CHAPTER TWO

"Oh there is a wallet here," Fred called the attention of the others. He picked it up and made to open it before Nora snatched it from his hands.

"Give it to me me," she said.

"Fine," Fred raised his hands defensively.

"Hey! That is not fine. You can't just snatch something from someone like that." Alice fired at Nora. She snatched the wallet from her hands.

"Give it back," Nora yelled.

"No I won't," Alice said.

She tossed the wallet over to Reggie as Nora advanced towards her.

"There is a passport, some money and some stuffs.." Reggie said, his voice trailing off.

As Fred looked more closely at the bag, he realized that the body was inside it. The person had been stuffed into the bag and left in the forest.

"Guys you need to see this," Fred said in horror.

They all moved closer to the bag.

The group was horrified, and they didn't know what to do.

Suddenly, they heard the sound of sirens approaching. The police were on their way. The group looked at each other, their faces white with fear. They knew that they were in big trouble.

As the sirens got closer, the group debated what to do. They knew that if they ran, they would look guilty. But if they stayed, they would have to explain how they found the body. They were trapped, and they didn't know what to do.

Then, Alice had an idea. "What if we say that we found the bag first, and that we looked inside out of curiosity?" she whispered. "Then, we could say that we saw the body and ran away."

"Very stupid of you Alice," Nora said sarcastically.

"Cut it girls. This is not time to fight. Let's run." Reggie suggested.

The group turned and ran, their hearts pounding in their chests. They could hear the sirens getting closer, and they knew that they had to get as far away as possible. They ran through the forest, their feet pounding on the ground. They were out of breath and exhausted, but they kept going. Finally, they emerged from the trees, and they saw their town in the distance.

They stopped for a moment, gasping for breath. Then, they realized that the sirens were getting closer. They had to keep moving. They made their way to the town, hoping that they could find somewhere to hide.

As they reached the edge of the town, they saw a small gas station. The lights were on, and there was a single car parked in the lot. The group hesitated, not sure what to do. But then, they saw a figure emerge from the gas station. It was a woman, and she was walking towards them.

The woman looked at them, and she saw the panic in their faces. "What's wrong?" she asked, her voice kind but firm. "Did something happen?"

The group looked at each other, unsure of what to say. But then, Alice spoke up.

"We were lost," she said trying to catch her breath.

"Really? Let me grab my phone inside and call the cops. We need to get you home as soon as possible. The weather does not look fine. You should come in and rest." The woman said before walking back to where she emerged from.

"Could you be any more dumb?" Nora cried as soon as the woman was out of sight.

"I didn't know what to say," Alice replied.

"Calm down, let's think. She must not call the cops." Reggie said, ruffling his hair.

"Let's just keep running till we get to somewhere safe," Fred said.

The group ran as fast as they could, their feet pounding on the pavement. They didn't know where they were going, but they knew they had to get as far away from the gas station as possible. They ran for what felt like hours, their hearts pounding in their chests. Finally, they collapsed on the ground, exhausted.

"What are we going to do?" Alice asked, her voice hoarse. "We can't go home."

"We'll have to figure something out," Nora said, her eyes wide with fear.

"We just have to go home, but we will never speak of this again. Not among us not to anyone." Reggie said while still trying to control his breath. Alice brought out her inhaler from her backpack and hurriedly took some puffs from it.

"Didn't know you were asthmatic." Nora said. Alice glared at her.

"No offense," Nora said.

"Can we focus on the main issue here?" Reggie said.

"This incident should follow us to the grave. It's not cool to be caught up in a murder case and definitely not the way we planned to spend our sophomore year." Reggie said.

"Well it might not be how I intended but solving a murder mystery as always been my dream." Nora said.

"Yeah, it'd be cool. I could write a documentary on it." Alice agreed.

"Can you guys be serious? We have a real problem here. This is real life not some kind of documentary." Fred said, raising his voice.

The group agreed not to tell anyone about what they saw in the woods. It would be a secret they'd take to their graves. They split and went to their various houses.

.

.

.

The next day in school, the group went to Ms Johnson to tell her they couldn't complete the project due to the weather.

Ms Johnson gave them an F on the course.

"Arghh! I got an F, for the first time." Nora cried.

"Believe me, it is the first time for all of us. I have never gotten below an A- before." Alice said.

"Okay. But why are you talking nicely to me? We are not even friends?" Nora said.

Alice was about to reply when she saw Fred coming towards them with a worried look on his face.

"Guys we have a problem," Fred said to the girls.

"The wallet was found," he added.

They stood starstruck.