2-5

I stopped from where I am earlier, and made about 3 round trip of walking along the wall. Shit! I am so bored; I have to look for something else to do.

I went inside the wall, trying to figure out what to do. As I scan around the compound thinking of something extravagant or at least something to do for crying out loud. I looked at the other 5 houses and thought that I haven't been inside of them.

THAT'S RIGHT! I can go and do a thorough search on the other houses.

Suddenly, a tall and fat figure came into view; he has curly hair, dark skin which shows his fare exposure of sunlight and a walking pattern as if he is lifeless and dejected as he wiped the fog that is on his eye glasses. James came out of the estate, just in time; I should call him and make him tag along as well.

I called out to James.

"JAMES!"

He approached and tilted his head in puzzlement; confused as to why he is suddenly being called out of nowhere.

"Want to explore the other houses and grab some stuff in it?" I declared my proposition,

"Ohh… That's sounds fun. Sure, I'll tag along with you." James sure looked amazed at my proposition. Nice, now I have assembled a party of two, it would be best if I can recruit more mercenaries to join my party.

Just as I was about to scan around the vicinity, another guy came into view as I tried to survey my surroundings; a tall guy, a little bit chubby with brown skin that resembles a three in one coffee, his expression is light and lively added with his innocent looking appearance. Wesley came in from outside the wall.

I continued my search and stumble upon the sight of Jane and Nadia going out the estate. I called out to them as well too.

"WESLEY! JANE! NADIA!"

The three of them approached us with the same look as James had earlier.

"What is it Daryl?" Wesley asked,

"Want to join us exploring the houses and hoard some stuff in it as well?" I re-declared my proposition to them,

"Oh. Sure, it sounds like fun." Jane happily agreed,

"Yeah! It sounds really fun!" Wesley overjoyed,

"How about it Nadia?" I asked Nadia, hoping that she'll accept my search request,

"Hmm… Sure, I don't have anything to do in particular anyway." She agreed with disinterest

"Wait… What if the owners come back and found their house with traces of burglary?" Jane asked worriedly,

"Well, it's not like it is our fault for leaving their houses unlocked. If a house is unlocked without anyone inside it just means that it's inviting thief and us, hoarders!" I gave a resound rebuttal.

Quest Accepted! Now that we are a party of five, then the search will be livelier and not lonesome.

"We should start with that house over there." I pointed to the farthest house beside the estate.

We started walking to the house that I pointed out. We reached the house and now standing at its supposedly front door.

"We came to this house yesterday…" Nadia said, her words were not directed to anyone,

"What did you find?" Wesley asked,

"Nothing… We didn't go inside so we didn't find anything. Once we knew that there was no one who is going to answerfor a good amount of time, we just returned and went to the estate." Jane answered Wesley's question instead of Nadia.

I opened the door and before we began our search, we needed to discuss on how we should start it with.

"We should split up." Jane suggested,

"Huh?! NO!" I immediately protested the instant Jane suggested a stupid idea,

"Why's that? Isn't it more efficient to just split up?" Nadia tilted her head in bewilderment,

"Maybe he's just scared of the dark, like Sheila. Hm?" James teased me,

"No! I'm not scared of the dark at all. Heck, you could even say that I am nyctophilic myself. And yes, it's more efficient and would cost less time and if we do that we'll finish searching all the houses in no time, then what? We don't have anything else to do anymore. It's better if we take our time and just enjoy the 'NOW'" I said as I emphasized the last word, even in RPG games, the party stays and moves together so incase a battle shows up, everyone will evenly receive experience points, now that is more efficient,

"You're saying it as if we are going to get stuck here for a good amount of time." James said,

"Well we could be. But if we are together and then we stumble upon something that will give as a lead to our current location then isn't it more note-worthy to discuss about it and try blending our opinions and ideas?" I reasoned,

"Yeah, Daryl is right. We can discuss the things that we find and give our insight to it. We might even produce a convincing answer." Wesley added, thank you Wesley for your support.

Everyone agreed to the notion and didn't probe any further as we started to move, first and foremost is the living room.

We opened every drawer we could find and looked for something interesting. I have found nothing that is of any significance or use. Well, it's not like you'd find anything interesting in the living room because come on, it's a living room.

Unlike the estate that we are staying at, all the other houses only have one floor so it's not really a hassle to search the entire house. We continued further to the kitchen and again, open any drawers we could find. On the way to the kitchen I found an item that is very useful, I could say I found our inventory donkey.

