Better than Twilight: Part 6

Part 6

By the time Ella woke up the next morning the sun was streaming thick and bright through the shades. She rolled over and bleary-eyed tried to read the clock. She groaned as she made out the neon "12:45." She hated sleeping in so late, it always through off her sleep schedule for days afterwards. Rubbing her eyes she headed towards the bathroom, grateful that she'd at least thought to turn the alarm off the night before. Sleeping in late was better than having her blasting alarm wake her up at 9:30 after a long movie marathon.

The shower helped wake her up but by the time she was finished getting dressed it was well past 1:30 and her stomach grumbled loudly. She hardly ever missed breakfast, let alone lunch as well. She headed downstairs and ransacked the pantry and refrigerator for lunch things. She was just sitting down with a bowl of spagettios and half a grilled cheese when there was a knock from the porch door behind her. She turned and saw Nate waving through the window. She smiled back and leaned over to unlatch the door. He let himself in and grabbed the seat next to her.

        "Sleep in late?" he asked.

"After staying up until nearly 3 in the morning, of course I did! Don't tell me you woke up bright and early this morning?"

He laughed. "Nah, but Gran drew the line and noon and shook me awake. I figured I'd give you a little longer before coming over to see about our biking trip."

She stopped mid-spoonful, "Oh right! I almost forgot, just give me a bit to finish lunch and then we can head out. Where're we going to go?"

"Well, there are some nice trails just past the high school." He leaned back in his chair. "That'll give you a chance to see where you'll be headed in a week for daily torture… I mean school." She chuckled at his lame joke while he continued.

"There's a few more on the other side of the park... but they're not, well they're not as nice I guess… and people tend to hang out there- people not riding I mean…"

"You mean like those teenage gangs you warned me about?"

He glowered a bit not meeting her eyes. "Yeah, like them." He suddenly grabbed her free hand and starred deep into her eyes. "I wasn't kidding Ella, you really need to be careful about those… kids. They're serious trouble. A pretty girl like you will be prey to them… just anyone that looks shady, probably is… so, stay away." He held her gaze for a few more minutes then abruptly broke it off and drew his hand away. He ran it back through his hair trying to laugh a bit. "I'm sure right now I'm scaring you more than anything else…" She nervously laughed.

"Yeah, a bit." They sat quietly while she finished her meal, then she stood to drop them in the sink. Happy to do something that broke the awkward silence. "Well, why don't you go get your bike and I'll meet you out front with mine." He hesitantly stood and opened the door.

"Alright… I'm really sorry Ella… I didn't want to scare you, I just… eh… I'll meet you out front." With that he breezed out the door and slammed it behind himself. She watched him go while she began to rinse her dishes. He stormed across the lawn and continued to ruffle his hair.

"Must be a nervous habit…" she mused to herself.

Ten minutes later the two of them were geared up with helmets and bikes, ready to go. Ella was grateful the tires hadn't deflated during the move, she had no idea where her dad kept the bike pump, if he even had one. For the first few minutes they both pedaled silently, Ella following Nate's lead, but the silence didn't last long. The breezy ride seemed to cheer them both up and clear Nate of the moody fog he'd been in since leaving her house. They were soon yelling back and forth to one another as they sped through town. Nate pointed out the few town landmarks as they went: the market, hardware store, other shopping, and the local Bates Burger's and Hand-i-dip ice cream. There was also a Looney Bakery Bagel shop. The name tickled her but seeing all the local food chains made her sad, not a single Krispy Kreme or Chic-fil-a were to be seen. Before too long they zoomed past the school and headed around the back where a dirt path headed off into the woods.

"Be careful!" Nate called out over his shoulder, "sometimes branches stick out and it can be rough going!" The autumn day was cool enough, but it was even cooler under the shelter of the trees. Nevertheless, Ella found she was warm enough to sweat a bit under her helmet. She hated wearing it. Helmets were made to look stupid and always crushed her hair, but her mother had always drilled "safety first" into her head and she'd never been allowed out riding without one. Her mother… Ella shook the thought and smiled to herself, at least Nate had put one on too. They looked stupid together. Ella noted that Nate seemed to be slowing.

"Need a stop?" She asked.

"No, there's a bit of a ravine up ahead, it's a great view though!" He pulled off to the side and swung easily off his bike, leaning it up against a tree. She happily stopped beside him, she wouldn't have wanted to admit it, but she was tired: it'd been a longer ride than she'd been on in quite a while. He pulled a chain off the handlebars and wrapped it through the bike and started to pull it around the tree.
"Oh, I don't have a chain." She mentally kicked herself. She should have thought to grab her dad's off his bike. Hers was still buried in a box somewhere.

"No worries, just lean your bike up against mine and I'll chain them together. I don't really think anyone else will be out her to nab them, but better safe than sorry."

She agree while shifting her bike next to his. Once the bikes were chain they headed through a patch of trees on the right of the path. Just a short distance through the trees she could see the drop off, then they were at the ravine. He was right, it was a great view. The ravine was at least a fifty foot drop and the forest continued below. The trees were all starting to change their color so the landscape was a beautiful mix of golds and greens. Off to the left was a small meadow, lush and sunny.

"Wow, you weren't kidding, this is an amazing view!" Just as she spoke, a herd of white tailed deer came bounding from the trees below across the meadow they scattered through the next patch of trees and were soon out of sight. "Deer! I don't think I've ever actually seen a whole herd of deer... well, except for those creepy ones at Berry College."  

"Yeah, white-tailed deer. There's a whole bunch of them in these woods, and all throughout the state really. Michigan is deer country. I think hunters actually still get paid to help keep the population down."

"Huh…wait, what's that?" From down below she could hear something else.

"Sounds like voices…" Nate murmured. Sure enough a small crowd of people emerged from the trees and into the meadow below. The sound of their voices became louder and more distinct once they were in the clearing. They looked and sounded young and were all in dark clothing. "What are they doing here?" Nate spoke low almost to himself. As Ella opened her mouth to ask what he meant, the people below as a unit sharply turned and starred directly at Ella and Nate, all except one. He turned his head slowly and purposefully and as he locked his eyes upon them, a chill ran down Ella's spine. Even from this distance Ella could tell it was the boy from the park.