Chapter 30- Birthday plans or no?

I make my way to the bathroom and look for any marks on my skin from last night. I spot 4, three are on my neck and one on my lip. The ones on my neck are purple-blue and the one on my lip is red and my lip is swollen on one side. The marks are all quite visible and they all look like love bites, I have to cover them up as soon as I get to the tent before Kate wakes up.

''Ready?'' he asks as I make my way back to the living room. I put my jacket on and walk past him to the door but he pulls me back again.

He pulls me into a hug, wow he really likes to hug. He wraps both of his hands around me and I put one at the back of his head, just touching his hair while the other is wrapped around his back. I bury my head into his chest and inhale his scent and enjoy the warmth of his body on mine.

''This is how I like to see them, red and swollen'' he says and rubs his thumb along my lips making my breathing become heavier.

After a few minutes of him staring at my lips, he moves to open the door and leads us out. We walk much slower than last time and he looks like he's in a much better mood than before maybe that's because I spent the night with him last night. We walk in silence for the first couple of minutes before he starts to speak.

''So did you miss me last week?'' he asks and I can see a small smile appearing on the corner of his lips as I nod in response.

''I missed you but I tried to forget about you after you said all those horrible things to me, I never wanted to see you again'' I admit.

''I missed you too and also you can try how hard you want but you can't forget about me, it's nearly impossible. You never did things with anyone else ever before other than me and you want more than you want to admit, I mean if I had a boyfriend who looked like Uncle Sam of course I would be looking for some spice outside'' He says and smiles wickedly.

''Excuse me, looking for more spice outside. I should remind you that you came up to me first and haven't left me since and if I was looking for more spice in my life I would be throwing myself at you which I'm not, I was actually hoping never to see you again'' I spit but I don't mean the last part I just said that I was hoping never to see him again, I was actually hoping to see him.

He steps in front of me with his hands in his pockets.

''You don't mean that, that you never want to see me again''

''Yes actually, I was hoping I didn't'' I lie and look up into those bright blue eyes.

He's so much taller than me that I have to look up to talk to him, especially when he's this close to me, with Nelson I just have to look straight ahead and we are face to face because he's only an inch taller than me but Hero is at least 2 feet taller than me.

''Doesn't it get exhausting?'' he asks and I have no idea what he's talking about.

''What does?''

''Pretending like you don't want me when I know you do'' He says and a small smile appears on his face.

I do want him and he knows it but I'm not gonna throw myself at him or give him anything, us making out is the most he's gonna get.

''That's just the way you are, you want things but you're not willing to admit them, you're too shy and quiet'' He continues and I look down of embarrassment.

''But I like you this way, you're like my shy, quiet cute little doll'' He smiles

''Doll, I'm not a doll'' I say and fold my arms across my chest.

''I know you aren't but you look like one, mine'' He says and smiles at me and I can't help but smile back. He then hooks his arm around my shoulder and brings me into him as we continue walking down his dark spooky forest at 5 in the morning.

He just called me his, I say to myself. I'm not his nor do I belong to anyone.

Yes, I do! I belong to Nelson I remind myself not him although I wish I was his.

No, no stop it, get that thought out of your head.

''So what are you gonna do for your birthday?'' he asks after minutes of silence.

''I don't know anything really I guess but my mom and Nelson are coming for the weekend'' I shrug.

''What? They're coming this weekend?''

''Yeah apparently this weekend is visiting weekend so our parents can visit us on Saturday and Sunday''

''Oh''

''What were you gonna do this weekend?''

''Nothing just the usual'' He shrugs.

''Do you like Easton?'' He asks.

Why does he care so much about Easton and I? How does he even know his name? How does he know my name?

''I do but not in the way you're thinking''

''He reminds you of Nelson that's why you like him'' He says and I just sigh and decide to change the subject.

''So how often do they have parties there?''

''A couple of times a week''

''Oh so do you go to all of them'' I ask and he nods.

''Maybe we can go to the next one''

''Stessian I already told you that's not the kind of place you should be''

''Why? It wasn't so bad the last time if you weren't pretending like you didn't know me''

''No you're not going to the party''

''Why?''

''Because it's not a place you should be''

''But your friends seem really nice'' I say and he laughs.

His phone rings before I can get another word out. He pulls it out of his pocket and hits ignore.

''Who was it?''

''Stone''

I hear a noise coming from behind me, it's a thud followed by the rustling of leaves. I get the feeling someone's following us. I turn around and I see nothing but the terrifying forest behind me. I hear the noise again and it sounds like someone's shoe coming in contact with the ground, someone's following us.

''What was that?'' I ask and hug onto Hero. He looks at the back of us and all around then looks at me.

''Nothing, come on'' He says.

''I think someone's following us'' I say.

''No baby just relax, no one's out here but us'' he says and brings me closer to him and continues to walk off, whenever he calls me baby I instantly relax and I start to blush a bit, no one has ever called me baby before, Nelson just calls me Sia.

We finally reach the tent and he stands behind the trees and I take it from there. I have no idea if I should kiss him or hug him so I just stand there while we both awkwardly stare at each other.

''Bye'' He says and I don't say anything instead my arms wrap around him and I feel a bit hurt when he doesn't hug me back, he just puts his arm on my back for less than a second then drops it back down to his side.

Why doesn't he want to hug me? He's the one that always wants to hug all the time.

I look at him then I walk off to the tent. Everyone is still outside as I unzip our tent, I look at him and he waves and I wave back. I watch him turn in his heels and walk off. I slowly and quietly go to my side of the tent. I take out my mirror and my makeup removers wipes and wipe off last night's makeup and immediately try to cover up my love bites.

