Lost and Found Read Online Free Page B

said to myself over and over. But I knew better. The same figure had visited me
     every night for a week. It wanted something, but I wasn't brave enough yet to find
     out what that was.

CHAPTER three
     
    "You're up early," Kris said softly.
    I turned around in time to see her pass through the doorway with the dog. After greeting
     Zoey with a vigorous ear-rub, she hit the porch deck running, her nails clicking on
     the weathered wood all the way down the stairs. Little flurries of dirt clouded around
     her legs as she disappeared in a rush behind the building to her favorite potty spot.
    "I couldn't sleep much last night." I turned around and leaned my back against the
     deck railing.
    "I know me neither." Kris looked tired and irritable.
    "Sorry if I woke you."
    "No, no, you didn't. I was already awake actually." She sat down on one of the colorful
     Adirondack chairs with a loud sigh.
    "We're all having bad dreams, aren't we?" I grabbed at my loose hair and pulled it
     back into a messy knot so the slight breeze would stop blowing it into my face.
    "Yeah. Sucks." Kris hugged her knees to her chest and stared out into the woods in
     front of our cabin.
    "Hey," I approached her and put my hand on top of her head, rustling her dark hair
     until she playfully swatted my hand away, "…how about some pancakes? We still have
     chocolate chips, remember?"
    "Deal!" She jumped up from her chair and I smiled as she rushed around me, back into
     the cabin.
    Movement in the woods caught my attention and I turned in a half-circle, straining
     to see between the overgrown shrubs and trees that started on the other side of the
     small trail that linked the cabins together. My eyes settled on the trunk of a massive
     pine as I struggled to focus on the dark cloud behind it. My breathing stopped in
     my throat as the shape of a man began to form. I bristled as he stared out from the
     woods, looking at the cabins….looking at me . Everything stilled; the breeze stopped, the birds quieted, and all that could be
     heard was the thudding of my own heart.
    But it couldn't be… could it ? The tall and dark figure slowly lifted a hand and waved once at me as I took a step
     forward, peering harder into the darkness of the quiet forest until I was certain
     without a doubt that I was seeing him . Fin.
     
    ***
     
    As soon as I recognized him, he was gone. The man behind the tree became a normal
     shadow again. As I spun around to flee into the cabin, I crashed face-first into Connor's
     bare chest.
    "Hey! Where are you off to in such a hurry?" He dragged a hand through his sleep-messed
     hair but his goofy grin fell when he looked down at my face.
    "Oh God…I saw…I saw…" I couldn't say Fin's name out loud. I had helped put his body
     into the ground just a few months before. It didn't make sense - seeing him hiding
     in the trees.
    After glancing over my shoulder, the woods appeared just as they always did. Connor
     must have sensed my anxiety because he looked up and down the trail with concern.
     Eventually satisfied that we were in fact alone, he put his arm around my shoulders
     before guiding me back to the door. I noticed him staring off into the woods before
     we left the porch with his brow furrowed, but he said nothing. Neither of us did.
     Neither of us had to.
    Though no one had mentioned it, we all knew we weren't alone at the lodge. It wasn't
     talked about but it was there - the strange sounds in the night...the shadows that
     lurked...the whispers and the screams. We all woke up from our nightmares only to
     find that monsters were hiding in the shadows, waiting for something…waiting for us.
     It made it nearly impossible for anyone to get a good night of sleep. It was starting
     to show on our faces, just as it showed on Connor's as he turned me away from the
     woods to follow me back into the cabin.
    Kris had already covered the counter space with the ingredients for breakfast, including
     freshly cut orange slices