Chapter 7: The Heebie Jeebies
The darkness of the forest enveloped her as soon as she broke through the barrier of the bushes that surrounded the clearing. She heard the strained voices of her friends cutting through the night and continued on in that direction.
When the voices became loud enough to indicate she was within a reasonable distance, and when she believed she was far enough away from the clearing to protect Takoda’s privacy, Ophelia called out to let them know where she was. Almost immediately, she heard the sound of Antoinette, followed closely by Daphne and Marisol, crashing through the brush in her direction.
The beams of moonlight danced off Antoinette’s face as she sprinted toward Ophelia and the latter had to hold back a laugh at how crazed and concerned her friend looked. She couldn’t blame her; wandering away from the group without warning was not the smartest nor most thoughtful move on her part.
Ophelia extended her arms and Antoinette rushed into the embrace. They held tightly to each other as Antoinette stifled a sob. Ophelia gently shushed her, rubbing reassuring circles on her back as her best friend blubbered her fears into her chest. When Antoinette fell silent and her shuddering sobs stopped, Ophelia gave her one last squeeze before holding her at arms length so she could look her in the eye when she apologized.
Daphne and Marisol had stopped a few feet away from the other two women. Marisol was awkwardly watching the exchange and shifting her weight back and forth between her feet while Daphne used the flashlight to examine her nails nonchalantly.
Ophelia stared into her friend’s eyes, hints of green visible even in the darkness of the forest. “I am SO sorry for wandering off Nettie. I heard something that I thought was nearby so I thought I would check it out and return before you even knew I was gone. Clearly, I was wrong.” She laughed self-deprecatingly.
Antoinette let out a reluctant chuckle before weakly punching her in the shoulder. “Don’t scare me like that. I had no idea what happened to you. For all I know our winged stalker swooped down and snatched you up, never to be heard from again.”
Ophelia laughed again, this time with more heart. “Oh, Nettie. Don’t worry so much. I’m pretty sure that creature is harmless anyway. It seemed more afraid of us than we were of him.”
Antoinette’s face scrunched in confusion. “Him?”
Realizing her faux pas, Ophelia’s eyes widened and her lips pursed. “It. Slip of the tongue. It just didn’t look like a female when we saw it earlier so I guess I’ve been assuming it was a male.”
Her friend blinked at her, unconvinced. “Mhm. Whatever you say, Lia. Just know, if you’re hiding something from me, I’ll find out what it is. You know I’m re-”
“Relentless, yes I am aware. I’ve never been able to hide anything from you before, why would I start now?”
The redhead sighed. “That… is a good point.”
Smirking, Ophelia opened her mouth to respond but was interrupted by Daphne.
“You two are adorable and all, but can we get back to the bonfire? It’s getting cold out here.” She shivered and tapped her foot on the ground impatiently.
Antoinette laughed and grabbed Ophelia by the hand, dragging her over to Daphne, who had already turned and begun walking back, and Marisol, who was waiting patiently with a sheepish smile on her face.
Giddy at having found her friend, Antoinette grabbed Marisol’s hand with her free one and forced the other two women to skip with her through the forest. Daphne heard the giggles and rhythmic footsteps and turned around, rolling her eyes with a groan and a smile at the sight of them.
***
After traipsing through the woods for a little over half an hour, the four women found their way back to the campground. The others cheered at their arrival and Daphne immediately cozied up to the fire, pushing Elijah, who had been peacefully roasting a marshmallow, out of the way so she could sit directly in front of the flames.
Elijah scoffed, dusting himself off and settling in next to her with a roll of his eyes. She shot him a dazzling smile and he gave her a small shove before turning back to his task.
Antoinette scanned the fire, her eyebrows furrowed. “Hey, where did those two dudes go? Charlie and… Kevin?”
Ada spoke up from her position snuggled under a blanket with Joshua, “Charlie’s ankle was feeling better so they decided to hoof it to their car. Apparently, they didn’t park too far from here.”
