The outhouse in the woods - photo taken by Jill Henry in Flickr⬆️➡️
Song: Soothsayer (instrumental version) - Zack Hemsey (Nomad)
Word Count: 2271
"Did you guys bring me out here to murder me, because I feel like this is the exact situation where I would be murdered."
"Red, we didn't bring you here to murder you."
"Maim me?"
"No."
"Eat me?"
"No."
"Sell me into a sex trade?"
"Wha-Red, no!"
I grinned as Eiden and Akia glared at me, shoving my hands into the pockets of my jacket. "Are you sure, because-"
"Red, if you start quoting A Cabin in the Woods, I will murder you."
I frowned, huffing. Akia knew that I would randomly quote that Drew Goddard film ever since I saw it, so she was prepared whenever I started to talk. Eiden, on the other hand, had never seen it, so he didn't know any of the quotes. Needless to say, he was quite confused.
"Red, I thought you hated horror movies?" He looked at me with an eyebrow raised.
"I do."
"Then why do you like A Cabin in the Woods?"
"I don't."
"But..then why did you watch it?"
"Chris Hemsworth."
Akia let out a laugh, shaking her head. "Now that is a whole ass mood."
I grinned, looking at Eiden. "See, your sister agrees with me."
He frowned, humming. "But that doesn't make sense. You could say that about a Marvel film. You know, Thor?"
"I like that movie."
"Have you even seen it?"
"No."
"Then how can you say you like it?"
"Chris Hemsworth," Akia and I both responded.
Eiden huffed, shaking his head, stomping forward as Akia and I laughed behind him. Eventually, Akia sped up to walk by her twin, both of of them leading me through the woods. Moakdé Forest was just outside the city and was one largest forests in North America. Apparently there is a Gervais haven there that everyone is gathering at for training.
"So Yaya still didn't put those markers up," Eiden mumbled, glaring at the trees around him.
"Apparently not. We tell her to do it every time we see her, and here we are." Akia apparently wasn't too happy either, a complete change to her mood from earlier.
"Who's Yaya?" I asked, quickening my pace a little bit so I was walking right behind them.
"You'll meet her later," Eiden mumbled, continuing to look around.
I sighed, continuing to follow the twins. I obviously didn't know where the haven was, so I couldn't help them search. Kicking at the grass and twigs as we passed by, I sighed again, bumping right into Eiden when he stopped. "Ow! Geez!" I shouted, rubbing my nose.
"Be quiet," Eiden hissed, shoving my hand down and covering my mouth with his. I just glared at him, going to rub the sore spot again, but he just pushed my hand away. "Stop." Instead of just moving my hand, I glared down at my nose, which still hurt. Eiden groaned, going to rub my nose for my so I'd stop annoying him. I flashed a victorious smile that was hidden underneath his hand.
"What's going on with you two?" Eiden and I looked over as Akia re-emerged. I raised an eyebrow, confused as to where she went. With a sigh, she pulled me away from her brother and continued to lead us through the trees.
Walking a bit faster, Eiden moved beside his sister. "Did you see anything?"
"Nope, were all good." She shook her head.
"Where'd you even go?" I asked.
"I went to look around and see if were being followed."
"Were we?"
"As I just said, we're good."
"Cool," I mumbled, continuing to follow behind them. Looking around the forest, I huffed, wishing I brought my camera with me. There were so many chances for good photographs, but Eiden and Akia made me leave all of my stuff in the car.
My eyes widened as soon as I saw an outhouse just sitting in between the trees. I recognized it, I took a picture of it a couple months ago when the leaves had just begun to fall. It looked fine then, but now I'm not so sure. I realized that the twins were leading me towards it, causing me to stop dead in my tracks. "I knew it," I gasped, staring at the rickety wooden building.
"We're not going to murder you, Red," Eiden spoke, pushing at my back to try and get me to go forward.
"I don't believe you! I'm not going in there!"
The siblings groaned, pushing me into the shack. The building was much smaller on the inside, not exactly fitting three teenagers. I gagged as I glanced at the well-used toilet, hiding my face into Eiden's back. I refused to look up, even when a loud noise echoed in my ears. It sounded like creaking rusty chains, which wasn't exactly the most pleasant sound.
"Red?" I grabbed tighter onto Eiden's shirt as Akia poked my back. "Red, you can look up now."
"No," I mumbled, burrowing my face further in between my friend's shoulder blades.
Akia sighed, pulling me away from her brother. "See, it's alright."
I frowned, looking fearfully back at the toilet. Well, at least where the toilet was. The whole seat was lifted up and connected to the wall behind it, revealing a ladder down to a concrete hallway. "You keep saying that you don't want to murder me, but you aren't exactly helping your case."
"Geez, Red, Shut up about the murder!"
"How can I when the police could find my body in the sewer pipes?"
"Red-"
"You know, there was a hotel who found a girl in their water tank once. People were saying their water tasted weird and was a weird color, so the staff went to look and found her floating in there. Apparently she was acting weird in the elevator-"
"Red, shut up and go down the ladder."
"But I don't-"
"Go down the fucking ladder before I push you down there and fulfill your murder dreams."
I crossed my arms, raising a brow at Akia. "You don't have to be so rude." At first, I wasn't going to budge, but I also didn't want a wolf-human Akia to slaughter me, so I opted for the safer option and climbed down the ladder.
"It still hasn't gotten any cleaner, has it?" I heard Eiden mumbled to his sister as he descended the steps after me.
Akia climbed down next, closing the toilet-table-roof-door as she did so. "No, I guess not."
I slowly turned around to face the twins. "What does that mean?" I asked as my anxieties slowly began to set in.
