C4 Renee

"i had fun. Thanks for letting me stay a little while longer" Maisie comments as Jana Walks her down the stairs to the living room.

"It's not a problem"

"Leaving already?" Jana's mom asks and she replies with a nod.

"Yes. It's getting late and my parents would be wondering where I am. I didn't exactly tell them that I was coming over here" she explains and they nodded in sheer understanding.

"Well it was nice to have you over here Maisie. Feel free to drop by anytime" Jana's mom told her, with a a little pat on her shoulders.

"Of course. Bye Mr and Mrs Tetrazzini. Bye Jana. I guess I'll see you tomorrow" she waves at them before opening the front door and stepping out of the house.

"It's not like I can hide from it" Jana called after her with a smile.

"You're stuck with me buddy"

After she left, Jana closed the door and turned around to face her family.

"You didn't tell me you had a new friend and it's no other person than our new neighbor across the street" Her mother inquired while Jana just remained silent.

"She seems pretty nice and very okay" Her dad chipped in.

"I didn't know that she was our next door neighbor until this afternoon so we're both surprised."

"Well I like her and it's really nice seeing someone other than us penetrate your shell" her mother said with a smile.

"We haven't established that level of friendship yet" Jana protests

"I know that you miss Renee and you haven't been okay ever since she disappeared but until we leave this place for good, try making friends and socializing. It's good" her mother pleads and she simply nods.

"That's my girl" she pats her cheeks lovingly before heading upstairs and Jana does same immediately her mother is out of sight.

Once settled in her bedroom, she locks the door and quickly flips her table upside down. There, she arranges the pictures of those who went missing including her friend Renee.

She let her hand caress the photo as she took a trip down the memory lane.

*.*.

BEFORE PRESENT TIME, A YEAR AGO.

.

"we're not supposed to be out here this time of the night. It's late. Let's just go home already" Jana pleaded with her friend but all her plea fell on deaf ears as her friend was still very adamant on having a mini brail in the woods with some of her friends from school.

"Chill okay. We'll just have one drink with them and we're out of here I promise"

"Fine, I'll just leave first then" she started walking away but was caught up on time by Renee.

"Alright. I promise I'll go but can we do that after the drink. You can't leave me here. You know I'm here because of you" she said with pleading eyes, trying to coax Jana into giving in.

"These woods are dangerous at night. People have gone missing over the past decade, even up until now. You wanna risk your life for a drink?" She asked feeling exasperated.

"Don't tell me you believe those make believe stories. You're better than that"

"Clara went missing two days ago and her parents hasn't found her yet. You really think it's make believe?" She pressed on.

"She probably just took a hike with her boyfriend and eloped with him. You know she did that before. She's head over heels in love with that guy so I'm not surprised if they ran away together"

"Are you even listening to yourself Renee? I expected this from anyone. Anyone but you" Jana scolded her with anger.

"Hey Renee" they both turned together to see Tristen walking towards them. He has this huge grin on his face that disgusted Jana. She felt like ripping whatever that's making him smile out of his face.

"We just set up the camp fire. Are you coming?" He asks and Renee looks from Jana to him and him to Jana again. Obviously torn between the two.

"We were just leaving. You need me to stay at this party and me says no so let's go home" Jana spoke up "Renee" she called again when she didn't respond.

"I didn't know you take orders from your little midget" Tristen teased but Renee cautions him by giving him a hard glare and he keeps quiet.

"Are you coming?" Jana asks again. "Who's it gonna be? Me or this fucked up party?"

Renee thought for a while before saying "I'm sorry Jana but..."

"It's fine. I wasn't that important to you anyway" she replied feeling hurt as she started her walk out of the woods.

"Jana" Renee called out to her but she ignored and kept on walking away.

Jana and Renee has been best friends since sixth grade. They were always together and enjoyed each other's company but everything seemed to go the opposite direction when they got into high school and Renee began hanging out with the popular kids. She even started dating one of them and slowly started drifting away.

Although she never made Jana feel like an outsider and always invites her to most of these events but Jana still felt out of place. She never belonged and never tried to.

The only reason she agreed to coming to this party at all was because Renee's parents didn't give her permission to go and the only way she could attend was if she went with someone they could trust.

She had pleaded with Jana the night before that Jana couldn't help but give Into her wild demands and since her parents trusted her, they consented with the only condition that they return on time and that's how she found herself in this godforsaken situation. The party ended a while ago but then Tristen and his friends wanted to hang out at his father's cabinet in the woods so everyone bought the idea and they moved out here including Renee and now the stupid girl doesn't want to go home.

She was almost at the roadside when she heard a high pitched scream coming from the woods.

Her heart pounded and the only thought that came to her mind was her best friend Renee so she ran back inside but she stopped dead in her tracks when she saw a weird looking woman biting the neck of one of the guests. She looked around and quickly vanished as she came.

Jana's legs dragged her forward and she saw everyone lying dead on the ground looking white and pale as if the blood from their system has been completely empty. Her eyes caught Renee as she approached her lifeless body, she had already started to cry. She didn't need someone to tell her that her best friend was dead. She saw the two fang like marks burrowed into Renee's neck. She was astounded.

She looked at most of them and they all had the mark but some in different places.

She quickly tried to call her parents but there was no signal so she rushed outside to make the call and a few minutes later, the police and her parents arrived to meet her crying profusely. She was trembling.

But the strange thing about that night was that when Jana walked her parents and the cops to where the incident happened, no one was there. It was like the bodies vanished into thin air. Only the drinks and shoes and most of their things were lying on the floor.

Jana felt goosebumps crawl out of her skin.

They had been taken. The police filed a report of missing people and they searched for weeks, months even but they couldn't find one single person, not even a trace.

Jana's life had never been the same after that. She had been in and out of the police station for weeks during that time, trying to write a statement so they could catch the culprit but all efforts proved abortive. Most kids from school called her a freak and monster. They pointed fingers at her and blamed her for everything. Most parents looked at her differently and tried to keep their children away from her.

It all hit her differently when Renee's parents decided to move out of Shadyside. So with her best friend gone, she became a shadow of her own self and shut everyone out.

*.*.

BACK TO PRESENT

.

Jana stared at the picture as another stray tear streamed down her cheeks. She blamed herself everyday for not forcing Renee out of that woods with her. for leaving her there all by herself. Maybe, just maybe if she had tried a little harder that night, Renee would still be here today. She wouldn't have died.

So she made a resolution to get justice for Renee but how was she supposed to do that when all her findings shows that Renee and her friends we're killed by something far more bigger and supernatural from the real world? How will she prove that their death wasn't natural. Even the cops didn't believe her story.

Who will she confide in? And who would even believe her? A nineteen year old teenager?