun.

 

[ChaosDAmore]

Drea

Drea looked at Lauren and shrugged a little, " Maybe it is but what if something is seriously wrong through? This just doesnt seem right. Why would we be the victims during pledge week? Jennys dumb but this is beyond her amount of dumbness." She looked into the horizon and bit her lip some. " Maybe we should just drive around until we find a way out. I mean we got here somehow right?"

 

[impish_pixie]

Lauren Cabot

Lauren admits to herself that she doesn't know what the hell is going on, all she wants to do is stay calm and keep Drea calm too.

"Ok, we'll drive then. If that will make you feel better."

Lauren restarts the car. "Oh, can you hand me that pack of cigarette from the glove box. Today, just wasn't a good day to try to quit smoking." She smiles at Drea.

Lauren drives the car in the diretion she is still sure they came in.. Of course she was sure last time and she was wrong then too.

 

[ChaosDAmore]

Drea

Drea grabbed the pack of cigarettes and handed the pack to Lauren as she stared out the windshield. " I remember passing a beat up sign of sorts about a mile down the street I turned on to reach this place. Lauren please get me out of here. I do not want to spend the night in a place like this." Drea had a secret fear and it stemmed from deep in her childhood. She was positively terrified of the dark and even more terrified of being trapped in the dark with no way out.

 

[ObsideanWarrior]

The car got about a hundred feet down the road when the engine died. No fanfare, no strange noises, no rattles, knocks, or pings. It was as if a switch had been thrown to drain every watt, every volt right out of the vehicle. The car drifted to a half, inert, the battery dead.

 

[impish_pixie]

Lauren Cabot

Lauren lights the cigarette as she drives and considers cracking the window to let the smoke out but decides against it. Instead she turns up the AC.

"Don't worry, hun. We'll be out of her in no time at all. We'll be back in town, laughing at our own foolishness. Boy, won't that be fun?"

Lauren curses as the engine dies.

 

[ChaosDAmore]

The car dies

Drea blinked some as the car died and left them stranded in the middle of nowhere, in pitch black. " Oh my God Lauren.....This is not happening.....What the hell is wrong with your car?!" She was actually starting to panic now as she peered into the darkness and she could swear to God she was seeing things move. " The darkness is just playing tricks on me, thats all." Drea mumbled to herself softly as she closed her eyes a little.

 

[impish_pixie]

Lauren Cabot

Lauren looks around but sees only darkness.

"Hun, take ieasy. We'll just stay locked in here until morning. It won't be pleasent but it won't be any worse than some of the crap we went through as pledges."

 

[ChaosDAmore]

Drea

Drea nodded some then reach in the back seat of the car and dug a jacket out of her duffel bag. She put the jacket on and put her feet up on the seat then looked out the windshield, " Lauren, I am so scared of the dark, you have no idea." Drea let out a small laugh and shook her head some. " I sleep with a night light on in my own bedroom. This is a horrible situation.......I hate Jenny."