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Whisper in the Woods; Part 2: Harmless Journey |
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Finally. It is part 2. razz . I hope you enjoy it. It's a bit more of an in depth look at the characters. Comments greatly appreciated. smile
Whisper in the Woods
Part 2: Harmless Journey
Seven o’clock. October really was beautiful no matter where you were, even if temperatures were starting to drop in preparation of winter. Out in front of Ridgeback Public Library, there were a mix yellows and reds and oranges. A few trees stood bare, a collage of warm colors gathering around their trunks. Other trees clung on to what few leaves were left on their branches as if for dear life, letting go to a leaf when they couldn’t hold any longer.
A light breeze swayed the trees. A branch gave up on its tug-of-war game against the leaf and it departed to start its journey, sailing down, floating down, to the cold cemented sidewalk.
Aidan watched as the leaf blew by and sighed quietly. Leaning up against the side of the library, arms folded, he looked over towards Jack and Riley, the only two of his partners to have actually shown up thus far. He studied the two for a moment, putting together how they acted now and what he all ready knew of them. At least then he might get an idea of how the weekend would turn out.
Jack was sitting on the ground a few feet over from him, leaning up against the library wall with his legs crossed and laptop in his lap. His fingers briskly tapped over the keys in a graceful fashion, somehow never seeming to stop typing. Aidan was guessing this must have been his prized possession, he even saw the boy bring it to school with him on occasions.
While Aidan couldn’t find the perfect word to describe him, besides ‘geek’ or ‘nerd’, he decided to go with brilliant, because, well, he was—on school subjects, anyway. To him he seemed the type that just made a wrong click decision, not that you get to pick your clique but it’s the way you are that makes you fit into one.
Aidan could estimate Jack to be around five feet and eight or nine inches. If he had tried out for the football team, he would have gotten in for sure. Although Jack showed some sign of muscles, he was also thin, not to mention very smart. A straight ‘A’ student, he appeared to being a walking encyclopedia, dictionary and thesaurus combined. Out of complete habit, Aidan knew Jack to have corrected the teacher on whatever topic it was they were learning. As a result, the other kids poked fun.
The boy’s short brown hair gleamed in the morning sunlight as his eyes glued themselves to his laptop screen and his fingers typed away like no tomorrow. Aidan sighed quietly, getting tired from all the waiting. He checked his Rolex. Seven-twenty. He shook his head silently, still seeing now sign of Nick or Amy yet. He shifted his gaze to Riley now as he continued the Waiting Game.
Riley had walked a couple of feet away from the two, after dropping two duffel bags by the boys, while pulling out a crimson red cell phone. Aidan knew she was right where she wanted to be, school-wise. She made friends where she wanted to and argued when she saw fit. Aidan would have labeled her an outcast as she went with her own wave.
Just this year, her and Aidan’s senior year, Riley managed to gain the nickname Elvira. She had a fetish to read, and a lot of those books involved some weird s**t with vampires or werewolves, which would make sense. Aidan guessed that was the reason, or close to it. He’s seen her pretend to joke around and add to the comments herself, so he knew she never took anything cruel to heart. Nothing ever seemed to bother her.
Now that he thought about it, Aidan had to admit that he did know more of Riley than the rest of the group. His best friend was her brother, Sonny; a twin older brother. Sometimes he would talk to her when he was over their house, working on homework or some new football plays, or even in the few classes they had together. He would consider the two friends, or at least acquaintances.
Aidan had to smile to himself. As a C-average student, he was pretty good with the characterizations he was making the attempt to think up. He could pass literature with flying colors.
Riley shut her phone and walked over to the two of them. “Just checking in at home, making sure I have everything we need to film,” she said before Aidan could ask, stowing away the cell phone in her pocket. “Sonny says hi, by the way,” she added to Aidan.
“I’ll have to talk to him later,” he replied.
There was a click and movement as Jack closed his laptop and stood, tucking the item under his arm. “How much longer are those two going to take?”
