Author's note: I want to thank my editor JillieB and the guild for their support.
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Cameron Reed closed the back door quietly so his mother and twin sister wouldn't hear him leave. They were fighting again, and he just didn't feel like listening to their shouting tonight. After he and Camille had turned eighteen last month, she had broached the subject of getting an apartment with her boyfriend Mike after graduation. Their mother Sharon was violently opposed to this plan, of course. The argument had become a nightly tradition. Sharon had dreams of her children being the first in the family to have college educations and Camille's plans to move in with Mike didn't fit with those dreams.
It was particularly dark out tonight and Cameron tripped over an old tire laying on its side in the back yard. He cursed silently, straightened his glasses, and headed for the tree line. He didn't know how he felt about college himself. A year ago his father had left them for a girl who approved loans at the used car dealership where he worked and Cameron figured he should put off college for a while and get a job to help out his mom. His grades were good but not good enough to get a full scholarship, though Camille's were. He just couldn't see how they could afford tuition on his mom's salary.
After his father left, they had moved to his grandparent's old house because his mother could no longer afford their own house payments. His mom's parents didn't charge them rent and that really helped them make ends meet.
The clouds parted and the moon cast a wan light on the woods as Cameron slipped into the tree line, relieved to escape another oppressive evening at home.
'There are some advantages to living in the country,' he thought to himself.
He headed for Bog Water Creek. He didn't know why people called it Bog Water Creek but his grandpa said folks had always called it that. There was a place in the creek where the water fed into a pool with a large rock overhanging the water. He liked to sit on the rock and watch the tadpoles swim when he was troubled or just needed to sort things out in his head.
It took Cameron about twenty minutes to reach the rock. It was a little treacherous moving through the woods with the clouds periodically obscuring the moon and blackening the already dark forest. He kept tripping over bushes and having to push branches aside to make his way. After scrambling up the moss-covered rock, he sat and stared down at the black water.
'I won't see any tadpoles in this darkness,' he thought.
The sound of leaves rustling snapped Cameron's head up. Momentarily, fear gripped him. But when no one appeared he settled down and chuckled to himself. There wasn't anything dangerous in these woods. It was probably just a raccoon coming to the pool for a drink. He listened hard anyway. A twig snapped and he froze. That sounded bigger than a raccoon. He tried not to move a muscle as his eyes strained against the blackness and his ears searched for the slightest noise.
A cloud moved allowing the moonlight to softly illuminate the far side of the pool while leaving the rock where he sat in total darkness. He almost gasped aloud as a naked girl, shadows playing across her sensuous form, stepped out of the trees and underbrush and moved to the water's edge. He sat there stunned for a moment unable to move. It was dark enough that he could not make out her features, but the shape of her body in the shadows was breathtaking. She raised her head and sniffed the air. She cautiously turned her head from side to side as though looking for danger. He sat still, knowing she would see him if she just looked slightly up and across the pool. She waded into the water and moved toward him until she was almost beneath the outcrop on which he sat.
He locked his gaze on her. He couldn't look away from her graceful body. He could make out that her hair was long but could not determine its color. The silhouette of her full breasts swaying captured his eyes as she turned gracefully in the moon-reflecting water. For a moment, the moon seemed to shine brighter and he noticed something liquid and dark covering the lower part of her face, neck, and the top of her breasts.
'That's blood,' he thought, 'she's hurt.'
"Are you okay?" he called out.
His entire mind focused on the fact that the girl needed help. He leapt down into the water beside her. It never occurred to him that he might startle her. The girl yelped in surprise as she swung her head toward him. He reached for her shoulder to steady her. She let out a feral growl and bit his hand hard. He yelped in pain and jumped back from her.
"You're hurt, miss. I'm only trying to help you," he exclaimed.
"Get away from me," she snarled. She was crouching lower in a defensive stance, indifferent to her nudity.
"You're bleeding. We have to get you to the hos-" Cameron suddenly he realized that he knew her. "Jenifer Myers, is that you?"
"Oh shit," she said. "Cameron, you have to get out of here now." She lowered herself in the water until only her head was visible to Cameron's gaze.
"But you're hurt," he protested.
"I'm not hurt. It's not my blood. Listen very carefully, Cameron. You have to get out of here now. I promise I'll explain everything when I see you at school. Please, just go home now. Please Cameron, there isn't much time."
Every fiber of his being was telling him to stay, but she obviously wanted him to go. "Okay, but you better tell me what this is all about at school tomorrow," he said.
"I will when I see you. I promise. Now go," she said desperately.
"Are you sure you're all right?" he asked, reluctant to leave if she was injured.
"Yes, goddamn it. Get the fuck out of here," she hissed. She looked over her shoulder at the far bank as if she were expecting something to come from that direction.
He turned and waded out of the water. He looked back one last time before turning to head home. She was still crouched in the water staring into the darkness past the forbidding trees on the other side of the pool.
On the walk home, he played the incident repeatedly in his mind. It made no logical sense. Jenifer Myers, one of the hottest girls in school and a cheerleader, was naked and covered in blood on their land. He debated calling the police or telling his mom as he crossed the back yard, wiping the blood seeping from the bite on his hand on the front of his shirt. He decided that if Jenifer didn't show up at school tomorrow he would call the authorities.
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