Come and Find Me

Two friends race against time to find each other, before a crazed girl finds them first.

What do you do when you tell the girl of your dreams that you love her, and she doesn’t say it back? Naturally, you run into the heart of the forest to hide your embarrassment. And that’s exactly what Colton Harrow did. He ran as fast as he could to get as far away from the party that was happening in the clearing of Ravens Wood. He could still see the look in Jovi’s eyes as the words “I love you” slurred off his tongue before he could stop them. She was his best friend, and he knew she didn’t feel the same way.

Still, he wanted to tell her for his sake. But not like this. Not at his first party around normal teenagers doing normal rebellious teenage things like drinking stolen alcohol and hooking up with whoever was sober enough to say yes. But no, he just had to get liquored up enough that his mouth spoke before his brain could comprehend what was being said.

So, he ran.

 Though, he would admit that running through brambles and roots in the dark of night while intoxicated wasn’t the smartest idea. Who was he kidding, it was a stupid idea.

Nice going Colton.

Somewhere in the distance, he heard the echoing of Jovi calling for him. He stopped in his tracks and listened. He realized then, that she could be anywhere. He was just too impaired to focus on where her voice was coming from. He was hopelessly drunk and incredibly lost in the woods. At night. On Halloween.

Well, that doesn’t make things any less creepy.

He heard a twig snap and he stopped dead in his tracks and listened.

And then he heard the blood curling screams.

Jovi.

***

Juliet Moore watched as Colton stumbled off into the woods; she watched as Jovi Marshall ran in after him and her blood began to boil. Why was it that Jovi had to be the one to comfort Colton? After all, it wasn’t any secret that she didn’t love him back. And the way the cruel and vile party goers laughed at him as he declared his love for her was infuriating. If Colton had looked into her eyes and said those three magic words, Juliet would’ve kissed him on the spot and the two would be together, happy, the way it should be.

How could Jovi not love Colton? He was the best kind of man there was. He was funny and caring; he had carried Juliet’s books home for her once when a bunch of bullies shoved her to the ground after school. He’d given her his sandwich at lunch multiple times when he noticed she had nothing to eat. He deserved better than Jovi Marshall; he deserved someone who would love him unconditionally.

Someone like me.

Juliet felt the switchblade in her hoodie pocket, the one she kept to ward off the bullies who would try to attack her when she was alone, and an idea sprang to mind. Jovi wasn’t going to stop looking for Colton, and Colton would always find his way back to her; why not just eliminate the competition all together? Colton would need a shoulder to cry on if Jovi was dead, and Juliet would hold all the strength he needed until he could love her back.

Pulling the hood over her head, Juliet stealthily began to follow Jovi, and the thought of taking back what was rightfully hers made her giddy with excitement. Tonight, tonight was the night that Jovi Marshall died, and Juliet Moore got everything she ever wanted.

***

Out of all the places Colton could’ve run to, he just had to run into the woods. As if they weren’t creepy enough, Jovi was searching for him in the dark. Alone. Because everyone else at the clearing couldn’t tell their noses from their asses, let alone search the woods for a gawky teenage boy. She stayed close to the river, using it as bread crumbs to find her way back.

Colton’s confession terrified him more than it had her. They had been best friends since they were in diapers; of course, she knew he was in love with her. It was weird hearing him say it, knowing the meaning had changed. She wanted to talk about it, to sit in Dot’s Diner and discuss the change in their friendship that comes with a confession like this. She wanted to pull Colton into her arms and hug him for dear life.

What she didn’t want was to chase him through the woods. No one knew them like Jovi did, and chasing down a first-time intoxicated teenager who blended into the night was harder than it looked. She couldn’t help feeling as if it was her fault. Colton had asked her that morning at school if he could come along with her.

His idea of Halloween was to stay at home watching The Twilight Zone and handing out candy to trick or treaters while dressed up in a perfect replica of whatever superhero he was obsessed with that year. So, when he shyly asked if he could tag along, Jovi was thrown off. And when he picked her up, he wasn’t wearing a costume. He looked normal. And Colton Harrow wasn’t normal. He was original, one of a kind, and he was the one thing no one could figure out how to be, himself.

The sound of a twig snapping behind her brought her back to the moment.

“Colton, is that you?”

There was no answer, just a rustle in the leaves, the full moon causing shadows of branches to dance on the forest floor.

“Seriously Colton, this isn’t funny. It’s Halloween and you know I’m a wimp when it comes to scary things.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a shadow move through the brambles. She squinted her eyes, trying to adjust to the darkness. A figure emerged from the darkness and stepped in front of Jovi.

One thing was for sure, this was definitely not Colton.

“Who are you?” Jovi asked, trying to steady her voice. She didn’t want the hooded figure before her to know she was scared, though she was shaking uncontrollably from head to toe.

“Oh, beautiful Jovi, you know who I am.” The melodic voice of a woman flowed from the hood. Something about it sounded familiar. “You have taken something from me, and I am here to take it back.”