Riley closed her eyes and shook her head. “I don’t know, but they better hurry up,” she said. She held her camcorder in one hand and switched it between hands, the strap around her neck. Nick and Amy were clearly testing her artist’s patience.
Aidan took another look at his watch as a near beat up SUV pulled into the parking lot. Seven thirty-six. This ought to be Nick, he thought as the van dragged itself across the parking lot and parked a few feet away.
Nick climbed out of the driver’s side door and flashed them a goofy grin while he fumbled with a set of keys as he walked to the back of the van. “Hey guys.”
Aidan never really saw Nick a lot during school, but seeing him during Biology everyday he gathered enough to know Nikolas Carson was like a washed up comedian. Some could argue the he was a clown, and sometimes Aidan thought he could agree but it depended on how corny his jokes are. Sometimes Nick seemed to be the comedian that ignored how many tomatoes were thrown at him and just kept cracking jokes, no matter how bad they were.
He was an odd sort of mix. Even for his love of comedy, Nick loved his scary movies. Stephen King was one of his idols and most of his jokes related to the movies or books. Aidan could only understand a few of the jokes—he never read or watched anything from King besides that Carrie movie he saw once, and he liked it.
“What took you so long?” Riley asked as Nick opened up the trunk. She brought over her duffel bag and Nick took it from her while she set her other bag into the trunk. Jack and Aidan brought their things over.
“Had to go fill up the gas tank,” he replied. “Just the usual: Paid for the gas, filled up the tank, get held at gun point.”
Riley rolled her eyes and made sure her bag was secured while the boys tucked away the rest of the luggage.
“So where’s El Blondo?” Nick asked.
“Still not here,” Jack replied, opening up the back door. He set his laptop into the very back seat.
“She was supposed to be here close to an hour ago,” Riley added. ‘We need to get going soon.
“Don’t get your socks in a twist, Mrs. White,” Nick said.
“If we’re going to spend the weekend together, could you not make Stephen King jokes?”
“Well you just might have to deal with it.”
A sleek, silver Porsche pulled into the library’s parking lot. The car pulled around and stopped off to the side of the van. There was a delay of the car door opening and the trunk popped. The passenger side door opened and Amy got out. Aidan noticed her mother, who looked like an older clone of Amy, pushing her daughter’s shoulder to go.
“Well, you can help,” Amy said, clearly irritated as she pointed to the trunk.
Aidan and Nick looked at each other and shrugged, then went over to the trunk. They lifted the hood and pulled out three pink luggage bags as Amy tugged two more out of the back seat.
“Jeez, Ames. We’re not moving in out there,” Riley said, watching the three lugged the bags over after Mrs. Dunquet said her good-byes to her daughter.
Aidan lifted one of the bags into the back of the van and blinked. “Man, Amy, what do you have in here?” Yes Aidan thought Amy was pretty, but he thought she spent too much time working on her appearance. This merely seemed to confirm it.
“Just the essentials,” she replied. She counted off her fingers as she listed them. “Clothes, make-up, shoes, hair accessories, jewel—“
“Narrow it down to the entire mall,” Nick said, managing to shut the trunk door. The others agreed while Amy frowned.
Between both girls, Aidan had never seen any two girls more different. Riley only needed two duffel bags. Essentially one, considering one duffel bag contained her camera’s equipment: Wires, extra batteries, the battery charger, tapes, etc. He felt Amy worried about appearance more than Riley had, but it most certainly paid off.
Amy rolled her eyes. “Are you sure we have to do this?” she twirled a loose strand of her white blonde hair, the rest of which was pulled neatly back into a ponytail.
Jack nodded and climbed into the very back seat. “Of course we do.”
“Nature makes me itch.” She muttered her reply as she placed a hand on her purse’s long strap while she climbed into the middle seat, Aidan following after. Nick took over the driver’s seat, becoming their designated driver, something Riley, who occupied the passenger seat, felt was safer to give to someone more coordinated, like a chimp or even a cockroach.
