The Unexpected Twist by Marline (top 10 novels to read TXT) 📕

forest with a video camera and then got caught by Stan’s gang. I needed proof, Cam. And since I knew that Liam had joined the gang I thought he would lead me to them.” Cameron nodded and they sat in silence for a few seconds.
Then, all of a sudden, a tiny smile crept on Cameron’s face and it grew broader.
“I cannot believe you kissed Liam.” She laughed. I smiled.
“Me neither.” I admitted. “But Cam, what are you doing out here all alone in the dark?”
“I needed some fresh air and then decided to go for a walk. I was going to go to the park. It’s strange, I know, but I needed some open space around me.” Cam said. I nodded and then leaned over and hugged my best friend.
“You’re not mad at me for telling Liam, are you?” I asked.
“No, in a way I’m glad. It brought Liam and you together. Aww, you two are such a cute couple!” She exclaimed. I laughed.
“You haven’t even seen us as a couple yet. And besides, he might not be interested in me at all. I went out today to find him just in case he might be in trouble but maybe he is just hiding from me.” Cam smiled.
“Listen to yourself, Claire. He kissed you and pretended to be a rapist. Do you honestly think he did that for me? He did that for you. And it’s true that he had never kissed any of the girls at school, I’ve heard Jennifer complain about it. Now come on, we have to go find him.”
I stared at her. “We?” I asked.
“Yes, I’m coming with you.” She said. “And there is nothing you can do to change my mind.” I smiled and hysterical happiness suddenly flowed through my body. I started giggling and then laughing and I wrapped my arms around Cameron in a tight hug.

Chapter 6

I had to confess that I was extremely relieved that I did not have to go into the forest alone. Even with Cam the forest seemed like a looming danger and I missed Liam’s presence. I felt so safe with him.
“It’s kind of creepy, isn’t it?” Cam commented, reading my mind. I giggled nervously.
“That’s exactly what I was thinking.”
“Are you sure you still know the way?”
“I hope so.”

We had walked for hours, and at a certain point I even thought we were lost, when I suddenly realized where we were.
“Cam,” I grabbed her arm. “It’s here, I recognize the place.” I whispered.
“Here?” Cam asked unbelievably. I could understand her surprise, it seemed like there was no place where anybody could hide here.
“Yes.” I then placed a finger over my lips to signal to her to be quiet. Slowly, one step at a time, with Cam on my heels, I walked over to the place where I knew the trapdoor was. The trapdoor led to a staircase which led to another door. If this door was closed then I could open the trapdoor and the people inside would not be likely to hear. But if this door was open I had a big, big problem. As softly as I could I kneeled down and I cringed with every breaking twig and every crunching leaf. I leaned forwards and pressed my ear to the trapdoor. Maybe this could tell me if the next door was open or not. I heard nothing. Was that a good sign? Maybe there was nobody inside. Maybe they were roaming through the forest and could return to their hiding place any moment and find Cam and me here. Fear caused my throat to tighten up and I glanced up at Cam. She was looking around with a very worried expression on her face. I knew she was thinking the same thing I was. Still, I had to take the risk. If Liam was in danger then I needed to help him because he was the one who had saved my life. And because I loved him.

I brushed a few leaves away until I saw the tiny opening which was used to pull the trapdoor up and so open it. I put my fingers underneath the door.
“What are you doing?” Cam hissed frantically.
“I need to find him.” I whispered back. Cam nodded but I could see that she was not happy with what I was about to do. That made two of us. Slowly, very slowly I opened the trapdoor just an inch. What I saw before me was complete darkness. All the scary scenes from all the horror movies I had ever seen in my life flashed through my mind and I nearly dropped the trapdoor in terror. At the same time I was also a little exhilarated because I knew that the second door was closed which meant that I could open the trapdoor without getting caught. And then I had to go down those dark creepy stairs and listen at the door to see if I could hear anything. I nearly burst out laughing at the absurdity at it all, no way was I going down those stairs. I silently closed the trapdoor and turned to Cam.
“I am not going down those stairs.” I told her.
“You have to,” she said, “if Liam is in trouble then you owe it to him to find out where he is and what has happened.”
“Can’t we just call the police?” It seemed so easy, we’d call the police, they’d show up and arrest all the guys down there and the problem would be solved.
“On what charges?” Cam whispered sarcastically. “We found a trapdoor and we know that there’s a bunch of guys down there and I was raped by one of them?” Who’s going to believe that? We need proof, Claire.” Cam told me what I already knew.
“There’s no dead bodies down there or anything,” Cam teased me, trying to lighten the mood, but instead her saying ‘dead bodies’ out loud made me feel even more scared.
“Stop creeping me out,” I giggled nervously.
“Claire, go. You have to do it, for Liam.” Cam suddenly said seriously. I nodded and took a deep breath.