"Guys! We could use this!" I happily exclaimed as I pointed to the cart,

"Hmm… That could be used, that way we won't be seen with our hands full." Jane agreed,

I hastily grabbed the cart's handle and gave it to James and continued on to the kitchen. The kitchen is full of drawers and as well as full of goods. I opened one of its drawers and I saw something heavenly, GUMMY BEARS! This house is very nice.

"Wesley, Wesley. Come quickly!" I called out to Wesley who is also a lover of gummy as my eyes sparkled in amazement,

"What is it? What is it?" Wesley hastily came to where I am at,

"Look at this!" I puffed my chest with confidence as I presented to him a very fine good,

"ahhh! GU-GUMMY BEARS!" It looks like Wesley has the same face as mine.

We hoarded every container and every pack of gummy bears and placed it on the cart. We continued our search, hoarded every food; mostly junk food, we could find in each drawer. It looks like there is only one drawer left; everyone is starting to move on.

"Daryl, leggo."Nadia called,

"Wait for me. This is the last drawer." I said yet they still left me behind.

As I immediately scan the inside of the drawer, the drawer doesn't have anything worthwhile; I better catch up with them. So I exited the kitchen and gone to the path to the next room. I can hear their voices in the next room though, it is vague but it is audible.

As I continued walking, I came across a peculiar door; it looks like it's going to the basement. I slowly opened it, it creaks as the opening widens. I peeked my head to the inside of the door and saw a stairs going down, though the contents below is not visible; the illumination outside this supposedly basement door can't reach the very ends of the stairs. Just staring at the darkness below gave me an eerie feeling, I may like staying in the dark but this place is giving off a very scary atmosphere, the echoing sound of a dripping dewdrop and this feeling like the basement is oozing off miasma that sends shivers down my spine, I better just leave this be and continue on to where the others at.

I went to where the others at. They were rummaging through the drawers and cabinets of the room.

"Ohh Look at here!Panties!" James shouted out in the open and throws the panties up high to the ceiling,

"haha really James?" Jane laughs,

"Hey, guys, did you check the basement door I just passed by on?" I asked out of the open, if they have already searched inside it then that's fine,

"Door? We didn't saw any door that leads into the basement…" Nadia answered as she tilted her head with a puzzling look,

"Really? You just passed by it. I opened it and it was so dark and scary." I exclaimed exaggeratedly,

"I thought you weren't scared of the dark? We got a liar over here." James teased,

"I'm not… But it gave off a different feeling to it, like 'if you enter the total darkness, you might end up in another world full of horrors' kind of feels." I said while exaggerating the details of what I saw,

"Hmm… Where is it?" Jane asked, she is very interested to know where it is,

"It's in here, come." I said, pointing a direction to where the door is,

Everyone followed me outside the room and gone to where the peculiar basement door is.

"It's in… here… huh?" Where is the door? It should be in here, the door that I just went half way in is gone and no trace of it is left, what's left is just your typical wallpaper and a wall.

I tapped the wall but it's acoustic is not giving off a hollow echo sound which means this wall is just a one sided wall that leads to outside and no more extension behind it. I scratched my head with a problematic look.

"Well where is it?" Jane asked again,

"It's supposed to be in here." I said while hastily touching the wall where the peculiar basement door is supposed to be,

"Are you joking with us Dar?" Wesley asked with disinterest,

"No! I am sure there was a door here. Where did it go?" I asked worriedly and confusedly,

"Maybe you're high Dar." Nadia teased,

"What?! No I am not high. Don't tell me the gummy bears are some psychedelic-induced drug chewable or something." I reasoned,

"You're tired…" James added,

"Tired?! Why would I be tired? Anyway, I know what I saw!" I exclaimed with frustration,

"I don't think Daryl is lying here." Jane said,

"I'm not lying." I whined,

"Oookay… Let's say we believe you and there is a basement door here. When did you saw it and what did you saw in it?" Jane asked,

"About 2 minutes ago. Time says… 7:02 so around 7:00, according to the Pilipino time anyway. I only saw the stairs leading below but if you ask me what's below is, I don't know, I only saw complete darkness. I heard dewdrops, does that count?" I said as I looked at the time of my phone and explain thoroughly, trying to be convincing,

"If Daryl is telling the truth about that basement door then it should have something in it." Nadia thought as she placed a hand on her chin.

Their faces are filled with doubts, I can't blame them for not believing me on this since I don't have any evidence to show, though, I still don't know how the basement door disappeared. I'm starting to believe the supernatural elements that Jefferson theorized.

