In the blink of an eye by Jessica M.

It was dark. Jamie could barely see her hand in front of her face. Her two friends, Caleb and Allison, were right behind her following her every move on the old fallen leafs covering the forest floor. The moon there only source of light, shining though the naked trees guiding them to their camp site. They had been planning this trip for months now and they finally got the chance to do so. In just a few months they all would be leaving to different colleges. Starting their lives, and leaving each other.

It was around ten at night and they still hadn’t arrived at their camp site. Finally Jamie saw a burning amber fire in the distance. Jamie, Caleb, and Allison looked at each other with a sigh of relief. Their backs seemed as if they were broken from carrying the camping supplies. “Does anyone know how to set up a tent?” Allison asked sarcastically. Caleb threw his backpack onto the dirt ground and started trying to build a tent, in an attempt to prove his manliness to Allison and Jamie. They just laughed and started to set up camp. The darkness made it nearly impossible to see everything. All they had was the bright shadows flickering on the tent fabric from the small fire in the middle of the camp site. They had finished setting up camp and all three of them laid by the fire talking about their new lives and how wonderful they were going to be. They apparently had no idea what was soon to come that cold dark night alone in the woods.

Jamie woke to the sound of screaming. She ran out to see Caleb was jumping out of his tent, also awakened by the blood curdling scream. They ran to Allison’s tent to notice the tent’s front zipper was opened. She stopped and she stared into Caleb’s eyes. They knew something was terribly wrong. Caleb reached out to open the tent. His hands were shaking and shivers running across his skin as he slowly opened the tent. Caleb looked at Jamie as a tiny tear ran down her pale face. Blood stained the tent walls. Tares in the tent’s fabric were lined in bright red showing a sign of desperate struggle, trying to get free from whatever was trying to attack. Allison was gone and Jamie and Caleb were left crying alone at the dark camp site, knowing there was a murderer right beyond those woods.

Jamie stood, not moving an inch, staring into the tent. Caleb noticed a trail of blood leading into the woods behind them. It was now almost dawn and the light shined through the trees from above. The blood from the tent showed more clearly in daylight leading into the woods. Caleb grabbed Jamie’s arm and they slowly crept into the woods. Fear filled their hearts which were now aching from the terrible sight they had seen. Each step forward seemed impossible for Jamie. Her legs were stiff and unable to work. Her body achy and filled with fear and shock like nothing she had ever felt before. Caleb, holding Jamie up from falling to the cold forest floor, suddenly stopped. Jamie picked up her head and noticed the blood had stopped right in front of their feet. The trail seemed to vanish out of nowhere. Jamie propped herself up and looked around the area. Caleb had gone behind the trees ahead to find out anything clues he could to find Allison. Jamie saw Caleb in the distance bent over, shuffling around the ground. She started to walk over when Caleb rushed toward her, stopping her from moving forward. He’s eyes looked scared and frightened as if he knew what had happened to Allison. Jamie pushed him away and she looked at his face. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed a slight stain of blood on his old flannel shirt. Jamie’s heart started beating faster and faster. Her face now ghost white. Thoughts filled her mind. “Did Caleb do this”, ran though out her head. Jamie turned around again to face Caleb, but he was gone. Jamie started to panic. She stood turning around in circles in the middle of this forest not knowing what to do. It was getting dark and Jamie was left alone with a killer.

All of a sudden the sun had disappeared behind the earth. Jamie, confused and scared, wandered around trying to find a way out of the woods. It was dark and cold. Different sounds surrounded Jamie, frightening her with every step she took. She stopped to try to see where she had walked to when all of a sudden she could hear the distant sound of footsteps on the dried leafs covering the floor of the dark forest. She didn’t move. Trying to hold in her breath, she tried not to make one sound. All of a sudden Jamie felt cold hands grasping around her fragile neck. Jamie struggled to free herself from the man. She quickly twisted around to break free, and there she was, face to face, with the murderer, Caleb. He’s eyes bright red with anger and craziness. Jamie grabbed his arms and bit down on his hand. Caleb released her and Jamie ran away as far as she could until she could hear him right behind her. Breathing heavy with rage he jumped for her and gripped onto her ankle. Jamie forcefully fell to the ground. She grabbed a fallen branch from the dirt and thrusted Caleb off her back. She rolled over and stabbed him in the chest with the branch. Blood ran though his shirt and onto his hands. She stumbled backwards onto her feet. She stared at Caleb struggling to breathe. Jamie just turned around and ran as fast as she could.

Dark and confused Jamie struggled to keep herself from falling. Her muscles seemed to stop working. Her mind was running wild, filling with the fear of Caleb right behind her, chasing her with determination and anger. Jamie started to feel a hot breath on the crease of her neck. She turned around to see nothing was there, just thousands of trees and a world that seemed only full of darkness. Steams of tears ran down her face, but yet she knew she had survived a friend, a murderer. The one that promised her that Allison, him, and herself would be friends forever no matter what. It’s amazing how in a blink of an eye everything can change.