Eiden approached me, resting a hand on my shoulder as Akia stepped around us and grabbed my hand. "Well, that's simple. The Gervais haven't focused on this hallway. It's the last thing on their minds, at the moment. They do, however, focus on this-"
With a wave of his hand, Eiden motioned towards Akia, who was focusing her eyes on the blockade at the end of the wall. It wasn't concrete like the rest of its surroundings, but it did look like it. "Tada~" Akia sang as the barrier opened.
I pressed my lips together and swallowed nervously, looking left and right at the twins. With a huff, they pushed me forward into a...clearing?
What?
I looked around the grassy space, taking in the caved slopes that set it beneath the rest of Moakdé Forest. There was absolutely no sign of this from above or else everyone would know. Many buildings were set into the hills, leaving the circular center of everything except for people, birds, wolves, and a gigantic tree. The thick trunk was directly in the center of the haven, the branches traveling up and curving to form a dome above the entire area.
"The Oak forms a barrier, see?" Eiden briefly explained, drawing my attention to him. He pointed above us, where I could just barely see a golden shimmering layer between the curved and intertwined branches. "It looks like a normal hill on the outside, but inside, were protected by this magic."
"Woah," I breathed, spinning in circles as I stared at the forcefield. This whole place looked like it came right out of a storybook. "And what magician came up with that?"
"Your father actually." I looked at Akia, raising an eyebrow.
"Really?" Akia was about to respond, but was cut off by another voice.
"So this is the girl we're all going to die over."
The three of us turned to face the voice and I came face to face with a tanned chest, covered with a layer of sweat. And, might I say, damn those abs. I looked up to meet the eyes of a man. I swallowed when I saw he was already glaring down at me, arms crossed. I wasn't tiny, I was five-foot-five, but this man was at least a foot taller than me. Geez, he was pretty hot, too. He had long-ish, curly brown hair and piercing hazel eyes that were giving me far too intense of a look. His jaw was strong and chiseled, not even a hint of stubble adorning it, but there were a good amount of moles scattered across his tan face. Needless to say, I'm attracted him.
"She's puny, why the hell are we working so hard to help her?"
Well, with that personality, he is suddenly a major turn off.
"And who the fuck is this guy?" I remarked, kind of pissed off with how he's talking. I crossed my arms, mirroring him, meeting his glare without wavering. He's still really hot, though.
The guy smirked, scoffing and rolling his eyes. "So the goddess of life and death has a mouth to her. Doesn't change the fact that she's more or less..." he waved his hands around, struggling to find the right word, "irrelevant."
Rude. "Alright, asshole, listen here-"
"Cap, just leave her alone," Akia interrupted me, stepping in front of this "Cap" and pushing me behind her. "If you're going to bother her, do it tomorrow."
"Or preferably, don't do it at all." Eiden shoved himself between the group and crossing his arms, staring at the man with pure hatred.
"What do you expect?" Cap chuckled, looking around the siblings and smirking at me. "I'm supposed to be protecting that. It looks like the can't even tell her left from her right."
"Casper, just shut up!" Another voice joined in on the conversation. I turned to see another man approaching us, one that was definitely closer in age than the other asshole-ish twenty-something-year-old. He had dark, spiked hair and brown eyes with a much softer jawline than the other. Like the former, he was shirtless, but Cap was a lot more ripped than him.
Red, shut up. Cap is a douchebag, don't be attracted to him.
"Casper, you're seriously being so annoying!" The young man continued.
Cap, well, Casper, laughed. "Look who's talking, squirt."
If that guy's a squirt, then I must be smaller than a speck of dust. He easily towered over my small frame, but was still shorter than both Eiden and Casper. I feel bad for Akia, she's only five feet tall.
The smaller man rolled his eyes, turning to me. "Hi," he grinned, extending his hand, "my name's Levi. I'm this douche's brother."
I reached between Akia and Eiden to shake Levi's hand, smiling back. "Red."
"Is that actually your name?" Casper remarked, causing Eiden, Akia, Levi, and I to glare over at him.
"Yes, actually, it is," I seethed. I'm starting to get really mad at this guy.
"Who gave it to you, your art teacher?"
"She was actually given her name by a Barrin couple who found her drenched in blood and nearly dead after a Bathilde attack," Akia deadpanned, scowling at the man.
I stared at her for a moment with wide eyes, before turning to Eiden. "Really?" I hissed, confused at the confession. He just shook his head, motioning back to the slightly surprised Casper.
"Oh, wow," he gasped, looking genuinely alarmed before he grinned with that annoying smirk again. "That has to be the stupidest reason for a name I have ever heard."
"Good lord, Cap, you need to stop," Levi spoke up, reminding us all that he was still there. "At least give her a day to settle down before you start bullying her."
"Again, how about you don't bully her at all?" Eiden and Akia spoke in synch, staring at the man with crossed arms.
With a sigh, Akia grabbed my hand and began to pull me away from the two men, Eiden trailing behind. "Have a good day, boys."
With a glance back to a frowning Cap and a waving Levi, I followed behind my friends, struggling to hid how much Casper had really affected me with his words. Akia gave my a side hug as Eiden began to lead us, the girl rubbing my arm soothingly.
"Ignore him," she whispered, glancing back at the two men. "He's just a cranky asshole, he's like that with everyone."
"Really?" I looked up at Akia, tears pricking my eyes. I grinned slightly when she nodded, my mood slowly beginning to brighten.
"Anyway, here's where we will be staying!" I followed Akia's hand as she waved it towards a log cabin, well, more like a huge log mansion. My jaw dropped as I stared at it, my eyes widening.
"Holy shit."