‡ Promise 7: The Plan ‡

-As told by Tommy-

was heading towards the lunchroom, when a pair of small hands pulled me into a empty corner of the hall. It was Lily, her eyes wide, full of worry. "Lily?" I ask, a little confused, "What are you-?" "I have to talk to you alone," she said, looking around nervously, "Without Jody, especially." "What happened?" I ask, and realizing this was probally about our mysterious writer. She paused for a moment and then blurted out a story about sneaking into Keith Rolmir's house, finding an alien creature that was suppose to be a cat, drinking some sort of poisoned drink, and about a missing molar.
"Slow down." I breath, "I can't understand you. What you're saying isn't making any sense." She was shaking and she went over every detail step by step, in slower speeds. When she was done, all I could do is stare at her. Worry and hopelessness covered her face. She really needed me to believe her story and what had happened in that house. And call me crazy, but I did believe her, every bit of it. "He just let you go?" I ask, trying to figure out this guy's angle. "Just like that." she says, "He said no one, except maybe my friends, would believe me anyhow."
"Well," I shrug, "I do believe you. But I know Jody wouldn't be so open-minded. It's best if we try to solve this mystery ourselves and not say a word to her. I hate doing it this way, because she's been my friend forever, and I usually tell her all of my secrets. But she'll most likely run to Keith and warn him." "Warn him of what?" Lily frowns. "Of our formal investigation." I nod, "You do realize we'll have to snoop more into the matter, right? Especially with the new evidence you've found, proving that this writer is not from this world."
She gives me a puzzled look. "You're going to keep pursuing this?" she asks, in wonder. "Hell yeah!" I grin, "I have a feeling that what I saw four years ago and this inhuman writer is connected somehow. There's no way I'm going to let that piece of the puzzle go. I plan to find out what it was, that I saw years back, and get proof! And then I'll shake that evidence in Jody's face." "That seems a little harsh." she frowns. "Yeah, well." I shrug, "Having your best friend call you a liar isn't so nice either. Anyway, are you in?"
She thought about it for a while, but I could tell that her curiosity was going to win out in the end. "Do you have a plan?" she simply asks. "Yeah," I said, adjusting my backpack on my shoulders, "I read some lore about immortals. In some of the stories there is some kind of relic, a stone or some type of pendant, that is the source for immortality. An immortal needs to draw energy from it every now and then or he'll become mortal again. I think Mr. Rolmir is going into the woods at night to recharge his immortality. Maybe he's hiding his source there." "That could be possible." she says, but with a hint of doubtfulness.
"Whatever the case," I sigh, "He's up to something in those woods. I think we should trail him and see what he's up to." "I can agree with that." nods Lily. "Now," I said, "You've told me that you saw him go into the woods, around ten? I'll give you my cellphone number. I'll sneak out of the house, drive to yours, and be out front around nine-fifty. You'll keep an eye out for him and-" "Wait," she says, "We're doing this tonight?" "Why not?" I ask, getting a little disappointed, "Tonight's a full moon. A perfect night for catching inhuman things." She nods, deciding to go along with the plan. I explained the rest and handed her my number.
"What's this?" boomed an familiar voice, "Did Turd just get a date?" My friends, Pete and the guys suddenly came past our corner of the hallway. "Hey, guys." I smile, "I'm kinda in the middle of-" "What's the matter, Turd?" laughs Pete, "She turned you down too?" "Damn!" laughs Rick, "Even the weirdo girl thinks you're too lame!" "Hrm," frowns Lily, "What's even lamer is the dialogue you morons are trying to pass off as insults. They may work in the locker room, but among the rest of us with brains..." Pete turns pale. "Lily." I try to intervene. "Hey, Turd." he growls, "You better keep your girl in check."
