MORE THAN NATURE

Chapter 4

Parker

I don't know which way to go anymore, everybody was starting to get tired. The sun was starting to set and no one made a move to keep going, because by now we're all sure that we're really going around in circles. No one said a single thing and we all took a seat on the ground, trying to figure out on our own with what we should do next. I'm not sure whether to believe in what Diana was saying about us going around in circles but something tells me, that she's not the type to joke around.

She was the only person standing and when she finally decided to sit down like the rest of us, she chose to sit next to me, making me surprised as well.

"It's gonna be dark soon, if we keep going we'll never find our way out of here. Our phone will die soon, so we need to come up with a way for us to spend the night here." I stared at her in confusion and surprise.

"Why are you telling me this?" She looked at me and gave me a small smile.

"I don't know, but you seem like the only person amongst us six that could come up with something quick." I started chuckling.

This is the first time someone had ever said that to me

"I'm not that  smart or anything." She chuckles lowly.

"So am I, but in this case, you could be surprise with what we could easily come up with for us to survive in one night."

She's right. We need to move fast, the air is getting kinda chillier than before and we don't know about the temperature around here when night falls. So we need to do something straight away. I looked up at the others and when my eyes landed on Lloyd, something silver peeping from his pocket, caught my eye.

"Lloyd, what's that in your pocket?" He was startled when I talked to him, probably had too much to think I guess.

He glanced down at his pocket and pulled out the silver thing and I almost sighed out loud with relief when I saw what it was. His lighter.

"Shit, I almost forgot I had it with me the whole time." He replied back before throwing it to me and I caught it with one hand.

I glanced at Diana and smiled at her before standing up and putting the lighter in my pocket.

"We need to get some firewood. Lloyd you're coming with me." He nods his head before standing up and following me.

We found a small clearing nearby where we collected the small dry twigs and fallen branches that could easily help make a fire for tonight.

"You know, you should really put a leash on Kim. She's starting to tick me off with the constant flirting nowadays and I don't think she'll accept that I'm not interested in her." He suddenly says.

"She's not my problem anymore, didn't you know that we've already broken up?" He scoffed from behind me.

"Was I suppose to know?" I ignored him and continued breaking off the weak branches from the trees.

"So, are you interested in that Diana girl? You seem like you were with the way you're acting around her today. She's pretty cute you know? So you like her or something?"

I sighed in irritation and dropped the twigs on the ground before turning around to face him.

"Dude, are you serious right now? This is not the time to talk about girls, we're lost in the middle of nowhere right now so that's what we need to focus on. Getting out of here alive." I snapped at him. He glared at me and dropped all the firewood in his hands on the ground.

"Well sorry for trying to make a normal conversation. You guys have this whole thing wrapped around your head and I'm pretty sure that you'll all forget how to be normal human beings soon. Forget normal conversations, you're already messed up."

He walks off and I glared after him. He's kinda right, we're all getting this in our heads too much that all we could ever talk about or think about, is looking for a way out of here and surviving through the night.

I grabbed my armful of firewood and looked back at him. He was standing in front of some bushes, looking down at something in his hands.

"Hey, we need to head back. It's getting dark out here." I called out to him.

He finally turns around and showed me the orange berries in his hands.

"Check this out, we could eat this right?" I slowly shook my head while eyeing his handful of berries.

"No dude, those could be poisonous you know." He shrugged and put one in his mouth anyway.

'Hmm, taste kinda good. You sure you don't want some?" I turned around and started walking back to where the others are waiting.

"No thanks and please, don't give that to anyone. I'm not so sure we could eat anything around here yet."

"Suit yourself, I'm starving right now."

We came back to where everyone was waiting, and Corey and i started making us a fire straight away. It took us several minutes to light up a spark, and when the fire was big enough, we gathered the big stones around it making a small bonfire. We sat near it and nobody spoke a single word, we just kept staring at the fire feeling glad that we're all warm.

"Lloyd are you okay?" Kimberly asked, making all of us look straight at Lloyd who was hugging his knees with his head bowed down.

"I'm fine.....I just wanna......sleep." He mumbled, which we barely heard at all.

He shifts back and lie down on his back and didn't say anything and we all assumed he had fallen asleep already.

"Hey um, thanks for getting the firewood." Diana said next to me while placing a hand on my arm. I grinned back at her.

"Sure, no problem." She gave me a confused look and then glanced at Lloyd lying right next to her.

"Did something happen when you went off to get firewood?" I shook my head in confusion.

"No, nothing happened. He was doing perfectly fine to me, and talks a lot too." She chuckles and tucked a loose hair strand behind her ear.

It made me realize something, why didn't I notice her before? We go to the same school, both seniors too, yet this is actually the first time we've started to get along. Shit, I think I'm starting to be like Kimberly, "she only notices people she likes" speaking of Kimberly, she was just getting ready to sleep and I didn't like it one bit, when she cozied up to where Lloyd was sleeping. Honestly, my relationship with Kim was never that great which was why I decided to end things between us but that doesn't mean that I didn't even like her.

Diana and Corey started to lie down as well and I was about to do the same thing too but when I looked up, I noticed that Mia was still wide awake and reading her book closer to the flames for light. I don't know her and I don't know what's her deal but one thing for sure is that, she's not gonna let go of that book anytime soon.

"Hey, you should get some sleep." I said to her, and she looks up at me and nod her head while smiling.

"I will. Want me to put out the fire?" I shook my head.

"Nah, just leave it. It might get even colder at night." She nods her head and looks down at her book.

"Good night." I said to her one more time, before I closed my eyes and letting exhaustion and sleepiness to pull me in to unconsciousness.

Hopefully, this is all just a dream when I wake up. But no matter how much i wished it was, I know for sure that this is not a dream at all. This is just a beginning of a real nightmare.