''So what time is the investigation?'' I ask as we devour our breakfast.
''It's tonight at 7 I think'' Easton says.
''What why tonight?''
''Because that's when the spirits come out and the noises are heard''
''What, what noises?''
''I'm not sure but Mr.Brown said that the spirits make noises letting us know that they're nearby at night''
''Oh'' is all I can say.
We all decide to take a walk after and explore this part of the forest and hang out for the day.
''Could you guys believe we've been out here for two months already?'' Easton says after a few minutes of silence.
''Yeah it's crazy'' I say.
I can't imagine how many things have happened over the last two months and they all involve Hero. I reminisce about everything that happened over the last two months, when I met him, how much he scared me for our first few encounters and the things we did together. We have fought so much over the last two months and I feel like we fight more than we agree. I was so happy when he let me in and told me a bit about his childhood that made me understand him a bit more and I'm hoping he tells me more but I'm not going to push him when he's ready to talk he will, he just needs time. He's the type of guy to not tell anyone anything about his life whether it's his friends or the girls who he messes around with. Wait, does Brooke know the things that he told me last night about his family? I doubt, he doesn't look like he told anyone this but the two of them seem pretty close so maybe she does know. What if she knows everything? What if she knows way more than I do? The thought about her knowing everything about him and his childhood sends a burn through my stomach. I try my best to erase thoughts of them together in my mind.
''Sia?'' Kate looks at me and I haven't realized I've drifted off for so long.
''Oh yeah sorry''
''So are you coming?'' Easton asks.
''Coming to what?'' I ask unaware of what they were talking about for the last 5 minutes.
''To the dinner on Friday''
''Oh''
''Savanna's coming back this week and wants to have dinner with us on Friday, so do you wanna come?'' He asks.
''Oh yeah, of course, I would love to meet her'' I smile.
We walk the place for about another hour then we finally turn to head back. We spend the rest of the evening talking and hanging out inside the tent. We then go outside and hang out with the rest of the group who are gathered around the fire. It's now 5 as we make our way outside and I remember that we have to leave at 7. Everyone engages in their own conversation while we roast marshmallows and eat dinner.
''Okay everyone we'll be leaving at 7 so go get ready now'' Mr. Miller instructs us.
We make our way inside the tent and get ready for our investigation tonight. It's now 7 as we are about to leave, I pray that this investigation has nothing to do with the masked men and if I had known about it earlier I would've warned Hero. Wait, what if he's out here now? What if they see him? What if they are out there right now and are doing their ritual thing that they usually do at nights? Wait I just remembered that they're having a party tonight which means that they won't be out here, thank god.
Is Hero going to the party? Of course, he is, he told them that he was last night and told me that I can't go. And of course Brooke will be there when she said that Monday night parties are the wildest I wonder what she means by that and the look on her face when she said it told me that it's something horrible, it's horrible for me but amazing for them. I didn't know what she was talking about and I wanted to ask Hero but I forgot with all our fighting. I really wanna go and see exactly what she means, and see her and Hero. Will they both be all over each other tonight?
The group instantly stops and I accidentally hit into the guy in the front of me. Two of the investigators walk up a bit. There is something on the ground, it's brown and blends in with the dirt on the ground, it's dilapidated state has caused it to look rusty and covered in cobwebs. What is that? Mr. Miller walks over to it and picks it up from the ground, he informs us that it's an MP3 player. What would an old MP3 player be doing out here in the middle of nowhere? I don't know why it surprises me, I've seen much more shocking and scarier things than this in this forest. He presses play and it starts to play. It starts off as slow and silent with scratching noises then continues into loud crackling, a devilish play after followed by a warning.
''Turn back there's nothing here and there will never be anything. After your two months don't come back and if you do we will make sure to give you what you came for. Get out!''
After the warning we hear thunderous screeching followed by animal cries for help then deafening apparitions screaming then it instantly cuts off on the MP3 player. Everyone is breathing heavily and their faces are all flashed with horror.