"I'm not his girl, Bubbles." she says, "And no one keeps me in check. I don't think you'd want to mess with me and risk losing what little brain cells you do have." "Lily." I try again. Pete backs up a bit, holding back his anger, "I don't hit girls, but I'll have a serious talk with your boy later." He slams me into a nearby wall and walks off with his friends. "I-I'm sorry Pete!" I call after him, "She didn't mean it!" "Yes, I did!" she frowns. "Hey," I frown, "Stop being mean to my friends."
"Mean?" she scoffs, "Your friends? They're not your friends! They were bullying you!" "No, no, no!" I grin, realizing the mistake she had made, "That's how guys are. We joke around and roughhouse. It's all in fun. They weren't picking on me, they were just being guys." She gives me a funny look. "What?" I ask, confused about her sudden look. "Okay..." she mumbles to herself, "He actually believes..." "Anyway," I say, "Remember, it starts tonight, we set the plan in motion." "Whatever." she says. "When you see him," I remind her, "Just call my cell."
"Call your cell for what?" asks Jody, coming out of nowhere. My heart suddenly stopped. "Um," says Lily, "To ask him for help for a math test." I nod, "Yeah." Jody gives us both a suspicious glare for a second and then it's vanishes. "Okay," she smiles, "Well, we're running late for lunch. If we hurry, we can catch the pudding cart." "Cool." says Lily. "Yeah." I nod. We head for the cafeteria, not saying a word, as Jody goes on about how she searched for us everywhere.
By that night, I sneak out of my house, through the kitchen door. It's easy to sneak out of the house in this town, being that most parents are asleep by nine. The whole town doesn't start until 5am in the morning, which means early bedtimes for most adults, and no supervision for us teens. But the downside to that is, there's nothing to do at night, except for sitting in the local field and watching the stars. So many of this town's youth don't leave the home this late. There's no point to it. But tonight, there will be at least two teens out late, with a very important plan.
I got into my red pickup and headed for Lily's house. I got there at nine-fifty, just as I said I would, and placed the cellphone on my dash. Next to me, in the other seat, was a duffle bag full of things I thought we might need. Including a digital camera, if I should have a chance to get evidence too. I was excited, staring at the phone and then back at my wrist-watch, ready for Lily to call. Then I began to panic. What if Lily decided to not go through with the plan? What if she had fallen asleep? What if I miss my chance at proving Jody wrong?
That's when the phone rang. "It's Lily." she said on the other end, "He just headed into the woods now. I'm in the kitchen. Come around back and then we can hop the fence." Before I could say anything, she hung up the phone. "Okay." I frown, grabbing the duffle, "Come around the back. Well, duh! It's my plan!" I close my car door, softly, and jogged my way around back. Lily was standing there, wearing a black with kitty ears hoodie and black jeans, anxiously looking into the woods.
"Come on, come on, come on." she says, as I reach her, "Let's go! We don't want to lose him." She gestures towards the fence and I toss my duffle over. As we climb over, she gives me another funny look, "What's in the bag?" "Things we might need." I say, "Some holy water, a cross, an axe, some rope." "Damn!" chokes Lily, "Are we committing a murder or an exorcism tonight?" "No," I laugh, "I don't think it's easy to kill off immortals. And if there is a way to, I don't know it. This is just in case he attacks us."
"So," she frowns, "You plan on getting us caught?" "No," I shrug, "But better safe than sorry." We rush through the woods following the trail, or what we hope was the trail, of Mr. Rolmir. Careful to not talk above a whisper and keeping close to the bushes. After an half hour, we hear something doubling back on us, and it was closing in fast! "Oh, my god!" whimpers Lily, "He knows we're hunting him, now he's hunting us!" "Crap!" I growl, opening the duffle. I toss Lily the cross and grab the axe, as we took cover behind some bushes. Something was moving in fast, with inhuman speeds, the sounds of branches breaking around us.
"We're going to die!" gasps Lily, grabbing onto my arm. "Shh!" I frown, trying to see any signs of what's hunting us, squinting into the darkness. Suddenly the bushes were pulled apart and both of us scream, trying to crab-walk away from the danger. Jody stares at us, highly furious. "I knew it!" she yells.