Her boyfriend nodded, pulling her closer to him with a sour look on his face. “Thank god. That Charlie guy seemed all right but Kevin gave me the f*cking creeps. The way he looked at all of us like he wanted to rip out our throats. And for what? Helping them?!”
Laughing lightly, Ada patted him on the chest. “Easy Tiger. The bad men are gone now.”
Joshua grumbled, retracting his arm from around her shoulders. Ada rolled her eyes and trapped him in a bear hug and within minutes the two were on the ground wrestling.
Confused, Ophelia looked to Antoinette for an explanation, eyebrows raised expectantly.
Antoinette was happy to indulge. “So that noise we heard was these two guys, Charlie and Kevin. Kevin was this little weasley looking guy with a bad attitude. As much as it pains me to agree with Joshua.”
The man’s head popped up out of the tangle of blankets and limbs, with an indignant, “HEY!”
Antoinette snickered and continued, “He gave me the f*cking creeps too. His friend, Charlie, wasn’t so bad. He seemed nice enough at least, but he didn’t talk much. He was the one we heard, he tripped on some roots or something and messed his ankle up. Apparently, they were out trying to get footage of the Bloodsucker. They’re, like, spooky vloggers or something.”
Ophelia’s heart dropped to her stomach and despite the heat from the fire she suddenly felt freezing. Antoinette noticed the change in her demeanor and pulled her aside to probe for the cause.
“Lia? What’s going on?”
Trying to quell the trembling in her hands, Ophelia recounted the story of her experience with the two men the other day. As she divulged the information to Antoinette she felt lighter. Watching her best friend’s litany of expressions as she cycled through annoyance, disgust, and finally, fury, was satisfying and made her feel she had an ally.
That was something she had trouble remembering sometimes, that she didn’t have to keep things to herself. Antoinette could read her like a book but even still, she felt hesitant at times burdening the other woman with her benign problems. How silly she was.
Antoinette’s eyes hardened and her jaw was clenched so hard the vein over her left temple was popping out. Another thing Ophelia often forgot was just how scary her happy-go-lucky friend could be when pushed to it. Nettie was a force to be reckoned with, in every possible way.
She pulled Ophelia into a tight embrace, whispering to her, “Those f*ckers will have hell to pay if they come near you again.”
Releasing her hold, Antoinette turned back to the group. “ANNOUNCEMENT!”
With a fair few eye-rolls and scoffs, the others gave her their attention.
Smug, she cleared her throat. “I have been informed that those two… men,” she spat the word out like s’more made with sh*t instead of chocolate, “showed up at our lovely Ophelia’s place of employment the other day with none other than everyone’s favorite pervy bartender, Pierre. Those three deplorables harassed and intimidated her in an attempt to coerce her into providing them with information for their vlog.”
Joshua interjected, “I knew they were creeps!”
With a pointed look, Ada slapped his shoulder. “Shush, this isn’t about you. Besides, you had no problem with Charlie.”
The man narrowed his eyes at his girlfriend before miming the zipping of his lips and pouting beside her, to which she hummed appreciatively and wrapped an arm around his shoulders.
Antoinette continued, “Yes, they are creeps. So, if you see those two around over the next few days, I say we do whatever we can to run them out of our fair town. Make it clear we don’t take kindly to strangers comin’ in an’ compromisin’ the safety an’ wellbein’ of our fine citizens.”
A smile crept onto Ophelia’s face as her friend, always a fan of the spotlight, shifted into the role of an old-timey Western sheriff. She shook her head. How did she end up best friends with the biggest ham in all of Colorado? She was grateful though. She didn’t know where she’d be, or who she’d be, without Antoinette’s support and influence.
Reminiscing for a moment, she found herself back in kindergarten, a reticent child. Her mother thought it best to enroll her in classes at the local theater. Her mother had always been a thespian and had a few small roles in various television shows before moving back to Colorado to be with Ophelia’s father.
