Bad Judgement

Bad Judgement

We didn't anticipate the effect our actions would have on our lives when we first thought of 'The Plan' we didn't really think it out at all we were excited, full of adrenaline. That was the problem. The plan was simple, so simple.
It was such a brilliant idea, or so we thought. At that time we were under some kind of influence. We were to disappear into the woods 'Robin Hood Country' we were going to enter a world unlike any we had known before.
We thought we could stay there for a few days and see how our parents would react.
We understand now how thoughtless and stupid our actions were but at 14 years old this was the best plan, ever!
The plan was going to change our life's and there was no-one to stop us, no-one who knew what we were going to do, our fate placed in our own hands, we were going to have to live on our wits. This world we were going to enter was going to be different, there would be no-one to turn to in our hour of need. We went into the woods one day after school and came out, weeks later our lives set in a new direction and our minds full of things we would rather have left behind. This is my story. My story of horror.

I watched as one of my best friends argued with her father. I watched through the window, I never went into the house when he was there, he scared me, Joey and all of our friends he beat her and her Mum, everyone knew but no-one could, or would dare to try and stop him. When he went out of the house through the front I entered through the back I went through the same procedure every time Joey's father had bothered to come home after getting drunk the night before, this would happen at least 4 times a week but had recently grown to be a regular occurrence. I would always clean her face and bathe any cuts, before going to make sure her Mum was okay and had made it through the battering without any broken limbs, this time was different, Joey's Mum wasn't in the house.
"Joey, where's your Mum?" I asked, sitting on her bed.
"She's gone," Said Joey "I woke up this morning and she was gone,"
"Oh Joey, are you all right?" I asked, looking at her with concern showing on my face.
"No," Replied Joey, sobbing "Can I stay at your house? Please Rachel, Dad's getting worse,"
"Yeah, course you can" I said, standing "Come on lets get out of here," I said pulling her out of her bedroom.
We got to school just as the bell went and met up with Simon, Martina, Gary, Andrea, Peter and Aaron. At lunch time we sat in the court yard. Simon and Peter were kicking a football about and the rest of us were talking.
"We've got to do something," Said Andrea, drinking her Diet Cola.
"About what?" I asked.
"Our parents, they have us trapped in the fantasy world of happy families, but we know that doesn't exist, we aren't the perfect British family. The closest thing we get to being cared for is looking after each other and that isn't enough,"
"And you point is?" Asked Aaron "What should we do? Go missing for a few days? Wait 'til they realise how important we are in their life's?" He asked, sarcastically.
"Why not?" I asked, seriously "They wouldn't miss us, I think your onto something Aaron!"
"We should do it, get them worried for a few days," Said Gary, he smiled, something he has hardly ever done since moving here "Lets do it, yeah?"
"I'm game," I said.
"Yeah sure" Said Martina, and all the others agreed. Soon Simon and Peter heard us talking about it they didn't take any persuation. We said we would do it the next day, everyone was going to come. We were going 'missing' and we were excited at that prospect.
The next day at school passed in a blur the final bell rang no sooner than we had arrived, or so it seemed. We all had our things, the lads had brought some old tents and sleeping bags, filled with clothes and food. The rest of us had brought few other things than our clothes, stored in out lockersno-one knew what we were planning.
The first two days went wonderfully. On the third the horror started, we woke as usual and met in the middle of the camp we had set up. Simon was the only one not to come out to the rest of us and we went to investigate, he wasn't there, well he was there, but wasn't here, you know what I mean? Not on this earth, gone, dead. Dead. One of my best ever friends dead. He was laid on his back his head rested in a pool of blood and he was naked. We decided we had to go back to our homes, tell the police what had happened. We realised half way through packing away that Simon was the one who showed us this place, we didn't know our way back home!
We spent the rest of the day in silence, Simon was the joker of the gang, Simon was the comedian, we used past tense about him straight away. Simon did this Simon was the other. I felt terrible and all sorts of questions were going through our minds. What had happened, Why was Simon dead? and other questions: What had killed him? Or who?
"Lets do something," Said Martina, standing from her seat.
"Like what?" I asked, standing from the log I sat on, which had started to feel like my grave.
"I don't know, something, eat" Said Martina "We need to do something about the body."
"About Simon, you mean about Simon?" Aaron said, Martina nodded, a single tear rolled down her cheek. Joey stood to comfort her, but with little effect, soon we were all crying not one of us sat untouched by the effect Simons death had, had upon us. We all cried, we all lived, we all longed for Simon to raise from a deep sleep, wipe the fake blood off his ear and come joke with us but in our hearts we knew he was already gone forever. We slept that night, at least i think we did. In the morning we met again and ate breakfast in silence, until Gary was wheezing, he couldn't breathe, he was fighting for breath, this went on for what felt like such a long time, but in reality was just a few short moments and we just sat there, unable to help. He fell back onto the heath. Aaron felt for a pulse but we all knew what had happened, he was dead. Two deaths in as many days. We wanted to go home right then, at that moment, but it was impossible. We had to stay in that place of terror but for how long we didn't know. As days passed slowly so did the weeks, we only knew of the time that had passed by the smell of the bodies, and of ourselves. We stopped talking about things, what was on our minds and what we were feeling. We gave up on been found, we gave up on ourselves and eventually on each other. Nights got lonely and cold and we got hungry, all jokes possible to tell were told and all stories not told were pointless, we experienced horror for the longest time of our lives and in a long gone party of eight we lost faith in the police force, the little faith we had in our families and nearly all the faith in each other. We weren't real friends anymore and our plan was the most stupid thing we had ever done. Aaron cried himself to sleep, Martina and Andrea hardly slept, Joey, Peter and myself forget to sleep, we forget to eat. The day our rescue team came was the best and worst day of my life, my terror, my fear and my anguish disappeared as my voice long forgotten took over and I came out with some truths. The truths I'll regret for the rest of my life. I had killed my best friends and to this day I don't know why. I blame my parents.