Chapter 4

We rode past a grove of pine trees and entered an opened grassy area. This route I remembered because I came by here on the school bus as a child. It was the type of narrow road I hated because vehicles had to nearly drive into the ditch to avoid hitting one another. We soon turned onto an alternate route going deeper into the woods.

I’d never been here before. The road was unmarked. Woods surrounded us on all sides resembling a dead forest. There was nothing but withered trees. More than likely the woods here were lush, green, and lively during the warmer seasons. Most of the road was unpaved and went up and down steep hills much steeper than the ones on the highway. We really felt the free fall and pull when we went down and up them. Through the woods the snow-covered ground was barely visible.

I felt uneasy as Kate wound us around the curved road. It was a long way down to the bottom of the steep slope. If you fell down there, you’d have quite a bumpy ride complete with sharp boulders, and tree stumps. We definitely didn’t want to slip off the road and fall down there, assuming we’d make it with all the trees on the slope.

“Hey Kate,” I shouted. “Where are we? This place doesn’t look safe.”

Kate smirked at me through the rear-view mirror. “You sound nervous back there, Stanford. Don’t worry, we’re going the right way.”

“Are you sure? It’s awful steep around here.” I said as I looked outside at the winding road.

“Yeah, it is,” Kate chuckled. “I said that a lot too when I was younger. This road used to scare me but it’s not as bad as it looks. Sometimes the road would be covered in ice and I’d be panicking in the back like you are now.”

I shot a hard look at her through the mirror. “I’m not panicking. Just don’t drive us off the edge.”

“Be quiet, Stanford,” Kate smirked. “Just enjoy the ride.”

I leaned back in the seat. While I believed Kate, I still felt uneasy. Then again, she’s proven me wrong before. At first glance Kate seemed like a stereotypical dumb blonde from a bad reality show but she had a knack for making good decisions. I remembered once when we were shopping, I nearly bought a used DVR, but Kate stopped me and took me to a place where I could get a new one for a cheaper price. Then again, she spent most of her time in stores and the mall so she would know those things.

Despite my uneasiness I figured I’d take my chances, not that there was much I could do about it. I mean, what was I going to say? Through the rear-view window I saw Rhoda with her head lowered. There was another twisted frown on her face. With both hands she massaged her temples. She closed her eyes tightly for a few moments before opening them. Her eyes looked droopy as if she were half sleep. Her skin complexion was pale.

I nearly asked her how she was feeling but my attention was drawn to outside. The area became flatter, less rocky, and the snowy ground became visible as visibility through the woods became better. It didn’t last as the woods slowly became denser again. Just a few feet away from the road, there was total darkness beyond the woods. Nothing was visible. I’d never seen woods like these before. I couldn’t explain it. It was unusual and Kate said her lodge was around here?

Kate slowed down halfway through a right curve until we stopped in the middle of the road. The area looked even creepier than that of the steep slopes. There were woods on the right side and a partial snowy grassy field on the left that was surrounded by more woods. The evening sun in the distance barely illuminated the area. The forest of leafless trees made the branches appear as long, outreaching hands with bird-like talons.

“Why did you stop?” I asked Kate.

“I need to check something out,” she said. She turned off the radio and pulled out a folded sheet of paper from the side of the door. Eric and Steve stopped playing their games and looked forward. They cocked their eyes at each other with slanted brows before turning their attention toward Kate.

“Kate, we’re in the middle of the road. What if someone drives up from behind? What do you need to see?” I asked.

“Just checking to see if we’re going the right way,” she said. She unfolded the paper, which turned out to be a road map. “There’s a divide in the road coming up soon and I just wanted to make sure we’re going on the right path.”

“You said you knew where we were going.” I said “I do,” Kate smiled. “Just wanted to be sure. You can never be too careful. Actually, it’s really because this is the first time I’m driving here on my own.”

I leaned back in the seat and slapped myself in the face. “You know you can just use the GPS on your phone, don’t you?”

“Oh yeah,” she said cheerfully. She threw the map to the side and reached for her phone on the dashboard, which was pink and sparkled. “I forgot I even had a GPS on my phone. Daddy bought me this new phone for Christmas. Do you like it?” she chuckled.

“Just check the damn GPS!” I shouted. She’s such a valley girl and her nature had a bad habit of being annoying. I let out a sigh. “Hurry up before someone comes up from behind.”

Out of the corner of my eye I spotted Rhoda stretching her tiny little hands into the air and twirled them about, which nearly hit Kate in the face. Through the rear-view mirror I saw that Rhoda’s eyes were closed and she had an awkward smile on her face. She began to sway her arms about erratically like an exotic dancer.

Kate cocked her eyes over at Rhoda. “Rhoda? What are you doing?”

Rhoda didn’t respond. She began humming some kind of random noise.

Eric and Steve looked at Rhoda and at each other with raised brows. We all watched Rhoda flair her arms about. She looked out of it, as if she were the only one in the car. Why was she doing this? It was all so random how she spontaneously started flailing her hands.

‘Guess she just feels like dancing.’ I thought. Her movements became more erratic as she waved her arms faster and faster. For a moment we watched as she flailed about erratically while bouncing in her seat. She rocked back and forth hitting the passenger window and Kate’s arm.

“He-hey, hey, hey, hey!” Kate shouted as she slapped a hand at Rhoda. “Rhoda, what the hell are you doing? Knock it off,” Rhoda still didn’t respond. Kate flailed her arm at Rhoda and slapped Rhoda’s hand. “Hey! Rhoda! I’m talking to you!”

