Urban Legend ♡

Stephanie's POV

The King of Horror had it right from the very start. How on earth I'd been convinced into such a trip over the summer was unclear - I guess that almost anything Taylah suggested I somewhat instantly agreed with, not taking the time to consult the consequences with my gut instincts like I'd always tried to. Head over heart - not the other way around. Of course, on this fateful Friday the 13th, or last day of school and the first night to mark the rest of our lives; I was sitting in the back of an old red wagon traveling down the highway with my best friends, hoping with crossed fingers, to get away from everything and just relax before college started. A dream come true.

"Liam, change the station. I can't deal with this country music!” Taylah whined again in an annoyed fashion. I couldn't agree more with her, we're the boys trying to drive us insane? If I had to listen to hillbilly hick for another minute I may have spontaneously combusted.
"But it's calming", Louis piped up from the passenger seat with a smile. I hated his semi-torture.
"How on earth is THIS calming?" Taylah asked, crossing her arms and resting back into the seat, throwing her head back. I could tell she was annoyed. 4 hours into the drive and we were already starting to get on each other’s nerves. Thank god we weren't stuck in the air.
"Tay relax." I coaxed, "We shouldn't be too far now."
Of course, I'd be the person eating my words in spite when the engine started smoking and we were forced to pull over on the side of the road. Hopping out, we walked around, pretending to inspect the engine whilst knowing that no one had a clue on what to do.

"Listen, there's that gas station we stopped at a few miles back. I might walk it", Liam suggested, "I could ask the mechanic for help? Maybe get towed."
"No" I jumped in cutting his speech off, "Did you not notice how creepy he was?"
"Yeah" Taylah added in defence, "You guys had it easy, he was staring at us as if he was that killer from that Wolf Creek movie."
"Well we can't just leave the car here." Louis pointed out.
"We could hitchhike?" Liam suggested.
"No!" Taylah and I sang in unison.
"Fine", Liam agreed, throwing his hands up in defeat, "You girls stay here and Louis and I will--."
"Oh, no no", Taylah spat out cutting Liam short. "You're not leaving Stephanie and I here. We're coming with you."
"But we can't leave the car Tay" he responded.
"Listen, Tay you go with Liam. Louis and I can wait here."
"Bet you'd enjoy that" Louis remarked, raising an eyebrow and shooting a smile.
"You disgust me."
"Guys, enough with the play fighting", Liam ordered. I hated when he became the 'mother hen'. "Just stay put and don't go anywhere."
I watched as Liam through Louis his keys and took Taylah's hand. Her reaction was priceless, standing up taller and fixing her hair as if she was priming. I let a giggle out to myself and noticed as she glared at me. If looks could kill, that one would have been murderous. The two of them walking off slowly, I knew it would at least be an hour before they returned.

"You know we have the car to ourselves?"
"Don't even get those thoughts inside your head Tomlinson."
"A guy can try", he taunted with a smirk.
"Uhh..."

I grabbed my backpack from the trunk and slung it over my shoulders, pushed my glasses back up onto my face and began wandering in the other direction.

"Hey, Liam said to stay put."
"Well I don't care what Liam says", I made it clear. "He's not my dad."
"You really wanna go walk about at night, into a forest, by yourself?", Louis asked.

I guess he had a good point, but I wasn't going to spend the next hour with him being suggestive and a tease. I shrugged and crossed my fingers, shoving them into my pockets.

"Wish me luc--."
"Stop."

Snapping my head around to look behind me, my eyes widened trying to take in a panoramic shot of everything. It had become dark quite quickly. I hoped that Liam and Taylah were safe. I'm sure he wouldn't let a thing happen to her. Taking a step back, I tripped and fell onto the side of the car, hands scouring around to keep me up.

"Please tell me that was you Louis."
"No."

His response and tone of voice indicated that he'd heard it to. A voice; not as deep or inviting as anyones I'd ever heard before but nonetheless clear. Swallowing gently, my breaths became short, sharp and faint as the wind howled past us, causing my hair to blow up and whip around before dying down completely and disappearing without a trace.

"Still going for that walk?", Lou asked.
"I might wait in the car."
"Scaredy-cat."
"I'm not a scaredy-cat."

I hate how he pushed my buttons. Knowing each other for 13 years would do that though - that's what friends were for. Twisting around to open the trunk door, I pushed it up above my head and sat on the edge, legs hanging over the bumper bar. I wasn't game on locking myself in and the stories of urban legends I'd been told as a child came flooding through my head.

"It was probably nothing."
"What was probably nothing?"
"What you heard Stephanie."
"Louis, don't.."
"Shhhh", he dictated with a finger to my lips, keeping me hush. "It's all in your head."

Funny he should say that after hearing it and reacting. We sat together, in the trunk, engulfed in total silence until Liam and Taylah returned a short while later. Quicker than I had expected.

"Aw, I thought the two of you would have been cuddled up on a night like this", Liam teased.
We both shot him our own glares of despair before dropping them.
"You're not funny", I chimed through my teeth.
"We were just getting started", Louis joked, bumping into me gently.
"Well I have the part, new alternator", Liam showed us, holding up the piece, "I'll need some help getting it in."

Louis rose from where he sat, offering to help without being asked and Taylah sat down beside me a smile on her face and a story in her eyes.

"Sorry I left you here", she mumbled apologetically.
"You damn should be", I let out annoyed, "So what happened?"
"Nothing", she whispered with a smile, "He just.. he's cute."
"Tay, you know we had a promise. No falling for best friends."
"Oh come on Steph, he's totally cute and we've known each other for years and…"
"Did he kiss you?"
"No, no..", she shook her head. "We just, talked."
"Talked?", her argument didn't sound too convincing.
"What about you? Louis try anything?", she giggled wiggling her eyebrows.
"Actually--."
"Alright girls. Let' get going!", Liam called.
"I'll explain when we get to camp", I assured her ending our conversation short.

Shutting the trunk and clambering back into the car. We all waited in anticipation for the alternator to start working. A few ignition turns and the car was rumbling like a dream.

"Hells Yeah!", Tay yelled, high-fiving me.

Finally we'd be moving. Only a half hour or so more to go until we were at Cabin Mason. Putting the car into drive and, slowly turning out towards the road, we all felt a stall, as if the car had died again before kicking back in and it's front wheels mounting something. I was sure we'd driven onto flat terrain.

The four of us all swapped glances before Liam checked his rearview mirror, noticing a shadowy figure that flashed.

"I think we hit something."

Notes

hello, so obviously I've started a new story, I hope you enjoyed the first chapter, I'd love if you subscribed and left a comment, I haven't been on here in a while so I'd love to hear from any of you! I'll post the next chapter at 5 subscribers, and at least 5 star rate! Thank you so much :)