''Everyone let's go'' Ms. Wilber says and pushes us to turn back.
Mr. Mayer grabs the Mp3 player and we all turn to head back when a huge ax flies out of nowhere and lands on the tree at the back of us. Ms. Wilber immediately pushes us back and we all run back to the tent except for Mr. Miller and Mr. Mayer as they both ran off in the direction of where the ax came from. We all get in the tents and zip it shut while we get under the covers. I'm not afraid like everyone else is, in fact, I'm worried. I know that the masked men did that, they knew where we were coming and they planned that to scare us off.
I'm so worried that Mr. Miller and Mr. Mayer might see something or find something what if they did? Oh god why do they keep doing this, don't they know that these people are looking for them more than anything so why would they do that? What if they found them or even worse what if they just found one of them and what if it's Hero? Oh my god, I put both my hands through my hair as the thoughts cloud my mind.
''It's okay don't worry we'll be safe'' Kate tells me then hugs me.
I hug her back and she tells me that we'll be safe and together. She thinks I'm scared of what happened tonight and thinks I'm afraid that they'll come after us but she doesn't know what's really on my mind and I don't think she ever will. Ms. Wilber comes into our tent and stays for a while, she tells us that there's nothing to worry about and they have been faced with similar things like this before while leading an internship. Kate and I hug each other and get under the covers and turn the lamp off. We talk for a bit before Kate heads over to her spot as we both start to feel sleepy.
I wake up to someone whispering my name close to me over and over again.
''What are you doing here?'' I ask him as I slowly rub my eyes.
''Let's go'' He says without telling me why he's here.
''Where are we going?'' I ask him and he doesn't answer.
''Hurry up and change'' he commands.
I slowly get up and look in my bag for a change of clothes. I pull out many clothes but he disapproves and pulls out a short skirt and a top. The skirt isn't too short, it reaches me the middle of my thighs. I stare at him with a smile indicating that I need some privacy to change but he doesn't seem to get it instead he just stares back at me expressionless.
''Some privacy please'' I say and turns and walks out of the tent.
After I change I head back out to see him standing there on his phone. He quickly puts it away when he sees me. I have my jacket and my purse in my hand and I'm ready to go wherever he's taking me.
''Wait I forgot something'' I tell him and run back to the tent.
I pull out the box that holds my necklace inside and put it on. I never wanted to take it off since I got it but I have to so Kate or anyone won't see it and ask me a whole bunch of questions about it that I won't be able to answer them. I return back to him and he notices the sparkling silver that covers my once bare neck and smiles. I follow behind him and we finally get to his car.
''Where are we going?'' I ask.
''You'll see'' He says and keeps his focus on the road.
''I thought you were going to the party tonight?''
''Not really feeling like it'' He says.
''Did you guys do those things tonight, did you put the MP3 player there with the recorded voice note and threw the ax in the tree next to us?'' I ask.
''Yeah but don't worry they won't know who did it''
''Yes they will they're sending it back to the lab to get it checked for fingerprints and stuff'' I tell him.
''So they won't find anything'' He assures me with an expressionless face.
He's not worried one bit unlike me, I'm freaking out while he couldn't care less.
''What'd you do today?'' He asks.
''Nothing really we just hung out for most of the day'' I say.
''We?'' He asks and looks at me.
''Yeah Kate and Easton'' I say and he puts his hand on my thigh as he continues to drive.
''What did you do?'' I ask.
''Nothing really just work and stuff'' He replies.
''Work?''
''Yeah''
''What do you do?'' I inquire.
''Virtual Assistant'' He says softly.
''Oh'' I say.
''So you work from home?'' I ask and he nods.
''How is it?'' I ask hoping he doesn't get mad.
''I'm experienced so the money's great and I get to do my best work from home'' He brags and I decide not to ask any more questions although I have so much more I just want answers too but I have a feeling that he'll get annoyed and we'll end up arguing again if I do.
