From Beneath You

The light burst to life and started to swing back and forth. Ruth gently released the string and the bulb slowly swayed back into place. Grabbing a hair tie, she pulled her caramel hair into a high ponytail. The room was small and dank. Three of the four walls were cluttered with newspaper clippings, maps, photos, tacked onto corkboard in a seemingly haphazard way. Ruth stepped up to the table in front of her and traced her fingers along the edges of a photo. The image was of Ruth and another young girl. They were smiling and squinting from the bright sun. The skyline of a city at their backs. The lookout had always been their favorite spot. Ruth smiled, and a tear slipped down her cheek. 

“What happened to you Margaret?” Ruth stared at the photo for a moment more. She shook her head and looked back to the boards. “I will find you. Even if everyone else has given up.”

Ruth spent the next hour scouring over her notes and theories. Margaret had gone missing almost a year ago. A bunch of their friends had gone hiking through the trails around Mammoth Cave National Park. It was the perfect way to say goodbye before they all went off to separate grad schools and jobs. Margaret and her boyfriend Jack had been planning the trip for months before she even asked the others to come. Ruth never knew why Maggie wanted it to be a group trip instead. Spencer and Toby came along as well. Toby even brought his latest fling, Veronica. Those 12 days had been like a dream.  The six of them spent their days hiking the wooded trails and wandering through the expansive caves. Spencer took every opportunity he could to pull pranks and scare the wits out of his friends. At night they would build a fire and swim in the lake under the moonlight. Every moment that Maggie wasn’t whispering with Jack she and Ruth were laughing at inside jokes and solidifying their friendship for the years ahead.

Ruth shook herself out of the daydream she had slipped into when she heard her doorbell ring. She receded into her bedroom and turned to lock the door to the private side room. Hurrying down the stairs, Ruth looked through the peephole at her empty front porch. Shivers ran down her spine as she opened the door, glanced down at the doormat, and was frozen by a familiar sight. A red envelope glared up at her. Ruth took a deep breath, bent down, and grasped the rough paper between her fingers. She stood slowly, glanced up and down the street and retreated into her house. 

Ruth had been pacing around her kitchen table for longer than she even realized. The red envelope was unopened. Ruth swallowed hard and in one swift movement she ripped it open and tore out the paper inside. Scrawled across the paper were the words:

How many times do you need to be told? Stop looking for her. Before it’s too late for you too.

The letters were never signed but they all ended with the same message; Before it’s too late. They started coming exactly three months after Margaret disappeared into the woods. Margaret and Veronica had gotten in a huge fight about god only knows what. Veronica came back to the cabin saying that Margaret had stormed off. She had tried to follow, to get her to come back but the woods were dense, and she was worried they would both end up lost. Ruth didn’t think she could ever forgive the girl for that. The five of them went out immediately to look for her. And they kept looking. The police looked for a week. There were search parties put together. Months passed. Veronica stopped speaking to any of them and eventually moved away. Slowly everyone else stopped looking. Ruth couldn’t. She had to know what happened to her best friend. Someone didn’t want her to. But no red envelopes or vaguely threatening notes were going to stop her from finding the truth. 

The only one who still entertained Ruth’s obsession was Jack. He would listen to her rants and be her sounding board as she tried to work through all of her theories and ideas of what could have happened. Ruth set the envelope back on the table and picked up her cellphone. The other line rang four times before he picked up.

“Hey. What’s up?” Jack’s voice echoed through the speaker.

“I got another one.” Ruth didn’t bother with formalities. Jack knew about the other notes. There was no need to hash it all out again.

“Are you kidding me? What did it say?” Jack said.

Ruth’s eyes darted back to the table before she answered. “Basically, the same as the last few. Only a tad crazier and more threatening. Could you come over?” She paused, eyeing the clock that showed it was barely 7am. “I know it’s early, but I need to be around another person.”

“I completely understand. I’ll be over in five.” Jack hung up his end. 

A pot of coffee and four scrambled eggs later, a knock echoed from the front hall.

“Come in!” Ruth hollered. 

The door creaked open and she could hear Jack kicking off his shoes and padding into the kitchen. He smiled at her as he rounded the corner. It was the sort of smile that wasn’t really happy. It was more pitiful than anything else. Like just looking at her made him sad. Then he saw the envelope and his face dropped.

“Who do you think is sending those?” His voice carried monotonously through the kitchen.

“Who knows. But they’re definitely starting to freak me out.” Ruth answered.

Jack kept his head low and glanced up at her from below his lashes. “Are you thinking about giving up? You know, not looking any deeper?”

