The Uktena

19. Why Did We Not Turn Back? (Emmet)

I really hated this feeling, like there was something wrong out here, but it was undeniable. There is something out here that doesn't want us out here. I felt the hairs on the back of my neck start to raise, and it seemed like something was trying to grab me and have me turn around to leave. I've seen plenty of horror movies, I'll never make all the bad decisions. I rolled my eyes at the fact that I was going against every single thing my body was screaming at me.

"How long has it been since our  last break?" Mika's whining had finished snapping me out of the brain fog I had been in.

"We'll take another break once we get to the bend up there. It should only take about ten, maybe fifteen minutes. But if you keep dragging your feet, we'll just keep walking, so I recommend you hurry up so we can take a break faster." Ro, with their constant annoyance with everything Mika did, managed to make Mika pick up her pace a little bit with that statement.

Hm, from here, the creek kinda looks like a snake. I brought out my phone to take a picture of the way the creek moved. When I twisted to put my phone back into my pocket, I noticed a shadow that looked way too unnatural for it to be real. There's no way that that shadow is real. There is no snake that big, especially not out here.

"Hey, I think we should either hurry up and not stop over here, or we should turn back and still not stop anywhere near here." I made no effort to hide the fact that I was starting to freak out.

"Why? There's nothing going on out here." Mika didn't sound worried, which concerned me slightly, but she was the most oblivious person to exist in the same area as me, so I didn't think much of her response. Except the fact that she looks way too calm, even Ro tensed up when she saw where I was looking.

"We're going to get to the next spot where we can cross without being completely soaked, and then we're going to head back." With how shaken Ro looked and sounded, I started to try and hurry the two girls between us up, and get them to move faster so we could get out of the area. We need to get away from here. This might be the reason Ro wanted to get further up creek than here before we stopped.

"There's nothing in the woods, and it's so quiet, what do we have to worry about?

"Mika, that is the whole problem. The forest doesn't get this quiet unless there's a major predator really close to where it's quiet. Now you need to hurry up and walk. Or I'll let whatever it is eat you." That made Mika hurry up and start taking mine and Ro's worries seriously.

***

Once we had crossed the creek, Ro sat down on the ground, not bothering to take their bag off. There was something out there that Ro was really scared of, and they aren't easy to rattle. I wonder if they expected there to be something.

"Would either of you like to explain what in the actual HELL went on back there? Or should Mika and I just sit down, shut up, and listen to two people whose ego is a thousand times bigger than their brains?" The anger in Inolas voice was plain and open.

Inola was mad, understandably so. We hadn't listened to her, and now we were panicking over something that she and Mika hadn't seen. Ro brought their water bottle up to drink from it, and, pissed that she wasn't being acknowledged, Inola snatched it from her younger sibling's hands.

"Answer me.What the hell went on back there that had you so freaked out that you want to head back to the house? You constantly looked at me like I was crazy every single time I showed that I was worried about something out here, and now you're running away like a scared little girl!"

"Inola, don't compare me to a girl."

"Get over yourself. I defend your choice to act like you aren't a guy or a girl, and I'm done. You're just an annoying little brat who needs to be put in her place. If you can't keep yourself together long enough to have one conversation with me, or mom, or dad, then you're just an immature little girl who just needs to get over herself." The way Inola was glaring at Ro would have killed her, if a single look could.