Where Fires Dare to Burn

Chapter 15 - Remember It's Me

There was a part of him that knew this was really stupid.

He didn't know anything for sure about Oaklynn's involvement in the deaths in Thunder Bay, but logic dictated that agreeing to meet her in a secluded patch of woodland, alone, wasn't the smartest idea. Empirically he could reason that out, but there was something deep rooted in the back of his mind now that said she wouldn't hurt him.

Luke couldn't really explain it. Ever since he'd felt that weird, other-emotion in her room he felt within touching distance of the puzzle piece that would explain everything. He couldn't bail out now, not when those answers were so tantalisingly close.

So on he trudged, out through a woodland trail that ran round the back of the archery range, not far from where he and Gabi had seen the thing with the burning eyes and his first encounter with the glowing foliage. He hadn't forgotten seeing the tendrils on Oaklynn's boots that day – maybe he would get the answer to all his mysteries at once today.

Darkness began descending on Lasquette Bay as he walked, bark chips and twigs crumpling underfoot. As instructed, he followed the lights on the trail through the woods on the eastern edge of the campus, climbing the gentle incline that sloped up away from the lake. He had his phone, his door key, his wallet, and the clothes on his back. With the autumn temperatures beginning to descend on the lakeside town he now wore a fleece-lined hoodie over his t-shirt and kept his hands firmly jammed into its pockets.

The note crinkled between the fingers of his right hand. Luke remembered the directions hastily scribbled onto it, but brought it along just in case. His trainers rasped softly as he walked, turning left along the trail and up a steeper incline. Fifty yards further along the trail he found the break in wooden hand rail that Oaklynn had specified in her note. He faced it, looking up into the darkening forest.

He huffed out a sharp breath and stepped forward before he had a chance to second guess himself. His eyes adjusted to the half-light and sure enough, he managed to pick out the faint scar of a trail trodden into the undergrowth in front of him. So far so good. He walked on, following the ad-hoc path up into the trees a short distance until he reached a small, plateaued clearing.

Luke stepped cautiously forward into it, turning slowly and looking for any sign of Oaklynn. He resisted the urge to call out, something in the back of his mind telling him that it would be a bad idea. There was no sign of her here though.

He checked his phone. He'd made good time getting here and ended up a couple of minutes early. Shoving the phone back into his pocket he nodded to himself. She would be here. He walked slowly to the far edge of the clearing and found that it looked down on a steep slope that rolled away into a valley in the woods. No trails down there; no houses or roads.

He checked his phone again.

Two minutes after the agreed time Luke had almost managed to work himself up into a panic, when he finally heard soft footsteps crunching in the night behind him. He turned, heart pounding as he half expected Kenny's Burning-Eyed Man to emerge from the darkness. His fears proved to be unfounded, however, as Oaklynn stepped out into the clearing.

Her black boots crunched in the undergrowth as she walked into view, and when she saw him, her face brightened instantly. She pulled her hands from the pockets of her jacket, one flicking up to tuck an errant strand of hair back behind her ear. He smiled with relief.

"Hey, I was starting to think-,"

Before he could finish, she walked straight up to him and flung herself into a hung, one arm wrapping around his waist and the other hooking tightly around the back of his neck. She pulled herself close, her chin on his shoulder, her hair brushing against his cheek as she leaned into him. Taken off-guard, it took him a moment to respond in kind.