If We Could Make it There

A Terribly Innocent Lie

Caylie POV

I see nothing but blurry light and an obscure face. I blink and say "Whose there?" groggily.

I hear relieved sighs and try to rub my eyes. My left hand comes to my face, but when I try to move my right arm I feel imense pain. I let out a pained groan, and hear Ashlyn's voice say "No, stay down. You need rest."

I lie flat and my arm, although still stinging, feels much better. I look at it, and am so shocked I let out a squealing noise. It is rather red, from a little bit of blood, but there is some kind of greenish tinge in the middle of it. Theres also a lot of dirt, which I know must be from lying on the ground for a few hours.

"What- where did you find me?" I say. They all look at Alex and Grace.

"We found you near some trees out in the forest. You were kind of delerious. Kept mumbling. Thankfully we've got Kate." Grace says, nodding at Kate "But what happened?"

They stare at me and I glance over at Cheryl. I expect to see a tense, eager person, not a relaxed, laid-back person who doesn't have a care in the world. Is she that sure that I won't tell? Well, in any case she's right.

"I er... I went out to get more wood because the fire was dying but I went out too far and I got attacked by some kind of animal." I say. Sounds pretty convincing to me.

It seems to convince the others too. I take another look at Cheryl, who altogether doesn't seemed too changed. Curios. But not that curios. I KNOW she's bad now. It was never Grace, was it? She just smiled. She gave us iodine. That was something nice for her to do, not something suspicious.

"Well, we're still short on firewood so how about some of us go and grab some, and one of us can stay and watch Caylie?" Alex says "Okay... Grace and Ashlyn? You guys want to watch her?" she asks. They nod. As the others leave, I can tell Ashlyn knows I was lying. Of course she can. She can read minds for heavens sake! Why did I not think about that earlier? She can see what I'm thinking.

I focuse on three words: It was Cheryl....

They go on and on in my head, and Ashlyn looks my way. She walks over to me and asks "How are you feeling?"

"Fine" I say, still focusing hard.

"Okay." She says. I look into her eyes. She knows what I thought. And I swear, I see her head shake in the slightest to show she thinks what think is wrong.