Hero doesn't really talk that much and I observed that from the first time I met him but I feel like we're getting to know each other a bit more and he's talking more about himself which I love although he really doesn't like whenever I ask him questions, he gets really annoyed and looks mad so I decided to drop the questions now.
He likes to ask me questions and there's a demand in his voice that I have to answer him and truthfully but he doesn't like when I do it to him.
The drive feels like least an hour and I turn my head and look out the window until I close my eyes for a while.
''We're here'' he says as he opens the car door.
He opens the door, unbuckles my seatbelt and holds both of my hands as I get out of the car. I get out of the car and look at the building in front of me. It's a planetarium, the outside lights are bright and the car park doesn't look too filled. He takes my purse out and holds it in his hand as we walk inside. I've only once been to a planetarium when I was little but not recently. The place is huge, it's a museum and a planetarium in one. He asks me if I wanna see the show first then the museum and I tell him the museum first.
We look through all of the artifacts, sculptures, statues, and paintings and they're all very impressive. I read all of the signs telling us information about almost everything we pass by. I love history and learning about the time before me, the time when our ancestors were around and how they lived their life, it's so riveting to learn about it. I love museums and I spend at least five minutes to 10 minutes by each historical piece in here reading the informative sign about them while staring at each of them with complete amazement. Hero looks a bit bored and just stares at me the whole time and follows me through the museum, he makes fun of many of the statues and calls them ridiculous names making me laugh.
After, he eventually leaves me and walks over to the other room. I've been walking around for almost an hour and I'm ready to see the show now, I look for Hero but there's no sign of him. I finally see him, he focuses on the poster in front of him, it's a huge poster that's almost the size of the entire wall and the room is filled with paintings of the snakes mentioned in the poster. He doesn't seem to notice me as I enter the room so I just walk up behind him.
''You like snakes?'' I ask from behind him, my face inches away from his back and I can smell his scent.
''Yeah'' he responds still looking at the poster.
''You ready to go see the show?'' I ask.
''Yeah'' he says and walks off.
We walk into the darkroom and the show hasn't begun yet but there are a lot of people here, more to the front. I move to sit down in the front with everyone else but Hero pulls me to sit down in the back where it's empty, which I don't like, I don't like sitting down in the back at all I can never focus from the back and I just don't like it. I prefer to sit in the front and listen to everything the teacher or guide is saying while I give my full attention. We look around the room and the guide tells us that the show is about to begin in 5 minutes. I look up and the view is mind-blowing, millions of stars slowly moving in the multicolored galaxy. My eyes are wide and my mouth is open from amazement. I spot a milky way on the left and a shooting star appears out of nowhere making me even more stunned.
This is breathtaking, I've never seen anything like it.
Hero gently turns my face to his with his hand under my chin. We move in closer and before I know it our lips are moving at full speed with each other. He puts his hand through my hair and pulls me closer to him. Our tongues overlap and he sucks in a breath as he kisses me with more hunger and greed. My hand moves from his chest to under his shirt as my hand roams his bare hard chest. I've never done anything like this before I've never made out in a public place, so this is why he wanted to sit down in the back so we could make out. We make out for another hour never breaking away not once for a breath until the guide announces that the show is over.
''Great show wasn't it?'' Hero says as he unlocks his car.
''What do you mean? we barely watched anything'' I say.
''No that show, our show'' he smirks.
I wonder why he brought me here if he just wanted to make out he could've just taken me to his house not to the planetarium because we didn't even watch anything, we just visited the museum which was so much fun then watched the show for about 2 minutes before he started kissing me. He didn't even watch the two minutes while I was watching he was just staring at me.
We drive for another 10 minutes before he stops off at a fast-food restaurant. He eats fast food every day doesn't he ever cook? he doesn't even look like the type to turn on the stove. He tells me to wait in the car and he won't be long as he makes his way inside. He returns almost 10 minutes later with a bag of food in his hand. He gives it to me to hold and I put it in the backseat. As we drive down the road I spot a really nice ice cream dessert shop, the place looks really nice and I beg Hero to stop.