Chapter 12

           The gentle tumble of the waterfall behind us, along with the night forest’s sounds, helped to fend off unnatural silence as an awkward hush fell between the three of us. 

 “Hey, what’s that?” I asked Lucas, breaking the quiet. Tilting my chin at the dark bundle tucked under his arm, unable to see it properly as the sun vanished.

             
             “Oh!” he answered, almost as if forgetting he even had it before gently throwing it at me. Involuntarily catching it in reflex, my gaze never wavering from his, I saw Lucas’ brows shoot into his hairline in surprise.

“What is it?” Daniel asked curiously, peering down at the wad in my hands. Looking at them both in turn, touching the soft fabric that felt all too familiar to not know what it was.

            “It’s my batman t-shirt” I announced, more than a little confused. A wave a comfort washed over me as I felt the rip at the bottom of one short black sleeve, and a finger sized hole at the neck that told how old and worn it was and without a doubt, that it was mine. It took a minute or two for the surge of nostalgia to pass, by then the in-credulousness of what Lucas did, finally began to sink in.

“You went through my bag?” I said tight lipped, watching as his face fell.

“No!.....well…….well yeah. I just thought that, since you were out here at the falls that maybe you’d like to change into your own clothes.”  He rambled out in his defense. “I was just trying to do something nice for you.” Lucas added apologetically.

“And that makes it okay!” I snapped. Jumping off the rock and rushing to Lucas, ignoring the way he towered over me. “You dug through my stuff!” I said furiously, jabbing a finger in chest.

“I’m sorry. I-” he began, only to be cut of by Daniel.

“Alright, Alright!” Daniel laughingly said, stepping between Lucas and me and putting space between us. “October, why don’t you go ahead and wash up first, Lucas and I will just go back to the cabin, before he digs himself into a deeper hole than he already has.” He delegated, his lips still holding unto a small smile.

Folding my arms and starring at Lucas through narrowed slits, I sharply warned them both, not to touch my stuff, as Daniel dragged Lucas back in the direction of the cabin. Turning away as they both disappeared into the thicket of trees, I stared down at my batman shirt, unwrapping the bunched up cloth.

“You went through my underwear!!” I screamed at the empty spot between the trees where both boys vanished into, before looking back down at the matching baby blue bra and panties, sitting next to a pair of yellow shorts that were all swathed together in my shirt. Throwing the clothes next to the velvet drawstring bag and my shoes, I tore off Daniels clothes, still seething as I crawled up unto the huge rock and dove into the temperate water to cool off.

Swimming against the water flow to the pools floor, coming up for air beneath the waterfall and drifting languidly as my toes scraped the pebbles below the water, the falling cascade showering down on me. The sound of tussling bushes caught my attention, shifting my eyes away from the sky and the distant crescent moon above, barely lighting the night as the stars twinkled in one by one. It could have easily been the wind or any number of nocturnal animals rousing from sleep, but gramps always said that it never hurt to walk the line between cautious and paranoid. 

The sharp, shocking sound of twigs snapping had my head whirling toward the sound, my eyes gliding over the other side of the river, where the trees were denser and the shadows darker. Scanning the darkened woods, a flicker of movement in my peripheral vision had me staring at a black shadow that stood out against the gloom of the trees. I kept staring at it, my eyes finding it hard to leave until a few seconds later I lost sight of it as the blackness slowly slipped back into the shade. 

It must have just been the silhouette of an animal or something, I mean what else could it be  Right? I'm probably just still a little shaken up from earlier, that's all. Yeah, that's it.

I tried to convince myself. I was still turned to the other side of the falls, staring at the trees where the silhouette receded, when I heard the thump of boots on rock behind me on the bank, and my name being called in a hushed whisper.