Jovi recognized that voice, but she couldn’t put her finger on the identity. “I’m sorry? I think you’re mistaken. I haven’t taken anything from anyone, but I’d be more then happy to help you find what it is you are looking for.”

From the shadows underneath the hood, Jovi could see a menacing smile. “It is you who are mistaken. You have taken the one thing I've always wanted, and now I’m going to take it with your life.”

There was a quick movement of silver and black, and before Jovi could register what was happening, she felt a cold in her abdomen. The woman yanked her dagger out of her stomach, the blade covered with blood. Her blood. She screamed, hoping to alert someone of what was happening.

She grabbed Jovi by the throat, cutting her airways off, and trapping her scream in her mouth. “Once you are dead, then I will have everything I've ever wanted. You’ll see, I promise.” And she threw Jovi into the racing currents of Raven River.

It was when her body hit the icy waters did Jovi finally figure it out. Juliet had tried to kill her, and she was going to go right after Colton next. And she was bleeding out quickly, her blood mixing in with the rapids; she wasn’t going to be able to save him, no matter how hard she tried to fight.

***

Colton raced through the trees, cuts and bruises going unnoticed to him. All he knew was that he had to get to her. He had to find her. Jovi’s screams rendered him stone cold sober, or sober enough for him to run almost as well as he could if he wasn’t intoxicated.

He found himself in a small clearing by the river. Nothing seemed unusual at first, until he looked down and saw the blood in the dirt. He tentatively touched it, finding it still warm. He wasn’t much of a tracker, but warm blood meant fresh blood. He looked around frantically, imagining Jovi’s vivid hazel eyes lifeless and unseeing. He imagined her blonde curls stained red. He shivered at the thought of what he might find if the blood was hers.

No, he thought, you can’t think that way. You must find her.

“Colton?” A small, meek voice asked from behind him. “Is that you?”

Colton turned around as was faced with the small but mighty form of Juliet Moore. Juliet was pretty, with big blue eyes and dark-brown hair; but it wasn’t a secret that the pretty face covered a tar black heart, a burdened soul, and an unstable mind. She was the last person you’d want to be stuck with in the middle of the woods. Especially alone.

“Juliet, where’s Jovi?”

“Jovi? You mean the wench who doesn’t love you, and keeps hurting you because of it? Why, I got rid of her, of course.”

Colton studied her. She was dressed head to toe in black, her bronze hair tied into a bun on the top of her head, glowing white in the moonlight. But what unnerved him the most was the blood staining her face. She looked like death itself had come this very night.

“Juliet-”

“She has everything I've ever wanted, and she parades around, mocking me with it.”

Okay, that’s not cryptic at all.

“What exactly does she have that you don’t?” Cole asked, but he already knew the answer, and he dreaded hearing her say it.

“Why, your heart of course.”

There it is. Juliet Moore was not only a sociopath, but she was obsessively in love with Cole. Why? He didn’t know. But it wasn’t a compliment.

“So, you killed her?”

“Look at you, Sherlock Holmes, you figured it out. Yes, I stabbed her, and threw her body in the river. You’ll never find her now. She’s probably half way to Virginia at this rate.”

Colton was gawky and uncomfortable in his own skin. But he was also a state champion wrestler. What he lacked in size, he made up in strength. He could take her. He had to take her. Jovi’s life depended on it.

“Watch me,” he challenged. She would take his challenge, he knew it; Juliet may have been old fashioned in thinking that Cole wouldn’t fight a girl. But Colton wasn’t an old-fashioned kind of guy. If someone’s life was in danger, he’d fight anyone.

Just like clockwork, Juliet took a couple steps forward, accepting his challenge. Colton moved quick; aiming for her stomach, he overpowered her and pinned her onto the ground. Juliet thrashed underneath him, trying to grab a switch blade that Colton hadn’t noticed before. He didn’t want to hurt her, but all rules about hitting a girl flew out the window when you were fighting for your life and the life of someone you loved.

He balled his hand into a fist and hit the side of her skull, hard. He watched Juliet’s blue eyes roll up into her head, and he stayed there with her pinned underneath him until he was sure she was out cold.

Picking up the dagger, Colton took off, following the river.

***

Jovi somehow managed to pull herself to shore, but she had lost too much blood and had swallowed too much water. She was dying, fading away quickly. She held onto her abdomen and tried in vain to stop the bleeding.

She thought of Colton, his amber eyes lighting up every time he smiled. The way his face glowed when he laughed. She remembered him, and the way his chocolate skin glowed in the moonlight as he told her he loved her. She imagined what it would’ve been like when she had the chance to tell him she felt the same.

In those fleeting moments, she thought about the life they would have when they were no longer “just friends”, but rather “something more”. She let herself imagine a better world then the now she was living in.

She took a shaking breath and sent out a plea to the night, to Colton stumbling around in the woods.

“Come and find me.”

Author's Note

This is a short story I wrote for my creative writing class where we had to play around with narrative.