I put my finger under the opening in the trapdoor and pulled it completely open, so that if the other door opened I would be able to run up and make a dash for it. Just before I took my first step down the stairs I turned towards Cam.
“If anything happens, then run.” I told her. She nodded but from the little moonlight I saw on her face I could see that she wouldn’t do what I told her to. I was secretly relieved that she would stay and help me. One terrifying step at a time I descended the staircase. Every time it creaked I stood still and I could feel my heartbeat in my chest. If the people inside didn’t hear the creaking then they would surely hear the sound of my heart. I took a silent breath of relief when I reached the bottom and stood before the wooden door. I had made it this far and I had not encountered any dead bodies. Yet. I looked up quickly and saw that Cam was still standing there. It gave me courage to press my ear to the door and to listen to what was going on inside. I froze when I heard Liam’s voice.

“Classic,” he laughed, “the way she believed everything I told her. And the way you guys believed that I really had sided with her.” He laughed again, a chilling laugh that sent shivers up my spine.
“You are quite the actor,” came Stan’s voice, and though it sounded light it had an undertone of spite. “Though I would’ve liked at having a go at her.”
“She knew too much.” Liam became serious. “I had to pretend that I was on her side so that she would trust me and would not go running to the police on her own.”
“Are you sure she cannot find where we are?” A third voice pitched in.
“Positive.” Liam said and he sounded extremely convinced.

“Idiot.” Was the first word that popped into my mind. Then followed jerk. And after that a whole series of other insults. I ended with stupid. But stupid was not aimed towards him, it was aimed towards me. It was one thing that he had lied to me, it was another that I had fallen for it. How could I have been so ignorant? It was Liam! I should’ve known that I couldn’t have trusted him. Pain seized my heart but I refused to let it take root because he was just not worth it. Why had I let him do this? Why had I let him steal my first kiss? And my heart? How was it possible that he could lie so well? Not once had I detected any signs that he was not being sincere. Before I could stop them, tears welled up in my eyes and spilled over my cheeks. I turned around and ran up the stairs, not caring how much noise my footsteps made. Once up I pulled Cam by the arm and without bothering to close the trap door, blindly ran I a random direction, whatever it took to get as far away from that horrid hiding place as possible, to get as far away from Liam as possible.

“Claire, Claire what’s wrong?” Cam panted, when we had ran for a good ten minutes. I stopped, sank to the floor and burst out in heart breaking sobs.
“Claire, what did you hear in there?” Cameron crouched down next to me and wrapped her arms around me. I cried against her until I had no more tears left. Cameron stroked my hair and I wished with all my heart that I had never met Liam, that our paths had never crossed. I now believed that heartbreak truly hurt because my heart indeed felt like it had broken into two pieces. One piece was mine and he had stolen the other one.
“Liam, he, he didn’t mean any of it!” I finally told Cameron, in between shaky breaths.
“How do you know that?” Cameron asked gently.
“I heard him tell the guys. He was in there, telling them how funny it was that I had actually believed everything he said.”
“You mean… You mean he’s part of the gang too?” Cameron whispered.
I nodded slowly. We both just sat there for a while, trying to take it all in. Neither of us could find the right thing to say because there was no right thing to say for a moment like this. Cam was the one who finally pulled herself together. She took a deep, reassuring breath and in the vague moonlight I saw that she was trying to be brave.
“Let’s go home.” To my surprise her voice was steady. “We can sort this all out once we’re safe and warm.” I nodded, grateful for the strength of my friend. She helped me up and with our arms around each other we walked in the way we thought the main road was.

“I think we’re lost.” I stated. Cam didn’t bother disagreeing or sparking new hope by saying that we were nearly there. “I’ll call my parents.” I got out my phone and dialed my home number. After a number of rings a sleepy voice picked up.
“Hello?”
“Dad?” I asked, while already knowing who was on the other side of the line.
“Claire? Where are