Something in the Woods

Chapter 15

Something was wrong, Byssa could feel it when Katie never showed up for school. Once the final bell rang, Byssa bolted to her friend's house, she saw the two little kids playing in the yard. However the girl seemed to look tense. Her eyes would glance over to the woods, as if she was waiting for something to pop out. 
"Hey kid!" Byssa called out as she walked over to her. "Where's Katie? She didn't show up to school today." 
"Um… I'm not supposed to say." She replied meekly. 
"Did something happen?" 
The little girl only tightened her lips. Something clearly was scaring her and Byssa had an idea of who it was. 
"Did Katie go into the woods with Barrett?"
"You know about the monster?" She gasped. 
"Yes, now tell me what happened." 
"Okay… the monster was at her window last night, he seemed really upset at her, so he just took her! Katie said she would be back but she never came back." Her voice quivered with each word. "Do you think the monster ate her?!" 
"Barrett wouldn't do that." Byssa said gently. "But don't worry, I'll bring her back." 
She patted the kid on the head and charged off into the woods. But with each step deeper into the woods, she could feel her stomach knotting up. She had to admit that she never would have thought Barrett would resort to kidnapping, but why would he do that?! Maybe he had ill intentions from the beginning, and if Byssa wasn't careful, Katie and her could be victims. The woods suddenly felt foriegn to Byssa now, the trees cast shadows that made her feel like Barrett was lurking among them, just waiting for his opportunity to strike. She wasn't sure how she would save Katie from a giant but she wasn't going to leave her alone in the woods with him. 
"Come on this is getting redundant." Katie's voice broke through the cold winds. "I want to go home." 
"But what if you leave me again?" 
Byssa immediately crouched into some bushes. Their thorns tore at her skin and jacket but she swallowed her whimpers of pain to get a better look at what was happening. She peeked outta the bushes and saw Katie sitting in a tree eye level to the giant. She didn't look scared at all, but an annoyed look was plastered on her face. "That's not going to happen!" 
"How can I know for sure?!" Barrett's voice croaked in desperation. 
"Because you're my best friend, and you're the only one that's going to give me a start in a new life where I can finally be happy." 
"What about me?!" Byssa snapped and she rose up from the bushes. 
"Byssa?"  
"You!" Barrett growled. 
"Yeah me, I came looking for you after you didn't show up for school." Byssa huffed as she stormed out of the bushes. "Maríana told me what happened. What the hell, Barrett? You can't just kidnap someone!" 
"I wouldn't have done that if you didn't get in the way!" 
"So I can't do normal things with my friend now?!" She crossed her arms. "I gotta get permission from you to hang out with her now?" 
"You weren't even supposed to be here in the woods!" Barrett yelled. "You just followed Katie over here that day!"
"Yeah, to stop Sarah and Michelle from harassing her!" 
"Well I handled it better than you ever could." 
"Yeah, by threatening to kill them!" Byssa exclaimed. "You're acting like a monster!" 
Barrett slammed his hand down next to Byssa causing to stumble backwards. She looked up to see the giant's face lowering itself to get closer to her. His cheeks burned red and his green eyes shot daggers at her. Byssa's heart pounded on her chest, he was going to kill her for sure! 
A shaky finger pointed at her. "Don't ever call me that again, cause you know nothing about me!" 
Byssa locked her gaze onto Barrett. "That's exactly why I called you that!" 
"Will you guys just stop!" Katie cried out. 
The two broke eye contact from each other and looked up at Katie. Her hands were clenched in a shaky fist and her cheeks stained with tears. 
"I don't want you guys to fight over me! It's not fair!"
Barrett turned over to his grieving friend, his angry demeanor melted away as he stroked her back with his finger. "Katie, I'm so sorry! I wasn't trying to upset you."
"I get that I broke my promise yesterday, and I'm truly sorry, but I am allowed to hang out with other people!" 
"I know, I just didn't want to lose you." 
"You were never going to lose me, Barrett." She wiped the tears off her glasses. "I am going with you no matter what!" 
"I'm sorry…. I should have trusted you." His finger lifted her chin up. "Please, forgive me."
Katie grabbed his finger and pulled in for a hug. "Of course I forgive you!" 
"Well, I'm glad you two could make up." Byssa said, trying to hide the sarcasm in her tone. "But you should probably get home before Ms. Dorris goes looking for you!" 
"She's right, see you tomorrow… if I'm not grounded." 
Barrett chuckled. "Of course." He gently grabbed Katie and brought her back down to the ground. Byssa quickly walked over to her friend and looked her over to make sure she was okay. There seem to be no visible signs of injury. 
Katie waved goodbye to Barrett and the girls parted ways. They walked through the woods in silence for a while until they were almost out of the woods. 
"You're not actually still going to Jotunheim?" Byssa asked. "After what he did." 
Katie stopped walking. "Of course I am, why would you ask that?" 
"Katie, he literally kidnapped you!" 
"Because he was scaring Maríana by being upset at me for breaking my promise!" 
"If that's how he acts when he gets upset over something so small then why would you even want to go with him?!" Byssa snapped. 
"Because Claymore sucks!" 
"I know but…. Katie listen to me." She sighed and looked her friend in her eyes. "What if you're in Jotunheim, and you guys get into a bad fight that costs your friendship?"
"That would never happen." Katie said firmly. 
"But what if it does? How are you going to leave if the world is gigantic? What if you get into a fight and the portal to Earth is closed at the time? What if Barrett keeps you from leaving?" 
"You're acting like Barrett is a bad person!" 
"Katie, I'm worried that he's being possessive of you!" Byssa admitted. "We don't even know if everything he's said about Jotunheim is true!"
"I can't believe you…" katie growled. "Saying so many awful things about Barrett like that! Don't you think if he were a bad person he would have done something to us by now?!" 
"I don't know!" 
"Then why make up such a ridiculous story?!" Tears formed in her angry eyes. "My life sucks here, and Jotunheim is my ticket to a better one. If you can't accept that then you don't need to hang out with us anymore!" 
A sharp pain formed in Byssa's chest once those words hit her. For a moment, she wasn't sure what to say to her friend. A dark thought formed in her head telling her to let Katie go, she was going to leave her regardless of their friendship, so why continue it when her heart is just gonna be broken beyond repair the moment she enters that portal? But looking at Katie washes away all anger in her. Byssa couldn't stay away from Katie, even if the endgame would hurt her so badly. She wanted every opportunity to be close to her. So Byssa set aside her instincts to fight for her and looked her in the eyes. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't get mad at you for wanting to leave." 
A wary look appeared on Katie. "You're… not leaving me?" 
"Nah, I want to be with you til you go off on your journey to Jotunheim!" Byssa forced a smile on her face. "If you're serious about leaving, I at least want you to remember one good thing about earth." 
"That's…. So nice." Katie smiled but the uneasiness in her voice crept into her words. "However, I really need to go. Ms. Dorris is gonna be furious when she sees me, the sooner I get back, the less severe my punishment will be." 
"Oh.. okay, see you Monday then?" 
Katie nodded and then hastily left the woods, leaving Byssa all alone. 
Tears formed in her amber eyes, why did she have to feel this way about Katie? Why did she want to fight so hard to keep her on earth when she knew all attempts would just be futile? Could there really be a chance or was Byssa just holding onto a false hope that maybe, this school could be different if Katie just sticks with her?