Free Six Days: Book One in the SIX Series by Randileigh Kennedy Page A

I thought I was going to die at the hands of
some backwoods serial killer. So thanks for that.”
    Griffin
stared at me with an expressive smirk, clearly amused at where my mind went
with that.
    “Look,
I’m not sure what you have planned, but if you think I’m killing something
today, I’m not sure this is going to work out,” I huffed, failing to sound more
pleasant about the situation. He peered at me with his soft eyes, and although
I was still vehemently against the idea of hunting, I had a strange feeling
this man could talk me into a lot worse.  
                “Sorry, it’s not exactly what I meant to say. I mean it
kind of is, indirectly. Look, I probably should have written out the first card
before coming up here. Maybe it would have sounded more eloquent or something.
I was kind of in a haze last night, and that’s just what came out,” Griffin
said, staring at me as he spoke. “I’m sorry. Just trust me, will you?” His eyes
pleaded with me.
                “Do I have to kill something today? Can you tell me we’re
just fishing or something? I could work with that. It doesn’t actually seem
like killing one of God’s creatures, in a weird way,” I replied, hoping for a
good answer.
                “Look, it’s not as harsh as it sounds, maybe I used the wrong wording. Just don’t give it much thought. We’ll be
making breakfast, going for a hike, and cleaning up camp. It’s for later
anyway, so I don’t want you to be thinking something gruesome all day. It’s not
like that. I promise this week will be fun, Addie. I just thought maybe I could
get you to do some new things, just ‘live’ a little more. You’ll see. It will
all be explained later, I promise. Just relax,” Griffin said, putting his arm
around my shoulders.
                I felt a shiver run through my torso.   Oh my gosh , I
haven’t even seen a mirror this morning. What is happening?
    We
made our way back to camp and everyone slowly stirred and got up as Griffin
started on breakfast.
                The morning flew by and Megan and Steve went down the
trail for a light morning jog. Steve pretty much complained of his endurance
inadequacies the rest of the morning. He genuinely seemed interested in the
challenge of running a half marathon with Megan though, which amused the group.
He was adamant, however, that he wouldn’t give up his beer intake just because
of training, which seemed fitting for him. Mallory was too ill from the night
before to do much. She just sat in a chair by the campfire cursing the
deliciousness of red wine. Even when we set out for a small hike up one of the
hills she opted to stay behind, which was unlike her.
                There seemed to be an unusual electricity between Griffin and me. Conversation seemed awkward at best with
other people chiming into our conversations. No one else saw the note on the
tree so it wasn’t brought up throughout the day, which I was thankful for.
                By the time lunch rolled around Mallory was finally able
to stomach the sight of food. She vowed to never again drink so much wine in
one night. The others razzed her for being so sluggish and out of sorts. We sat
around eating, laughing, and discussing our upcoming plans for the rest of the
summer, of which I had none. It was moments like these where I realized just
how uninteresting of a person I was. I barely put much thought into my day to
day, let alone any plans for the future. It seemed more like my life was just
one day rolling into the next. I couldn’t even think of any plans I had next
week, let alone months from now. These people probably thought I was shy for
not interjecting more into these conversations, but the truth was, I just
didn’t have much to say.
                Finally it came time to clean up camp, and as the cars
were being loaded up, Griffin grabbed my bag and headed towards his