“And the time would soon come when he would try to kill us.”
-Ethan
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I woke up in the morning to arguing. the voices were undoubtedly Amy and Andrew.
"Well I don't know what you're problem is!"
"My problem! You're the one with issues!"
"Why don't you just get lost!"
"I think I will."
"Fine."
"Fine!"
I looked out my tent to see Andrew storming off into the woods. Matt was outside too, and I heard him saying "he'll probably be back in time before we leave."
"I hope not," Amy grumbles, crossing her hands. I was sort of curious as to what happened, but I didn't want to ask Amy since it wasn't really my place to ask. But sure enough, I found out without even having to ask as Amy told Julia over breakfast. I wasn't deliberately trying to listen in or anything. Amy was just telling her story within earshot.
"It started this morning... We were both awake early and just decided to watch the sunrise. Things were fine at first, but I knew things weren't going to last. They never did with him."
Amy paused to take a bite of her breakfast before continuing.
"Randomly, he goes 'MB's really an idiot you know?' It was so out of the blue and when he said it it made me really angry. Who is he to judge MB? I was mad at MB before, but this trip has got me thinking... Why get hung up on these things?"
"So you like MB again?" Julia inquired.
Amy shrugged. "I dunno. But after that I said 'You don't know what you're talking about.' Then he called me a slut who was always going after boys... And how I screwed with the guy who ruined Matt's life. That was just too much. I don't know what got into him, but that was just too much."
Amy's voice was starting to get shaky.
"And then, well, you know what happened from there. He just walked off. Hope he gets lost and doesn't come back."
"You don't mean that," Julia said.
“Hell yes I do.”
***
Sure enough, Andrew came back right as we were about to leave. There was nothing much to pack, we sort of just left the tents there and grabbed our backpacks. When the teachers said we could all go, we started off. As usual, Kyle had the map and compass in hand and was leading the way. The walk was even more awkward because of the feud between Amy and Andrew. It had never been like this.
"I thought we had some sort of mutual agreement that we wouldn't fight for a day," Amy spat at Andrew.
"Well I guess the feeling isn't mutual," he retorted.
After that, they both turned their backs on each other and stayed at different lengths in the line. I went up to the front of the line and started talking to Johnny and Kyle.
“You don’t really think we can win, do you?”
Kyle shrugged. “It would be fun, don’t you think! A luxurious hotel, getting out of school, ahh I can just imagine it all now.”
“It would be quite nice,” Johnny agreed. “Especially if they had a pool. And food, definitely good food.” He smiled just at the thought of winning. I have to admit, winning did sound quite nice. After spending so much time living off the woods, some time in luxury would be nice.
“So what’s our first obstacle?” I asked Kyle curiously, peering over to the map in his hand. Not to my surprise, I couldn’t really understand what was written. It sort of looked like a bunch of gibberish in my opinion. The only things I could pick out what the top of the mountain and the cabin that we were staying in.
“It’s actually quite interesting,” he said with a smirk on his face.
“I don’t like that look,” I said warily.
“Does it involve being daring?” Johnny asked eagerly. Of course, Johnny.
“Well, I guess you could put it that way. Yeah.”
“Then do tell!” I laughed at Johnny’s attitude during all of this.
“We are soon going to come across this mud pit, where a rope will be hanging up above from the trees. We have to use the rope to swing across the mud pit. However, while swinging by, one of us has to grab a note that’s in a nearby tree branch which will tell us where to locate our food for tonight.”
“You got all of that from this piece of paper?” I asked in disbelief. “That’s stuff is just gibberish!”
“Yup,” Kyle nodded, seeming pretty proud of himself.
“This is gonna be fun!” Johnny’s eyes twinkled in delight. “I’m not sure how my sister would feel about mud. Or Julia. Won’t this be interesting?”
“I heard my name,” Julia called out from the back.
“No you didn’t,” Johnny replied.
“What do you mean I didn’t? I know what I heard.”
“Well you heard wrong.”
Julia sighed, giving up with Johnny and his confusing ways. “Good job,” I smiled at Johnny. He gave me a thumbs up in return, but then turned it into a thumbs down as he saw what was in front of him. It was the mud pit, to be exact. A very, very, very large mud pit that was impossible to go around and would be a pain if you fell in.
“That’s a lot of mud,” Amy grumbled.
“Oh, don’t be such a girl,” Andrew sighed.
“I am a girl thank you very much.”
“Oh really?” Andrew said, bemused. “I couldn’t tell.”
“Shut up before I push you into that mud.”
“Try me. Bet you couldn’t if you tried.”
Amy just shook her head and walked away, as far as Andrew as she possibly could. I can never understand those two. Ever.
“I call going first!” Johnny cheered before any of us had said anything else. He gave a running start, jumping and grabbing the rope as he successfully sailed across the mud pit and landed on the other side. “That was awesome!” he exclaimed, jumping up and down. “I want to do that again!”
“Maybe later,” Matt told him. “Let’s all get across first.”
“I’ll go next,” Kyle said, handing the map and compass to Matt to put in his backpack.Johnny swung the rope over to him, and he did the same thing that Johnny did, landing on the other side not-so-confidently. “Guys… I think we have a problem.” We all followed his lead as he looked up at the rope. At first I didn’t think anything was wrong and that Kyle was just joking with us.