Is this place some 'Minecraft' that an Enderman grabbed the door and just 'poof' gone? If this is some kind of 'Minecraft' then I don't even want to know what's going to appear in the dark as the day turns night…

"We should continue our search for now." I said to them, there's no point in waiting for a flower to bloom knowing we don't even know when it will bloom, if ever that door shows up again then we could search it in but if not then that's fine,

Though, on the other side, like in 'Divine Divinity', such kind of places like the secret basement could be home for treasures but also a home for bosses so let's just leave it as is for now.

"It's going to get dark soon, we should better return to the estate." Jane suggested,

We all seem to accept Jane's suggestion and go along with it. We continued on to the estate with the cartwheel along with us.

As we entered the door of the estate and into the living room, everyone is somehow gathered together. As all of us gave off a puzzling look, Jane broke the silence first with a question.

"Why are you all gathered here?" Jane asked in the opened,

"The sun is about to set yet Kevin and others haven't come back yet." Gregory worried,

"We better find them." Claire suggested,

The people seem to look hesitant, their eyes are saying 'yes, let's find them' but they seem to be holding their brakes and would not go along with it.

"I… We should." Gregory seemed to have a doubt but he regained his composure and now looked determine.

"I think we can't…" Nadia murmured with eyes cast downward,

"We don't even know the place; we'd get lost as much as they are." Jefferson debunked the idea,

"Then what should we do?" Gregory seemed desperate for a suggestion, as if he's willing to act any suggestion even if it's stupid and silly,

"The only thing we can do is wait… It's not like we can do anything anyway." Jane replied,

"I just hope they are alright." Wesley looked concerned,

As all of them seem to be worried, the faces of me and Jefferson seem to not mind at all.

"Hey, Son, why do you look like you're not affected at all?" Sheila whined at Jefferson,

"It's not like we can do anything about it. It's useless to cry over spilled milk." Jefferson replied,

"What about you Dar! They're your friends too, right? Should you look a little worried?" Sheila's whining jumped to me,

"Hmm? Oh! I am worried, like very but I think I have an idea?" I told Sheila then I whispered in the open,

"What's that?" Steph looked at me with disinterest,

"Let's light a fire…" I suggested.

Everyone stayed silent as they looked shocked while staring at me, as if they could not believe such idea would be coming from me. Is this idea wrong in so many ways? I didn't think I gave off a misunderstanding.

"Are you saying we should give them prayer because they're dead?" Gregory outburst,

"Daryl, is that you?" Troy questioned my personality,

"Don't say such thing Daryl." Venus feeling scared to my motive,

"No! No! That is not what I am trying to say…" I reasoned,

"Shame on you Daryl, shame on you!" Johnny exaggeratedly shook his finger at me,

"Daryl went bat-shit crazy! First, the door and now this!" James exclaimed,

"Come on! Hear me out here!" I'm still trying to reason with them.

As everyone looked disappointed at me, Jane seems to get what I am trying to say as her face went from disappointed to realization.

"Everyone, listen up! I think what Daryl is trying to say is that we should make a fire so that we can send Carlo, Kevin and Ryan a smoke signal if not, a light source to follow. Am I right, Dar?" Jane expound my intention as she tries to confirm her thoughts with mine,

"YES! That's what I'm trying to say. Thank you Jane." I thank Jane for the helping hand,

"Ohhh…" Everyone seem to get what I'm trying to say,

"We better place the fire at the center so that the fire won't spread throughout. The place is a forest so we better be careful." Gregory started to explain the procedure after he understood my intention,

"Where are we going to get firewood?" Nadia asked,

"Hmm… Nadia… We are in the middle of the forest." Gregory sarcastically said in a poker face like manner,

"Can you make a Maple tree into firewood?" James asked,

"I don't know, I am not a firewood expert." Gregory exclaimed,

"Sticks and twigs would do. I think…" Jane answered,

"Okay! We better assign task. Daryl, Nadia, Sheila, James and me will be gathering sticks and twigs." Johnny assigned the people,

"Jasmine, Kristen and Gregory for dinner, Wesley, Jefferson and Troy for the rock circle and Venus, Steph, Claire, and Jane will be assigned for… What are they going to do again?" Johnnycontinued but seems to have no clue as for the impromptu tasks assigned,

"How about to clear off the weeds, bushes and grass surrounding the bonfire?" Kristen suggested,

"That's what I'm trying to say." Johnny confidently agrees as if Kristen's suggestion what just at the tip of his tongue.