I leaned up close behind Rhoda’s seat on the side. “Rhoda. Listen, babe, you got to stop what you’re doing.”

At that moment I glanced up and saw a single tear drop down her cheek.

“Enough, Rhoda! Cut it out!” Kate shouted which caused Eric and Steve to jump. “Stanford lean back for a second,” Kate said to me, which I did.

“Stanford, what’s with Rhoda? What is she doing?” Eric asked.

“I don’t know,” I said.

I remembered Rhoda dancing in the woods at times, but she was playful about it. This was different, almost schizophrenic-like. She seemed as if she wasn’t conscious of what she was doing. For some reason she wasn’t being herself. This wasn’t her, I couldn’t explain it. But there was something about that tear. I knew something was wrong.

Kate reached over, grabbed Rhoda’s arm, and shook her. “Rhoda, chill out! What the hell’s wrong with you?” Kate shouted. Rhoda became more ecstatic. “I said stop dammit!” Rhoda thrashed about. She shook Kate off and tossed her against the driver’s window.

Eric and Steve and I were caught off guard. We jumped as Kate bounced off the window. I glanced at Steve and Eric who stared back at me with wide eyes. I looked forward as Kate grabbed her head and shook it. She frowned, grunted, and pulled her hair away from her face. I leaned up at Rhoda once more.

“Rhoda, chill out!” I yelled. I wrapped my arms around her from behind the seat and struggled to hold her still. Eric reached up and grabbed Rhoda’s left arm. “Calm down, baby. Calm down,” I whispered into Rhoda’s ear. From the side of her face I saw more tears drip down her cheeks.

“Rhoda, stop!” Eric shouted.

Kate unfastened her seatbelt and leaned across Rhoda’s lap. She opened the side door and unfastened Rhoda’s seatbelt. She placed her hand on Rhoda’s shoulder and shoved her so hard that Eric and I couldn’t hang on to her. It was such a forceful push that it sent Rhoda flying out the vehicle. I watched as Rhoda tumbled out of the SUV, onto the snowy road, and into a ditch. Kate grabbed the door and shut it hard. She sat up in her seat, took a deep breath, and released a sigh while shooting a hard frown at the passenger door.

“Cool off, Rhoda. Stay out there for a little while.” she said quietly to herself.

Eric, Steve and I sat there silently looking at each other. I couldn’t believe what Kate just did! Regardless of how she acted, that’s a real messed up thing she did. She had absolutely no right to shove Rhoda outside like that. It took me several moments before I compelled myself to speak.

“Kate what the hell? What kind of shit was that? Are you serious? Why did you do that?” I asked sternly.

“No! You saw that!” Kate said sternly. “We all told her to stop whatever the hell she called herself doing but she wouldn’t.”

“So you just tossed her out thinking that was the right thing to do?” I shouted.

“She wouldn’t stop no matter what we said to her. She just kept doing it!” Kate waved a hand at the passenger seat. “That dancing, humming, swinging, and hitting me in the face and almost breaking that window.”

“Kate, I was attempting to find out what she was doing before you threw her out!” I shouted.

“Well what the hell was I supposed to do?” Kate shouted.

“Talk to her, dammit!” I shouted.

“Dammit Stanford! She wasn’t listening!” Kate shouted.

I honestly wanted to wrap my hands around her neck and beat her head against that damn window for doing that to Rhoda. We looked at each other with hard frowns. Neither one of us budged. We both tensed up. Steve leaned over Eric and spoke.

“Come on, Kate, Stanford. Let’s not fight. Can’t we just let Rhoda back in and go to the lodge?” he asked.

“Yeah Kate,” I said calmly but sternly. “Like Steve said, why don’t we let Rhoda back in?”

Kate pouted her lips. “Why? Because she was making an ass out of herself. That’s why. I don’t know if she’s bipolar or what the hell her problem is. She’s not coming back in here acting like that.”

“She wasn’t feeling good. She told me that her head was aching before you pulled off the highway. I even saw her turning pale,” I said.

“Why didn’t you say that earlier?” she asked. “Maybe her head hurts, and all that weird shit was because she’s bipolar.”

I felt the anger swell up inside me. “She’s not bipolar!”

I knew the truth. Kate didn’t push Rhoda out because she wanted her to cool off as she puts it. She threw her out because she was annoying her like with Steve and Eric earlier. Right then, I decided not to let Kate’s short fuse dictate the situation.

“Kate, let her back in.” I said calmly. I noticed Kate wasn’t doing as I said. In fact, she made herself comfortable in her seat and acted like I wasn’t even talking. The calmness in me subsided. “Goddammit, I said let her back in! Now!”

Steve and Eric jumped, and their eyes widened. Kate also jumped and looked at me with a sharp frown through the front rear-view mirror.

“Alright, fine,” Kate leaned back over to the passenger door. “But if I see her still acting crazy, she’s staying out there.”

Kate reached for the handle and opened the door. She looked as we waited for Rhoda to come back in. I looked up and saw Kate with an opened mouth and a raised brow.

“What?” I asked.

“She’s gone,” Kate said in a low voice.

“Gone? What do you mean gone?” I asked.

“She’s not there,” Kate glanced around. “I don’t see her.”

I sat up and looked outside where Rhoda landed in the ditch. She was no longer on the ground. In fact, I didn’t see her anywhere.