Standing at the sink, Ruth shot a hard look over her shoulder. “No. I’m not going to let whoever did this to Margaret get away with it.”

“We don’t even know what happened or if there is someone to blame.” Jack threw up his hands and Ruth turned to face him. “Oh don’t look at me like that. You know I’m right. This thing with you is turning into an obsession.”

“I cannot believe what I’m hearing.” Ruth crossed her arms and leaned back on the counter. “How can you talk like this?”

“I just feel like after this long...” He trailed off, but Ruth knew what he was thinking. After this long the chances of finding her were slim to none. “What do you really think happened?”

Ruth was caught off guard by his question. She stuttered for a moment before responding. “Someone could have grabbed her out in the woods and taken her to some sex trafficking thing. Or she could have gotten lost and hurt and by the time they found her she had amnesia or brain damage. Or… I don’t know but she has to be out there. She can’t just be gone!”

“But she is Ruth! Get that through your head. Maggie is gone so just let it go.” Jack ran his hands through his hair with exasperation.

“How can you say that?” Ruth’s voice started with a whisper. “How can you let her be gone?”

“I’m just trying to be honest here.” Jack raised his voice. “This is getting ridiculous.”

“Get out.” Ruth stared at Jack and read disbelief in his eyes. “Get. Out.”

Jack scoffed. “You can’t be serious.”

“I need you to leave. Right now.” Ruth said.

Jack huffed and trudged back out to the door. Ruth followed and watched as he jammed his feet into his shoes. Jack pulled the door open and glanced back one last time.

“You need to stop this. Before it’s too late for you to have a normal life.” He shook his head and slammed the door at his back.

Ruth slumped down on the stairs and put her face in her palms. Tears streamed down her face and for the first time in a while she let it all rush in. All the pain and regret for not finding her best friend. Confusion seeped into every pore of her being. How could everyone let go so easily? She thought. How could they pretend like there wasn’t a chance of getting Margaret back? Ruth pulled herself together and climbed the stairs. She made her way back to the little room and set to work.

The last few hours of the weekend slipped away and the sun was dipping below the horizon. Ruth wiped sleep from the corners of her eyes. She pushed away from the small wooden table and started getting ready to turn in for the night. Across the room Ruth heard her cell phone buzzing on the nightstand. Jack’s name flashed across the screen and for a moment she considered letting it go to voicemail. But curiosity got the better of her and she grabbed the phone and raised it to her ear.

“What?” She said

“I’m sorry about earlier. I was completely out of line and I am sorry.” Jack’s voice came through the receiver with a crackle.

“You were out of line.” Ruth made a point of not forgiving him.

Jack paused briefly, “I have something I need to tell you, too.” 

“What is it?” Ruth said.

“No. Not on the phone.” The speaker cracked again. “Can you meet me?”

Ruth sighed. On one hand she didn’t want to be around Jack right now, but she also wasn’t going to let that get in the way of whatever information he had. “Fine. Lookout Ridge? 20 minutes?”

“I’ll be there.” At Jack’s last word Ruth hung up the phone. She threw on a big knit sweater and pulled boots over her plush socks. Running down the stairs Ruth snatched her keys off the rack and headed out to the driveway, locking the house behind her. 

The whole drive up to the ridge Ruth’s mind was racing. She kept thinking about Margaret out in those woods by herself. She wondered what Veronica and Margaret had been fighting about that made her run off. 

Ruth pulled into the gravel lot and parked in a spot close to the trail. She trudged up the path and out to the ridge, looking out over the city. A chill, early spring wind rose over the edge of the lookout. The lights stung her eyes, piercing through the darkness. SNAP. A twig broke behind Ruth sending her heart into her throat. 

"Jack?" She called out tentatively, turning to face the tree line. "Is that you?" More rustling. She slowly backed away from the forest edge. Where did she think she was going to go? The girl pulled on the sleeves of her sweater. "Jack, seriously. This isn't funny." A figure emerged from the woods. 

"Hey, sorry. I got caught in a bush. I didn't mean to scare you." Jack stepped out of the line of the woods. Ruth let out a sigh and turned back to the skyline before she replied. 

"It's fine. This place is just giving me the creeps.” She looked back over her shoulder. “So, what did you want to tell me?”

Jack started pacing around, his eyes trained on the dark grass at his feet. “You really need to let this go.”

“Okay, I didn’t come out here for another lecture.” Ruth started to push past him and head for the parking lot. “So, if that’s what you’re going to do then just-“ Jack grabbed her arm and she stopped short.

