The Changed (Completed)

Chapter Eleven: Never Have I Ever

Night had fallen across a sea of never-ending trees and I could feel the confidence draining from my companions as they followed closely behind me.

I didn't want to admit that I'd only been guiding them via the posts leading away from the campground. If they knew as much, I worried I'd be left to fend for myself.

The house I was leading them to couldn't be much further. My aunt had worked for the campground so she had lived right outside. I wasn't sure if she still lived there. She and my mother had had a falling out when my mom decided to have no contact with my father. My aunt Caroline wasn't in favor of my mother keeping me from my dad.

"How much further? I don't want to be out here at night," Wesley grumbled.

"Not much further now," I said.

"Don't make us leave you, seems these signs could guide us just as well," he threatened.

Ava sighed, "Wesley...."

I rolled my eyes, "I doubt they could lead you to a place to sleep unless you wanted to try the parking lot."

He didn't say anything else.

Eventually, the trees became far and few. This was to my relief as I finally felt the surrounding area seemed more familiar. We reached a long stretch of road. It wasn't long before I spotted the mailbox in the shape of a carp marking the long winding driveway.

I smiled, silently praising myself as I led the pair onward.

The house was more of a cabin, tucked away from the road on top of a hill. It was small; my aunt had lived alone. She never married or had children. It was a wooden house with jagged steps and a screen door. The porch creaked and I rang the doorbell and waited.

It was when no one answered I began to pay attention to the newspapers tossed throughout the yard, the lack of lights behind the windows, and the cobwebs strung across the roof. My aunt was meticulously tidy. She would have never allowed the house to be in such a state.

With a silent prayer, I lifted the ceramic flowerpot beside the door. As I had hoped, there was a large brass key.

Once we'd settled inside, I noticed my aunt must have left in a hurry. All of her things were still there. A book was laid flat on the coffee table and a load of clothes were still in the dryer.

The three of us began to settle. I rummaged through the pantry, pulling out all the canned goods. The fridge hadn't been cleaned out but everything inside had perished. Luckily, there were canned chili ingredients.

"Check this out," Ava said as we began to cook quietly together. She had opened a cabinet to reveal a stash of hard liquor.

I laughed, "Oh yeah, I almost forgot, Aunt Caroline and her friends could be a bit wild."

Ava pulled a half-empty bottle of Vodka out, "We should mix this with one of those sodas from the pantry."

I shrugged, "Vodka and chili is a bit weird but yeah, I don't mind," I purposely neglected to mention that my only experience with alcohol was a sip of wine at Christmas.

It was after we'd all eaten that the drinks were mixed and passed around.

I sipped it cautiously, expecting the vodka and soda to taste as strongly as the wine I'd had before. However, it just tasted suspiciously of cola, as if the alcohol hadn't been added. I couldn't remember the percentage of alcohol in vodka. I assumed it was higher than wine but it certainly didn't taste that way.

"Let's play a game," Ava suggested.

"My aunt has a cabinet of board games," I said.

Ava cackled, "Noooo, a drinking game!"