Verity claimed it wasn’t her idea, but they all knew that it was her who slipped the invitations in their lockers that fateful day in October. Or at least they thought they knew. The letters invited all the members of the Goode Middle School Drama Club to a mysterious meeting at Old Man Ezra’s cabin in Cedar Wood. When they arrived, only Old Man Ezra and Mr. Bain, the drama club director, stood in between them and the woods.

“Thank you all for coming. I have noticed that we still have a few errors in our improvisational acting.” Mr. Bain looked very pointedly at Joey Hart, who always bursts out laughing during a scene. “I have designed an exercise in which you will all split up in the woods and I will see what happens.”

He coughed but then continued. “The groups are already chosen. No complaining, trading, or switching is to be done. The groups are Verity and Brendan, Miarose and Joey, Nora and Kya, and finally Christie will be on her own.”

Tiny Christine whimpered at the thought of venturing the woods alone. They left in the following order:
Verity and Brendan first, then Nora and Kya, Miarose and Joey next, and finally Christine, her blue-green eyes shining with tears.
***
Mia didn’t want to leave Christie, but finally Joey dragged her down a random path. He kept a hand on her shoulder, nudging her along.

Joey never even realized that they had turned onto a narrower path. He was too busy studying Mia; her small delicate nose, her pale blue eyes, her straight blonde hair, and even her glistening tears as they ran down her face. They reached a small clearing and Mia stopped suddenly, c***ing her head to one side as if listening.
A rabbit hopped across the clearing, but as soon as Joey started to relax, a scream pierced the night.
***
Meanwhile, Verity and Brendan were faring better in terms of navigating. Verity knew the woods like the back of her hand. She had been in here so many times, she had a mental map in her head. She had three brothers and lived on the other side of the woods. Where else was she supposed to hide from them?

Then a scream broke the silence.

“What was that?” Verity asked, her voice trembling.

“I’ll go check.” Brendan started to walk towards the sound, but Verity grabbed his wrist and whirled him around to face her.

“Have you no common sense?” She hissed. “Have you ever seen any horror movie?”

Brendan felt his face growing hot. “No.”

She laughed, which gave Brendan proof that maybe, after all, she was human. Her green eyes shone with amusement.

She killed the smile. “You always try to tell them not to go into the creepy graveyard, or not to go off in the woods alone.” She emphasized that last part. “But they, very stupidly, don’t listen and end up dying.”

“Okay.” He said, taking a step away from her. “We need to keep moving.”

And with that, he promptly marched off down the path.
***
Nora’s dark hair kept catching in the branches, though she couldn’t imagine why. It was only shoulder length, and it’s not like her neck was really long. Kya just kind of ignored her, and she had to use the restroom.

She was supposed to be the enduring one; the rebel who could handle anything. This time, she was reduced to a scared, shivering girl who was still holding the sky. For a moment, she wondered if it was the forest messing with her mind, but soon decided against it.

They came out of the woods at a lake and sat side by side on a rock, silently admiring the forest. Their rippling reflections were distorted images of who they really were.

Kya’s blonde hair looked gray on the surface of the lake, his brown eyes shining like gold flecked with black. He placed a hand on her back, comforting the little girl who held the weight of the world on her shoulders. When the screaming started, he didn’t hesitate to just hold the sobbing form of Nora Saunders.
***
Christie looked over her shoulder for the seventeenth time in the past two minutes. If she kept going on like this, she knew she would never make it through the woods. She couldn’t help it; she looked over her shoulder again.

A shadowy figure emerged from the trees, and she screamed.

She awoke in a cave, sealed in with solid rock. No matter how much she kicked, screamed, or pounded the walls, she couldn’t escape. When finally she found an exit, she was driven insane by worry and fear.
***
Verity stifled a gasp. “It’s just Mr. Bain messing with us.” She reminded herself, but she could have sworn she saw blood on the path. When she looked again, it was gone.

Brendan was a few feet ahead of her now, but she stopped at the top of a small hill to admire the moon. It looked so out of place in the creepy forest, in all its pure, unaltered beauty. She jogged to catch up to the form disappearing in the woods.
***
Miarose and Joey emerged from the woods at a lake. They saw what looked like a pile of boulders, but as they got closer they realized it was Kya and Nora. Nora was encased in Kya’s arms, sobbing. He gently stroked her hair until he saw them. Nora sat up, blushing furiously.

“Hi.” Kya managed to choke out.

“Have you seen Christie?” Mia asked, a worried expression on her face.

“No but we heard a scream.”

“So did we. It can’t be anything good.” Joey replied.

Everyone nodded in agreement.

“We should go look for them.” Nora suggested.

Again, everyone agreed.
***
Verity and Brendan followed the footprints all the way to the wooden shack, wanting to turn around, but too proud to do it. They opened the door, but Verity turned when she what was inside. There lay Mr. Bain, covered in blood, a piece of fabric imbedded into his skull. The fabric was identical to the shirt that Christie wore.
***
After a few minutes of working together, the other group came to the aforementioned shack and heard the bad news from Brendan. Verity was too sick too retell it, or even listen. She stood with her light brown hair facing them.

“We have to assume that Christie had a part in Mr. Bain’s death.” Brendan concluded.

“No! She would never do anything like this.” Mia glared at him.

“Mia, we can’t rule out the possibility that she might have killed him.” Joey reached out to put a hand on her shoulder, but she pushed it away. His dark chocolate eyes shone with hurt.

“I can’t believe any of you would even consider that reasonable.” Mia turned and walked off into the woods, Verity running after her.

When they came back, Mia was much more composed. “Okay, we can’t rule out the possibility, but it is very unlikely.” She said shakily. “Either way, we need to find her.” And with that, they left on the hunt. After half an hour they still hadn’t made any progress. Right when they were about to give up, they found a trail of footprints.

“Hey guys, check this out!” Kya shouted.

They came to a unanimous decision to follow the trail. It ended in a clearing with a figure huddled on the opposite side.

“Christie?” Mia’s voice cracked.

The figure whirled around to face them, a mixture of horror, fear, and anger in her eyes.

“Christie, we want to help you.” Nora took a step forward.

“Get back!” she screamed. “All of you, get back!”

“Christie, did you kill Mr. Bain?”

“Of course I did.” She stood up. “He was the one who made me go through the woods alone. He knew I was suffering and didn’t do a thing to help me. Why wouldn’t I?”

Old Man Ezra then jumped out of the woods and hit Christie over the head with a tree branch.

“The cops are on their way, I reckon.” I would like to say he had a toothy grin, but in fact, he had exactly eight teeth.

6 Months Later
Mia walked through the mental hospital she had come to know so well. She passed through the last door, stopping to stand in front of a particular cell.

“Hello.” She said like every other day.

The girl in the cell turned and looked at her blankly with pretty blue-green eyes. “Do I know you?”

Mia smiled. “I’m Miarose, but you can call me Mia.”

“I’m Christie.” The girl in the cell replied.