Face Value

The thick darkness closed around her, and the deafening silence stung her ears, only to be broken by her heavy breathing. Sunita had no idea where she was going, but she had to get away from whoever was following her. The ghoulish faces of the trees laughed at her as she stumbled over tree roots and their huge arms scratching at her clothes and face.

She paused, straining her ears for any sound that might show where her follower was. Hearing nothing, she carried on. She heard a twig snap from under her feet. She looked around, hoping that there was nobody who could have heard her. She couldn’t see anyone, but she knew someone was there, following.

She felt a drop of rain fall on her cheek. She brushed it away, thinking hard about her three friends, knowing it could be one of them, but not wanting to believe it. But why would anyone else want to do this to her. Nobody else knew her.

Kendra. She was always so far, far away. What did she do at night when she disappeared from their meeting place by the river? She was always missing lessons at college. Was she the one who sent threatening notes and made those nasty phone calls? She was always alone, it would be so easy for her to slip away and find a pay phone.

Or maybe it was Janna. She always had a smile on her face, but sometimes she looked very secretive. When Sunita had shown her the notes, she’d acted as if it didn’t matter. Was it because she knew that she had sent them? She was so outgoing, and her green eyes always flashed with mischief. Maybe this was the kind of sick joke that a person like Janna could think up. If so, she definitely needed help.

Or was it her other friend, Malinda. She was always so quiet, so reserved. She always looked so nervous, her brown eyes full of worry and innocence. It might just be an act. Sometimes it was the person you least expect it to be. Like Kendra, she often disappeared for long periods of time, or refused to come out after school at all. She preferred to stay in and study, but maybe she had been doing something else. Once, when her mobile had rung at college during a lunch break, Malinda insisted that she hadn’t heard it ring. Maybe she was trying to make her think she was mad.

Sunita was no closer to the truth. She couldn’t understand any of it. She’d moved to the town during the summer, and still didn’t know many people. She had wanted to fit in so much.

It was pouring with rain now, flattening her curly hair around her face. She tugged a stray red curl away from a branch, nearly crying out in pain. Her orange jumper clung to her skin, and her jeans were becoming heavy with rain.

Maybe it wasn’t any of them in the dark wood that seemed to be endless. Maybe it was all of them. They could be in it together. They were scaring her away. She had only known them three months, maybe she didn’t know them at all.

She was so confused. Why had she been chosen for this torment? Hot tears stung her sparkling sapphire eyes as she stumbled round a bush and into a small clearing. Branches and twigs littered the floor where trees had been cut down. She ran through the soaked leaves to the other side, hoping that nobody had seen her.

She’d lost track of the time. She hadn’t got her watch on. She felt as if she had been running for hours. It was on her desk at home. She thought about its dull tick, and wished she could be at home. At home where it was safe.

She carried on. Whoever was in the woods with her was getting closer. She seemed to be going in circles. Everything was closing in on her. Her mind was spinning with questions. Who? What? Why? She wanted to know the answer to why most of all.

She didn’t see the stone until it was too late. She fell forward, landing awkwardly. Her jeans were ripped as she skidded along the stony floor, and her knees were raw. She winced with pain as she tried to push herself up off the floor. Her jumper was splattered with mud, and her shoes were an unrecognisable colour.

As she looked up she saw the moon. It was full tonight, lighting up the wood. She could hear someone coming towards her. A twig snapped from within the trees behind her. She was running out of time. Something glinted in the moonlight, something metal. A knife. She could see it, hanging above her. Whoever was with her in the wood was right behind her. Everything was still as she stared at the knife so hard her eyes began to hurt. Then she saw four fingers curl round the handle. Four slender fingers, the middle one bleeding slightly. They were hers.

Sunita stood up and whirled round to see who was behind her. She stared with crazy eyes, she didn’t seem to know where she was or what she was doing. She saw Kendra. It had been Kendra who had followed her into the woods. Kendra knew. She would be the last person to know.

Kendra’s ice blue eyes had been filled worry and panic, but now they froze with terror. Until a few hours ago, this person had been her friend, her partner in Chemistry. The person she told her secrets and hung around with at weekends. But the person who stood in front of her was totally different. This was not the Sunita she knew. It wasn’t anybody she wanted to know. She tried to run, but couldn’t. Her eyes were mesmerised by the gleaming blade of the knife. It was a kitchen knife. The handle had such an intricate design that it must have taken a highly skilled craftsman to carve it. But it was still a knife. And it was pointed at her.

She opened her mouth to talk to Sunita, but nothing came out. Sunita couldn’t risk her being able to say anything again. The blade sliced through the air, and Kendra’s hand flew to her throat. There was a slit. Blood oozed out of the neat cut. She fell to the floor, not able to understand what had happened. As a pitch-black darkness surrounded her, it was clear that she wouldn’t have the chance to.