Page 114 of Freshmeet
Where the hell are you?
Linc
The treehouse.
I bit my lip and looked down the dark path that led to the treehouse we all played in when we were kids.
Seems wrong to fuck Linc in Tom’s treehouse.
Grinning, I skipped into the darkness.
Fuck him.
I walked for five minutes, my eyes wide to accommodate the darkness. Muscle memory carried me down the overgrown paths of our childhood toward the pond.
I’d just reached the bottom of the tree holding the tree house when the first burst of fireworks lit the sky behind me.
Looking up the tree, I sighed when I saw the ladder had been pulled up. When we were kids, the boys would beat us here and race up the tree so they could pull up the ladder and drop water balloons on our heads.
“Linc, drop the ladder down.”
There was a flicker of light in the small cutout window.
Muffled pops and crackles filled the air, so I yelled a little louder, “Linc. The ladder. Now!”
Sure enough, the rope ladder lowered. Testing the bottom rung, I immediately regretted my shoe choice. With every leg up, the heel of my boot tangled in the rope.
“I remember this being easier,” I grumbled halfway up.
Brilliant reds, whites, and blues flashed in the sky, illuminating the treehouse. In the opening, I caught Linc’s silhouette, and my stomach flipped.
Maybe he could be more than a hookup.
At the top of the ladder, I reached a hand up into the treehouse to pull myself up. Before I could get my other hand on the worn floor, there was athunk,and my hand was pinned to the wooden board. It took a second before the pain registered in my brain, and I cried out.
“What the—” I poked my head through the opening and found a hunting knife sticking out of my hand.
A gloved hand reached down and yanked me up by the hair while the other ripped the knife out of my hand.
They whipped my head back and forth, rattling my teeth and craning my neck until I was face to face with a person in a blacked-out mask.
“Linc?” I asked, praying this was just a joke gone too far.
Fireworks flashed outside, illuminating my faceless attacker as they slowly shook their head.
“Please,” I begged, tears flowing down my face as I cradled my bleeding hand to my chest. “Where’s Linc?”
In a deep voice, they said, “Dead.”
“Oh, God. No,” I cried, thrashing in their hold.
I have to get out of here.
Swinging my leg out, I nailed them in the stomach, and their hold loosened enough for me to jerk away. Without thinking, I dropped through the hole in the floor, barely catching the ladder with my good hand.
My boot slipped on the rung, and I fell to the ground. Flat on my back, I stared up at the treehouse and watched in horror as the black figure lowered from the opening. I opened my mouth to scream for help, but all I could do was gasp.
A series of loud booms marked the grand finale of the fireworks show, and the bright flashes of light sent spots into my vision.
