| Title: Squirrels Rating: PG Copyright: The X-Files and its affiliated characters belong to Chris Carter, 1013 Productions, and the Fox Network Summary: Sometimes a nice trip to the park turns out to be much more for Piper and Max. Chapter 1 July 2, 2001 2:17 PM Warren Park Warwick, Rhode Island The wind carried the sounds of their laughter throughout the trees. The sun shone brightly from beyond the trees casting shadows and causing large patches of shade. The branches of the trees moved slightly reminding everyone of the wind that surrounded them. The seven girls all sat on the lush, green grass listening to music and laughing. For the girls, the summer had barely just begun but they were already in need of a break from the summer school work they were given. Three of the girls stood in a row doing a synchronized dance to the music. It looked as if they were doing Taebo but in reality they were just having fun and making fools of themselves. The song soon ended and the girls all collapsed, tired from the constant movement. “Turn this up! I love this song!” One of the girls exclaimed. She quickly stood and began line dancing to the music. Another girl leaned over and turned up the volume of the CD player. “Piper, what are you doing?” A girl asked, totally overtaken by laughter at the sight of her friend. “Come on.” Piper exclaimed, taking the girl by her hands and bringing her to her feet. Piper looped her arm in her friends and they began to twirl around in circles. Other girls joined in and they switched partners every so often. “If it hadn’t been for Cotton Eye Joe…” One sang. “I’d be married a long time ago.” Another finished. They all laughed and danced to the end of the song and then sat down, exhausted. A few snacked on cookies and potato chips while others just lay down in the sun hoping to get a slight tan or at least take a short nap. “You know, this is supposed to be summer…why am I stressing out over reading if it’s summer?” Erin wondered out loud. “Because that’s what a teacher’s job is. To ruin their student’s summers before they even have us in class.” Kyla reminded her. “Yeah but I really think that if they knew us, they’d give us more to do.” Candy commented. “True.” Jo agreed. The girls stopped talking for a while, allowing themselves to just soak in the beauty of the day and to reflect on their past. The girls had shared memories of parties, dances, get-to-gethers, and even murders. Nothing could break the bond that the seven girls had formed. “Squirrels!” Max said abruptly. “What is she talking about?” Candy asked out loud, taking off her sunglasses and looking at Max with a strange look. Max had gotten up and stood, staring off into the woods. “Do we really want to know what she’s talking about?” Erin pondered. “My guess would be no.” Jo added in. “Long live the squirrels!” Max yelled as she ran off towards the woods. The rest of the girls all stood in awe and watched her run off. “Where is she going?” Kyla questioned. “My guess is to chase the squirrels.” Piper answered. She watched Max disappear behind the trees before she chose to follow her. “Now where is she going?” Daria wondered out loud. “Well, my guess is that we should follow them…wherever they go.” Erin suggested. The girls all stood somewhat reluctantly. The last thing they wanted to do was waste their energy chasing Max who was really just chasing squirrels. The girls all took off towards where Max and then Piper had disappeared. They didn’t run but instead just walked quickly, shouting out Piper and Max’s name every so often. Piper walked quickly throughout the woods. She kept her eyes peeled for Max while at the same time as trying to brush the surrounding foliage away from her path. Piper stopped dead in her tracks. A slight rustling sound came from her left. She turned slowly and saw a small, gray squirrel sitting right next to her. Piper was careful not to move too quickly. The squirrel stood and began to walk off casually. Piper watched it until it stopped and looked back at her. It walked a few more steps and then again, turned and looked at her. “You want me to follow you?” Piper asked out loud, obviously not expecting an answer. The squirrel just started off again this time a bit faster. Piper began to follow it as it gained speed. By the time it stopped a few moments later, Piper was out of breath and lost. She leaned against a large rock, breathing heavily when she felt a strange feeling come over her. It was as if someone was watching her. She turned and saw Max standing behind her. Piper quickly walked over to her. “Max?” Piper said quietly. Max didn’t respond. “Max?” Max’s eyes were glossed over and she didn’t blink. She stood completely straight just staring out into the woods. She was in some sort of a trance and Piper knew that it couldn’t be good. “Max!” She yelled more sternly. There was still no response. Piper heard a strange noise coming from above her. She looked up, blocking her eyes from the sun and then realized what was hanging from above her. She screamed and dove off into the brush that was next to the tree. Piper covered her head with her hands and listened as a loud thud filled the air. Piper opened her eyes and stood when she heard Max scream. “What the bad word is that?!” Max yelled, pointing to the large object on the ground. “Max? You’re okay. Oh thank God.” Piper said, walking over to her. “Piper, what the heck happened? How did I get out here? And what happened to you?” Piper looked down at her clothes and realized they were covered in dirt and leaves. She ignored her looks and concentrated on the given situation. “You don’t remember coming out here?” She asked Max, who couldn’t take her eyes off the object on the ground. “All I remember is ending up here and seeing…that on the ground!” “Max, that is a dead body!” “And where did it come from?” Max demanded to know. Piper pointed to the tree where a short rope hung from one of the branches. The rest of the rope was lying on the ground, looped around the dead body’s neck. “You are not telling me that this just randomly fell from that tree are you?” “Um…I’m afraid so.” “Piper!” One of the other girls yelled from farther away. “Max!” Another screamed. “We’re over here!” Max and Piper yelled together. They looked at each other, unaware of what to tell their friends what had happened. They saw Erin, Candy, Kyla, Jo, and Daria emerge from the woods. They both looked to Piper and Erin and then to the body on the ground. “Oh my God!” Daria yelled as she turned her head from the site of the body. “Did you find that?” Erin demanded to know. “Well, we more stumbled upon it.” Max said. “Or rather it stumbled upon us.” Piper commented. “And what is that supposed to mean?” Kyla asked, somewhat frantically. “That means that we get out of here and call the police.” Candy suggested, beginning to walk away from the disgusting body. “We can’t just leave it here unguarded!” Piper wailed. “Well, Piper, you stay here then but we’re leaving. This isn’t time to play FBI agent.” Erin said. The words hurt Piper in a sense but she understood what Erin was talking about. No one knew where the body had come from and though Piper wanted to stay she figured that no one else would stumble across it this far into the woods. “Now we just have to figure out how to get out of here.” Max said. “Yeah, with your guys’ sense of direction, that should be fun.” Jo joked. Normally the girls probably would have laughed at Jo’s lame joke but they were in no mood to laugh. Instead they all just looked at each other and began walking out of the woods. As they walked along the unmarked paths questions arose in each of their minds. Piper wondered why things like that always happened to her. Why she was always the one to experience unexplained phenomenon and have no one believe her or why she always came across the dead bodies. Erin wondered if Piper would be mad at her for what she had said to her before. Kyla wondered why Max had run off in the first place. Daria wondered if she would ever be able to get the image of the dead body out of her head or the smell out of her nostrils. Max wondered how she had gotten into the woods. Jo wondered what they would have to eat when they got back, not concerning herself with any elements of the case. And finally, Candy wondered if they were going the right way to exit the woods. |
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