But then I saw it. The rope was fraying. It was literally hanging by a single thread from where it had been tied. It someone heavier had gone first, or had gone next if Kyle hadn’t noticed, they would have gone plummeting into the mud at full force. That would have been a disaster.
“It looks like it had been deliberately cut,” Kyle observed. He yanked on the rope and it broke, falling down into his hands. Looking at it more closely, his face became even more somber. “Yup, it’s been cut by knife. Someone must have been smart enough to cut it so precisely that we would fall when going over the mud.”
He looked up at us, and we all had the same thought going through our minds.
Mr. Grey.
He was here.
He had cut the rope.
He was trying to sabotage us.
And the time would soon come when he would try to kill us.
It won’t be long.
“So… now what?” I asked. “The rope isn’t usable.”
My brother turned towards me. “We only have one option. We go through.” I sighed. I knew that one was coming. But I wasn’t really in the mood to go trudging through mud at the moment. I didn’t really have many spare clothes or anything.
“Oh hell no,” Amy protested. “Are you crazy!?”
“Do you have a better idea?” Matt gave her a look.
“No…” she muttered, realizing that my brother was right. Amy started taking of her sneakers and shoes. “What?” she asked when we were all staring at her. “You realize shoes covered in mud won’t dry? I’d rather carry my shoes and then just wash my feet off.”
I shrugged, agreeing with her logic and started to take off my shoes. Everybody else decided to do the same. Kyle and Johnny were lucky that they had gotten across first. Now they didn’t have to worry about all of this.
Matt stepped into the mud first, not making any comments about how gross it was. Julia went next, but she didn’t hesitate to complain. “This is so gross! Ew I can feel it between my toes. Oh my gosh, what did I just step on? Ew ew ew, I think there’s bugs down here!”
Nobody knew how to tell Julia to shut up, so we didn’t.
I went in after her, and I had to admit that the mud was pretty terrible. I could literally feel myself sinking deeper and deeper as I went in. Which is not good when I’m a lot shorter than everyone else. But I sucked it up and kept on walking through the mud until I had reached the other side.
Then came Andrew, and after him Amy. I could see that at one point she tried to push Andrew into the mud from behind, but it didn’t work. Andrew didn’t even seem fazed. Then she swore at him and gave up on trying.
After all of us had gotten across, Kyle realized something. “Guys… We forgot to grab the note.”
“What note?” Matt asked.
“Oh. I never told the others. Whoops.”
“What note?” Matt asked again, this time with more of an edge to his voice.
“There’s a paper that will tell us where to find our food for tonight,” Kyle explained. “There, on that tree.” He pointed to a tree that was just out of reach.
“You could have told us that before we all came across!?” Matt exclaimed.
“Sorry,” Kyle muttered sheepishly.
“No worries, I’ll get it,” Andrew offered. He trudged back into the mud and grabbed the note, handing it to Matt after, who stuffed it in his backpack.
“From what I remember on the map, there should be a stream nearby,” Kyle suggested.
“Here.” Matt took out the map and handed it over to Kyle.
“Yup, there’s a stream close by. You guys can go wash off there.” He started into the woods, and we all followed without any questions. My feet hurt from stepping on all the stones and tree roots, but I didn’t want to put my shoes back on because the mud would be impossible to get out of my shoes.
The stream to be located down a small drop. We all left our bags near some trees and then jumped down the drop to the stream. The water felt nice and cool, and it felt good to get all the mud washed away from my feet.
Both Johnny and Kyle didn’t bother coming in, because they weren’t muddy.
Over to my side I saw Amy splash Andrew with a handful of cold water. “What was that for?!” he exclaimed.
“Last night.”
“But I didn’t even drop you.”
“You almost did. Same thing.”
“Is not.”
“Is too.” Amy splashed him again. This time, he splashed her right back. The look on her face told me she wasn’t too happy about that. I had no clue what they were both referring to, but I decided not to interfere.
After we were all cleaned and free of mud, we made our way back up to where our bags were. Except, something was wrong.
“Where did the rest of the bags go?” Matt demanded. “If one of you was playing a joke, this isn’t funny.”
But by the look on everyone’s faces as I looked around, I knew this was no joke. Only one bag was left. The rest were gone. Matt opened the bag and saw that the instructions to get the food tonight and the gun were still in there. He sighed with relief. That gun in the wrong hands could be dangerous.
We all knew who took our bags. That much was obvious. Mr. Grey.
That only meant one thing.
He was closer than expected.
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hayhay guys!
It's Wednesday! OMFG I am ON TIME. This is a miracle right here... So what do you think? Was it really Mr. Grey who stole their bag? Well, if it is, gotta give that man credit. He's pretty smart about all of that then...
Uhmm, please nominate this story! (Look back at the last author's note to see how. It's super easy and only takes a minute or so! PLEASEEEE.)
Btw it's my bestest friend JJ's Bday. So if you're reading this, HAPPY BIRTHDAY GIRL.
So how's school treating all of you guys? I have so much schoolwork. Around four to five hours a day, it's exhausting. Sigh. Writing Hamilton is my escape, hehe(; Yeah, that's about it for now.
Peace.
xx
Ella
Comment, vote, fan<3 and NOMINATE. Gracias.