What next?

1- The time we slept at a paintball course

Screams. An arm on my back, pushing and carrying me deeper into the forest. All I could see was red blurriness, whether it was from fire or blood, I’m still not sure. I had been panting, trying to make out any detail in the chaos. There was a searing pain on my legs as Oak shouted directions at whoever had been guiding me. Cross’ voice had come from the dark-haired figure beside me, and even in my dazed state, I was able to tell it was a series of curses directed at whatever caused this. I had no idea what was happening. To this day, I haven’t been able to fill in some of the gaps in my memory.

***

I thought it was a nightmare given I could barely see or move, but the scratches, burns and bruises say otherwise. I woke up in a small wooden building, covered in many colours of paint. My first guess was a paintball course, we had been camping, and there was one only a few kilometers away.

Had we run that far? I wondered. Impressive.

I tried to stand, grabbing onto the sticky wood. A gasp came out of my mouth, my hand let go of the wall and flew to my calves, which caused me to fall back down. Burns torn open by deep scratches covered the backs of my legs. I sucked in a deep breath and slumped against the purple wall, I wasn’t sensitive to the sight of wounds or blood, but these were out of my pain tolerance zone. Wincing, I glanced around. The sight that greeted me was nothing new: trees, sunlight coming through green leaves, wood, paint- and Piper. The girl lay curled up in the corner with her long, brown hair covering her face.

"Piper!" I hissed, trying to get her attention. The way her chest rose and fell steadily meant I needed a better method. "Piper!" I leaned forward, trying not move legs, and grabbed a stray paintball. I sat up slowly, and threw it at my friend’s head. Her response was one that included a noise that sounded like a dying chicken, and a limp swatting motion which was probably a lazy attempt to push whatever woke her up away. Teenagers need their sleep, what can I say? None the less, she looked up.

"What do you-” The girl groaned, efficiently showing how she was not a morning person. Her purple eyes slowly took in the scene, and went from a glazed-over state to one of realization. “Oh shit that was real..." She trailed off, prying herself off the thilthy floor using a rainbow stair railing beside her. She turned on her heel with energy that came out of nowhere, and started out of the castle.

"Wait! Where are you going?" I shrieked at her, terrified she'd walk away and leave me here, unable to move. Although, that type of move was to be expected in our group. Piper looked back at me like it was obvious.

"Looking for Mere, Cross and Oak. Get on your feet and come on."

"Hate to break it to you, but have you SEEN my legs? Can't exactly walk!"

Piper rolled her eyes and made her way to me. She put my arm over her shoulder, and I let her do all the work of bringing me to my feet. Once the two of us were up, we shuffled forward, and I put practically all my weight on her. I had faith she could handle it, she was strong enough. As we stepped down, out the wooden structure, the fact she was shorter than me had never been so helpful. The whole motion took far too much effort in my opinion. Piper had to practically lift me down.

After me tripping on tree roots and complaining as thorn bushes scratched us, together we started screeching names of our friends.

"Oak!"

No response.

"Cross!"

Nothing.

"Mere!"

Silence.

Trees, poplar and pine, rose up all around us and gave off a lonely aura. They opened up onto a course dotted with large black wooden tombstones. Dead leaves covered them and the forest floor, with dew drops glistening on them due to the early morning summer sun. In Canada, the cold really is inescapable no matter the season; which sucks in my opinion but I’ve gotten used to it after living here for fourteen years. A chilly Albertan wind blew, which made me shiver in my shredded long sleeved shirt and pants. I hadn’t been able to change out of my make-shift pajamas, considering whatever happened happened when I was asleep. As far as I knew, Piper had been awake when I dozed off. If she was more awake then I was, maybe she’s have some answers. I decided to pester her as we sat down behind a huge wooden tomb, not wanting to wander too far.