So, when Ophelia had proven to be a quiet and pensive child, she thought the theater would be the perfect place to watch her little flower bloom. Ophelia was not on board with this idea and stared out the window full of angst as they drove to the theater. Her morose attitude remained through the warm-up exercises and the icebreakers until a girl her age with a curly mop of red hair on her head chose her to be her partner for the first activity.
They had to mirror each other’s movements and expressions, taking turns to lead. Despite her drive to keep her deadpan demeanor, Ophelia was unable to keep a straight face with all the expressions her clearly insane partner was pulling. She soon found herself smiling genuinely, not just because she had to, and thought maybe this nutty ginger wasn’t so bad. These classes might be all right with a goof like this to enjoy them with.
From that day forward, the girls were attached at the hip. At times, Ophelia would push Antoinette away but the other girl was never deterred. She seemed to have decided that Ophelia was her friend and Ophelia had no say in the matter. Not that she would have changed anything.
As much as she was loath to admit it at first, Antoinette brought a zest to her life that she had been missing before. She loved her books and spending time with her animal friends in the woods around her house but it was nice to have a companion of her own age… and species.
She chuckled to herself at the memory, drawing back into the current day and realizing that she had missed the final rallying cries of the group. Antoinette was bowing, her friends clapping, some begrudgingly, others, like Marisol, with genuine enthusiasm.
Antoinette looked back at Ophelia and, though she hadn’t caught most of the impromptu performance, she clapped along with a bright smile and a nod. Beaming, Antoinette turned back to the “audience” and bowed again before joining Marisol on one of the large logs placed around the fire as seating.
Marisol immediately began gushing to Antoinette about her talent and how excited she was to be in town long enough to see their performance at the end of the month. Antoinette preened at the praise, always a sucker for flattery.
Ophelia smiled contentedly and went to grab herself a beer. It had been a long night and it wasn’t nearly over yet.
***
The hours passed and the beers ran dry and eventually the fire dwindled to nothing more than embers. Slowly, everyone made their exits until it was only Antoinette, Elijah, and Ophelia left to make sure the fire was out entirely. Ophelia yawned, picking up the bucket of water Elijah had brought and doused the fire with it, watching the wood for any signs of lingering flames.
Satisfied with the result, she handed the bucket to Elijah and gave him a lazy salute. He returned the gesture and waved, mumbling out a goodbye and walking to his car.
Ophelia and Antoinette hopped on their bikes, determined to get home despite their sleepiness and lingering intoxication. They rode past Elijah, who had managed to get in his truck but was seemingly passed out in the driver’s seat.
Antoinette knocked on his window and he jumped. “You good, Eli?”
The man nodded, his eyelids drooping as he tried to stay awake long enough to answer. With a yawn and a small stretch, he managed a response, “All good. Too tired to drive. Gonna take a nap in the car.” He mumbled something else but it was indecipherable and seeing as he was already laying back down, the women figured they would let him be.
“Goodnight!” yelled Antoinette, making Ophelia wince.
They got one tired mahogany thumbs up in response.
***
Before Ophelia knew it, they were back at her cabin. She had spent most of the ride watching the sky, hoping for a glimpse of her new friend. Luckily, Antoinette was entirely focused on maintaining balance so she didn’t seem to notice Ophelia’s behavior.
Once inside, Antoinette made a beeline for the spare bedroom, turning around when she reached the door and making a heart with her hands, pushing it toward Ophelia before unceremoniously crashing into the bedroom and slumping onto the bed.
Ophelia followed her, yawning, and laughed when she saw her friend was already completely knocked out. She grabbed a blanket from the dresser and gently laid it over Antoinette’s already snoring form before heading off to get ready for bed.
She brushed her teeth and washed her face in record time, making her way to her bedroom and collapsing onto her bed face first. She wiggled her way under the covers with as little effort as possible and promptly passed out, her dreams haunted by two warm, glowing eyes.