The makeup totally covers up the marks on my neck but I have no idea how I'm gonna cover up the red mark on my lip. I look for lipstick in my bag but I realize I don't have any, I have liquid lipstick but it's a very light color. I quickly put it on and it covers the marks.

The marks are covered but the right side of my lip is still swollen from his bite, I hope it goes down before Kate wakes up. I check my phone and it's now 6. I lie down in my spot and look up at the ceiling, I slept the best last night than I have in the last week actually last night was the best I've slept since I've met him. I reminisce about our time last night, I wish I didn't have to leave and I wish I could've stayed in his arms forever.

I feel like we fight more than we agree, over last night and this morning we fought twice and they weren't just simple disagreements they were fights, he screamed at me and I screamed at him.

Everything about him is so secretive, he closes off about everything, his life, his friends and everything. I wish he could just open up to me and let me in a bit on his life, I would be grateful for any little bit of information that he gives me but he gives me nothing.

I have to snoop and try to find out things about him, he told me that I could trust him and I believe that one hundred percent but I want him to know that he can trust me too, I mean I keep all of his secrets and I even lie and cover-up for him and he can trust me more than anyone too. I spend the next hour thinking about him and our time last night, I also think about the door and all the secret rooms. He says that all his things are down there, all his personal things from when he moved in but something tells me that there's more.

Behind that door, there's more than just his personal things but I don't know what.

I finally decide to close my eyes and get some rest although I slept the best last night since I've met him.

''Hey good morning'' Kate says.

''Good morning'' I reply.

''You look a bit different'' she says.

''Oh yeah I put some makeup on'' I say

''Oh your lip looks a little swollen, is it okay?''

''Yeah it's fine, I just bit it last night by mistake'' I lie.

''Oh''

We both change our clothes then make our way outside. I just check the time on my phone and I already notice at least 10 notifications appear on the screen. I don't bother checking any, instead, I leave my phone in the tent and make my way outside.

''Hey'' Easton greets us.

''Hey'' I reply.

We make our way to the table where everyone else is gathered. We eat breakfast then walk around and hang out for a bit. The leaders inform us that we won't start the investigation until 12 after we come back from the bathroom. We walk around and talk, Easton tells us how excited he is for Savanna's arrival this week and Kate says how excited she is for Elliot's arrival too and his surprise that he wants to tell her about. I just listen to their conversation and all I can think about, I zone out of the conversation for a while until Easton finally asks me a question that brings me back to the present.

''Is Nelson coming Saturday too?''

''Yeah and Sunday''

''They're coming Sunday too?''

''Yeah for my birthday''

They both stop in their tracks and stare at me. Kate's mouth turns into a huge smile and she jumps and hugs me then Easton joins in.

''Sia why didn't you tell me that your birthday was so close?'' Kate says.

''It's not that big of a deal''

''Yes it is'' She says and breaks away from the hug.

''What are you gonna do?'' Easton asks.

''Nothing I guess it's no big deal''

''Yes it is, it's your birthday'' She says and puts her arm around my shoulder and smile as we walk off.

We make our way back to the tents just in time to head to the bathrooms. We pack up our things and head to the bathroom with the rest of the group.

We walk up the trail and the bathroom isn't so far it's about a 10-minute walk from the tent but the hot sun makes it feel like we've been walking for hours. During my shower, I think about Hero's bathroom and how it would feel to take a shower with him, but then we would both have to be naked and no one's ever gonna see me naked especially him.

I come out of the shower feeling refreshed and ready for the day. We head back down to our tent and the investigators are waiting for us. We follow them and I hope and keep my finger cross that they don't find anything. We walk in the direction where Hero dropped me this morning and everyone stops as if they'd seen a ghost. There are some words carved in the tree, it looks like it was carved using a knife.

*Get out of here before I make you* the words on the tree say. The investigators take multiple pictures and take out their tools to investigate.

''It doesn't have to be from them, it could be from anyone'' one of the female investigators say.

Everyone's eyes look like it wants to pop out of their head and I'm the only one who remains calm and acts like it's nothing. I look around to see if I see anything else and to my left, I spot footprints well shoeprints, they're the same shape as Hero's boots. Oh god. I slowly but quickly run to them while everyone is distracted by the carvings in the tree. I quickly follow them and they stop behind a tree. I take my shoe off and use it to smoothen the dirt and make the footprints disappear. I use my hands for some of them and eventually I get rid of all, I let out a sigh of relief until something makes me jump from behind.

''Sia what are you doing?'' Easton walks up to me.

''Oh uhm nothing I was taking a walk to see if there were any more carvings''

''Oh, did you find any?''

''No''

''Sia, what are you doing? Why are your hands dirty?'' Kate joins us.

''I was just looking to see if I saw any more carvings around here but I didn't and I fell on the dirt while looking'' I lie.

''Oh did you find anything?'' Kate repeats Easton's question.

''Uhm no but we should get back to the group now'' I suggest and we walk back to the group, they didn't like they suspected anything, they just bought what I said and head to back to the group.

Hero needs to be more careful, these people are looking for him and they wanna capture him, he needs to cover up his tracks better. I will do the best I can to help him but he needs to help too.

I dust my hands multiple times trying to get off all the dirt possible. We finally head back to the tents and I'm exhausted.

''I can't believe that they found those carvings, do you think it was them?'' Easton asks me.

''Who?'' I ask.

''The masked men''

''I mean it could be anyone who wrote that, I don't think it's them'' I try to convince him otherwise.

''Yeah that's true''

We head back to the tents and I ask Ms. Wilber if I can walk up to the bathroom and take a shower again, she says I could but I have to carry someone with me so I ask Kate and she agrees to come.