Nick started up the car and the van pulled forward and left the parking lot. Amy blinked at the sound of typing and turned around, her emerald green eyes on Jack.
“What could you possibly be working on now?”
“An essay for history.” His green eyes never looked up from the screen. His fingers moved gracefully, swiftly, never missing a beat.
“That essay’s not due until next Friday, though,” said Aidan, now looking back at him.
“I know. I just like having them done ahead of time. I won’t have to worry about them later on.”
“All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy,” said Nick. He looked up at Jack through the rearview mirror when he stopped at a red light. His trademark grin spread on his face.
“Nick, what did I tell you?” Riley said, looking over at him. “I wasn’t kidding. It gets old after awhile.”
Nick only smiled and shook his head, pulling forward as the light turned green. “We’ve got to get some groceries,” he said while pulling into a supermarket parking lot.
He pulled into a parking spot between a blue Chevy and an old red Corvette. The five of them got out of the car and went inside, Riley filming as they went.
Bright colors morphed together to create displays for various products that are on sale. The air was chilly from the air conditioner, but the scent of freshly baked cookies, cakes, and bread lingered and made it worth it.
“What are you filming for?” Aidan asked. A very delayed question. They had all ready filled the carriage that Nick was pulling halfway and were just finishing up.
“Well, I figure that since it’s a documentary why not film most of the trip?” Riley replied and smiled. She looked at Aidan through her camcorder’s side screen.
“Please don’t,” Amy said, looking over as Riley caught her on the viewfinder. “It reminds me too much of the Blair Witch Project, and that’s not helping me feel any better.”
Riley filmed each of them as they talked.
Jack turned to Amy after setting a couple packages of veggie burgers into the cart. “You know, those three kids—“
“The Blair Witch?” Nick interrupted. “They still looking for her?”
“I figured that was just a movie,” replied Aidan. “Why?”
“’Cause we all ready found her,” Nick replied. He gestured towards Riley, who shot a mild glare at him.
“It’s only my last name, Nick. Doesn’t mean I’m the Blair Witch.”
“But you’re still a witch right?”
“Shut up.”
“I rest my case,” Nick said and pushed the cart down the rest of the aisle towards the pay lines.
Riley turned the camera to her, her face appearing on the side lens. “Class, you better feel lucky I can edit dear Nikolas’s horrible jokes out,” she said and smiled as Amy, Aidan and Jack laughed. Nick ignored them and started putting the food on the belt.
“Oh very funny,” he said sarcastically.
“I couldn’t resist,” Riley replied, pinching his cheek teasingly.
Nick rolled his eyes and paid for the groceries, then wheeled the cart out the door and across the parking lot to the SUV. The Corvette and Chevy had both left, leaving Nick’s car the only one in that aisle.
He unlocked the doors and opened up the back door. He and Jack put the groceries on the seat since Amy’s luggage made it difficult for the trunk to hold the food. The five of them sat in their respective seats and Nick started up the car and started the trip to the cabin.
This time, he had flipped on the radio. Amy blinked, hearing the start of a long journey, and pulled a walkman from her purse. Jack seemed unbothered. Riley rolled her eyes as Aidan let out a small groan.
“Country? Oh all the things we can listen to, it’s country?” Aidan sounded disgusted. That music genre wasn’t the one he was prone to listen to.
Riley agreed with a nod, looking up from her camera. “Can’t we listen to Nickelback? Hawthorne Heights, maybe?”
Nick shook his head. “My car, my rules,” he said. “Besides, I’m driving.”
“Uh, how long until we reach the cabin?” Aidan asked as Nick started singing along with Big and Rich’s Lost in the Moment.
“About an hour and a half, give or take,” he replied cheerily. As he started singing again, Riley and Aidan looked at each other, realizing this weekend, the trip even, was going to be longer than they thought.
To Be Continued....
Stay tuned for Part 3: The Cabin!
 OrliDeppgrl1526 · Tue Dec 25, 2007 @ 05:27pm · 1 Comments |
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