The Rescue Of Zack ✔️

Chapter 2: The First Meeting

We all looked at each other with a mischievous smile. It was final. We all were going camping.

"Agreed!" Marissa said on behalf of the whole group.

The one thing that we all cannot disagree with is nature. We all love being close to it. Something about spending time around the trees, the animals, the birds, and the breeze is just so relaxing and peaceful.

"We can go to the nearby woods," Kevin pitched in the idea.

"It's final then," I said. I was really excited. "Let's meet here around 6."

Everyone nodded and then left to prepare.

                         - - - - - - - - -

I tapped my foot as I waited with my camping backpack on the front porch.

"Are you ready? Let's go, Annabelle. " Merissa, Kevin, and Jason were all packed up and ready to go as Jason honked his car and shouted.

I hopped on the stairs, sat in the backseat with Marissa, and closed the car door behind me. "Let's go!"

The nearly 10 km ride went quickly with talks about how Marissa has an upcoming coding competition, how the school soccer team made it to the finals, how our second year was going to be like, vacation stories, and other stuff.

The sky turned on its 'night light' with the moon and the stars shining above us. We parked the car a few meters away from the woods and began to find a good spot to put up our tent.

"Well, this seems like a nice spot," Jason said looking around.

The place where we currently stood had trees all around us with the perfect amount of moonlight coming from above. There was a brief moment of silence where we can clearly hear the crickets singing. The night breeze was cold as it gently passed through us, touching our skins.

Who knew putting up a tent was not that fast or easy as the television people made it look like? Marissa and I were in charge of putting up the tent while the boys went to collect some woods for the bonfire. At first, Jason wanted to help me with the tent but I'd rather do it with Marissa - we really had amazing coordination and communication. Not to brag but we're the champion duo of charades for like forever.

Merissa took out the stakes and the mallet as I began unrolling the tent. We assembled the pole and then staked down the base. It took a few tries but our tent stood perfectly.

Jason and Kevin came with the woods and sticks and began arranging them.

Remember how I said there was a moment of silence? Well, that moment did not last for long as we heard someone's car parked not far from us.

A few moments later, when we were all ready to fire it up, we saw a family of three coming towards us with their camping gears on. The boy was maybe 10 or 12 years old and the couple looked very happy as they walked hand in hand.

"Hello," the sophisticated, high class looking woman said in a sweet voice as the family started to put up their tent not far from us. "Are you new? We haven't seen you around before,"

"No, we came here for the first time," Marissa said. She kinda hated when strangers just walk up to her and start talking with no reason.

"Oh. I'm Taylor Walker, this is my husband, Rob and these are our wonderful but mischievous kids, Liam and -" she suddenly stopped and began looking around as if searching for something. "Where's Judy?" she asked her husband.

"She's with Zack, gone for a walk."

I was confused at that point because he sounded so uninterested about his kids like whatever.

After introducing us to them we had a little talk on random things. The Walker family really seems nice.

"Why don't you all join us for the bonfire?" Kevin suggested. The family nodded and thanked us as they sat on an empty log in front of us.

Not a few minutes later, Rob shouted, "Judy! What took you so long? We were worried."

Worried? Well, you didn't seem like that before.

All heads turned to the direction Rob was shouting at. Through the light, I could see a girl no taller than Liam walking towards us crushing the dried leaves in the process, and with her, I could see the outline of - oh my God! THEY HAVE A DOG!

I got so excited that I stood up and waited. I was an animal lover. Loved them all to death. Even though I don't have a dog yet, but I really really want one. They are the best living creatures that God has ever created.

" Zack wanted to take a few more rounds and -"

"Can I pet him?" I literally cut her off but I didn't care. I could hear Marissa, Jason, and Kevin pressing their lips between their teeth trying to hold off a laugh because they are so familiar when it comes to me and animals. I can't help it but feel so excited about seeing one.

"Sure!" Judy said smiling as she joined us for the marshmallows.

As I knelt down, petting his soft fur, I don't know but I was having a weird feeling seeing him that I could not describe.

It was getting late. So, we decided to call it a day and headed to our respective tents. The family was really nice. Judy, Marissa, and I and Liam, Kevin, and Jason had connected so well with each other that we even planed a treasure hunt game - girls v/s boys - for tomorrow.

As I laid on my back in the tent, I saw Marissa sleeping peacefully but I couldn't stop thinking about Zack. It would sound strange but something about him really ticks me off but not in an angry way but like a sad vibe in some way. I don't know.

As I was not sleepy anymore, I decided to take a walk. I went outside and saw Zack laying down near the tent, a few feet across me. I didn't want to wake him up so I quietly walked but the leaves on the ground had other plans. The sound of the cracking leaves woke Zack up.

"I'm sorry, Zack" I apologized as he yawned, sticking his tongue out. I canceled my plans and sat next to him.

As I petted him, he looked at me. The big brown golden retriever eyes, felt like he was trying to say something to me. When you look into any normal dog's eyes, you see happiness and ready-to-play-fetch look but with Zack, it felt something different as if he was saying 'don't go'.