“Don’t go anywhere.” His voice was gruff. 

“What are you doing?” Ruth asked.

“I told you,” Jack pulled her back out in front of him. “I have something to tell you.”

Jack walked frantically around Ruth. The look in his eyes was crazed, like he hadn’t slept in days. This Jack was completely different from the one that was in Ruth’s kitchen that morning.

“Ronnie never should have talked to Margaret that night. She said things she shouldn’t have.” Jack stopped and stared at Ruth.

“Ronnie? You mean Veronica?” Her brain wasn’t keeping up with everything that had happened. “What are you talking about?”

“She told secrets that weren’t hers to tell. And then, of course, Margaret had to go and freak out.” Jack continued as if she hadn’t spoken.

“What secrets? Can you please answer me?” Ruth was getting increasingly anxious.

“Me and Margaret hadn’t been together long when that trip rolled around. Before that me and Ronnie had a… thing.”

“You knew Veronica before Toby brought her on the trip?” Ruth was trying to make sense of the information rushing toward her. “You two were in a relationship?”

“Not really a relationship. We would just go on adventures, get adrenalin highs, that sort of thing," said Jack.

“What secrets, Jack?” Impatience trimmed every word.

“She saw me. We were gonna try something new. This drug one of my buddies said was the shit. Me and Ronnie were gonna get a little high, fool around, you know, just have a good time.” The words were rushed, edged with an uncanny laugh. Jack raked his hands through his hair, tugging at the ends as he paced. He was talking like this was all a sadistic joke. “This tweaked out dealer, he was trying to overcharge me. I shoved him, and he pulled out a knife. I didn’t even think about it. I just … grabbed the knife out of his hand. He didn’t even fight back when I stabbed him. Ronnie saw the whole thing.” Jack finally stopped moving as he looked Ruth in the eye. “I convinced her not to say anything. He was a druggie. No one was gonna look for him. After that she didn’t want to see me anymore. And I got with Margaret and things were good.”

“Veronica told her.” That was why she ran. Margaret was scared of Jack.

“That night, I had too much to drink and I got a little physical with her. She was scared and went to Veronica to talk.” He let out an animal sound that must have been a laugh, “That bitch always did have a big mouth.”

“Jack, what did you do?” Ruth’s shoes felt like they were filled with cement.

“Oh, Ruth. Don’t be naïve. You shouldn’t have to ask that question.” Jack had turned to the horizon. “Margaret ran off and we split up to find her. She had gone into the caves. I found her back by the bottomless pits.”

“Oh my god.” The words came out of her at barely a whisper.

“She started yelling, trying to fight me. She said she was going to tell someone. I couldn’t let her do that.” Jack looked back at Ruth who was still frozen to the spot. 

“But… Veronica? Why would she leave without telling anyone?” That was the one piece that still didn’t make sense. Jack looked at her like she was an ignorant child.

“Who said she left?”

“Toby told us. He said she left a note. That she couldn’t handle the tension anymore. That she–” Ruth stopped short when she caught the wicked, anticipating gleam in Jack’s eyes. “You.” 

“She was going to tell the police what she knew. I couldn’t let her do that.” Jack tilted his head in a disturbingly animalistic way. “I can’t let you either.”

Jack lunged forward and grabbed Ruth’s arm. He started dragging her toward the edge.

“Stop!” Ruth clawed at his hand on her arm “Somebody help me!” Jack’s other hand swung around and slapped her. Heat burned its way across her cheek and she went limp for a moment. Jack continued to pull her towards the ridge edge. As Ruth’s eyesight realigned she frantically looked around. No one was going to hear her out here. They were miles from the closest neighborhood, in the middle of the woods. She spotted a large branch on the ground less than two steps away. They were alarmingly close to the edge. Ruth mustered up all the strength she could and pulled Jack’s hand toward her. When it was close enough she sank her teeth in as hard as she could. Ruth tasted blood in her mouth but she couldn’t focus on it. She jumped to the side and grabbed the branch. Without another thought she swung. 

But there was no impact. Jack was no longer in front of her. As she spun around, her eyes locked on his for a moment. Then, before she could blink, Ruth felt Jack’s hands shove into her shoulders. As she teetered on the edge of the ridge, time slowed to a crawl. She heard herself make a strangled, gasping sound. Her hands groped for something, anything to hang on to. She felt the dirt and pebbles shift beneath her feet. Time sped back toward her as she fell. The last thing she saw was spinning stars and the cruel glee in Jack’s eyes.