"As her tears drip"

[December 16th, 2021]

"Yo, that roasted fish was toast!" Giselle said before chuckling. "Haha, get it??" She added more cringe to her pun.

Lucy shook her head. It was 8am in the morning and Aurora was still asleep. They let her sleep as Sean advised them to and started preparing breakfast by themselves.

They thought they'd wake her up by the time breakfast would be ready.

Now, what did mother-nature have to offer for these aspiring campers?

That's where home-girl Emilia walked in. She felt refreshed after yesterday's couple walk, willing to do almost everything.

The boys decided to fish while the girls tried preparing breakfast. Today, they needed a heavier breakfast and a brunch for the little hike they were going to do.

What would they need for a heavier breakfast?

Emilia took both the girls with her in the forest to stow anything they might find in the large buckets. It was their second day here, but Emilia wanted to gather more than enough things so they might have free time for tomorrow's breakfast and lunch.

Dinner was already covered with all that fish. But they couldn't eat fish three times a day.

Emilia walked around the bushes looking at the ground.

"I'm sure I saw them somewhere." She had observed her share during the walk.

She pointed at the yummy fungus that she found behind a shrub.

"How does mushroom soup sound?" She asked the girls.

"You sure it's not poisonous?" Lucy asked in concern.

"We'll find out." Emilia sat down and plucked the plumpy fungus to reveal it's mycelium. She looked closely around it, then under its stem, its cap as well. She then placed it in the basket.

"I used to be in a mycology club." She clarified so the girls won't have doubts about the mushrooms.

"Ah!" They nodded together, acknowledging her smartness.

Emilia wasn't a bad company afterall. The Andersons were full of surprises!

She investigated each mushroom carefully by looking closely at their gills, cap, stem etc. She didn't pluck some, indicating they were poisonous. Their basket was soon full of delightful fungus.

"Alright, Giselle. Take the basket back and boil half of it." Emilia advised. "Lucy, come along."

Now that the mushrooms were done, she needed something for her sweet tooth. Fruits would do the trick!

She remembered seeing some berries while walking yesterday.

"All Sean and Aurora found were flowers, while I showed my survival skills!" Emilia's thoughts spoke out loud.

"I hear you." Lucy muttered.

Emilia cleared her throat. They finally reached the berries she had spotted. She collected a bunch of those. She was going to make the best berry dessert ever.

The boys on the other hand were busy fishing. Giselle hadn't arrived yet.

"I'll be right back." Sean said after securing his fishing rod and leaving to go inside the cabin.

He wanted to check up on Aurora. After what happened yesterday, he was going to keep a closer look. They didn't tell anyone about it and she went to bed right after dinner.

He entered the cabin to find out that she wasn't on her bedding. Her pillow was still pushed downwards, indicating she had just woken up. Maybe she was in the bathroom. He still had to make sure.

"Aurora?" He called her name while knocking at the bathroom door.

He soon realized that the bathroom door wasn't locked.

"I-I'm coming in." He opened the door but the bathroom was empty.

He walked up the staircase then through a sliding door, reaching the balcony where she was sitting in the lightest shirt and pants, staring over the fence.

He quickly walked towards her and put his jacket on her.

"Hey…" He called her out slowly before sitting down and trying to look at her, noticing tears on her cheek. "Have you been crying?!" He asked, grabbing her shoulders and pulling her in for a hug. She shook her head from within his boundaries. He could feel her tears though.

"Is the pain that bad? Should I get you painkillers?" Sean asked.

"No." She bluntly replied. "I was just sad that I'm sick. I can't enjoy this trip the way I want to… And I'm sad about it. I don't wanna freak anyone out. I don't wanna… I don't want this." Aurora murmured, still embraced within his grips.

"Aurora, I will make sure we enjoy this. I promise." He assured her.

Aurora shook her head, not in denial but to clean her tears off with his shirt before looking up.

He smiled at her before moving his hand about her cheek to wipe off a tear she had missed.

What was this feeling again? They were.. Too close. She quickly stood up from his loosened grip and ran away inside.

She lightly slapped her flushed cheeks after running downstairs. Her heart would explode if she hadn't retreated. She took deep breaths and went outside where she saw Giselle coming up with a big basket.

"Up already, Sleeping beauty?" Giselle asked while she was helped with the basket by Aurora.

They placed the basket on the cabin floor. Giselle started a fire on the wooden stove and filled a pot with lots of water and salt to boil the mushrooms.

"What're you cooking?" Aurora asked.

"I don't know. I'm just following orders from the headquarters." Giselle said.

"I thought I was the headquarters…"

"Do you know how to cook?"

"No."

"Then keep your mouth shut, mortal! You mustn't disobey the orders!"

They both chuckled. Giselle loved to roleplay. It just made things easier for the dumb people around her to understand. Smarty pants had a funny side. Her humor was frightening.

Suddenly, they heard the boys laughing outside.

"Let's go check the dudes." Giselle mumbled in her mouth.

They both went outside to see utter chaos.

Ethan had fallen in the lake… And Sean seemed to be having fun seeing him suffer in the cold lake. But, Ethan was laughing too so they weren't sure what happened.

It was Detective Aurora's time to shine! Interrogation had begun.

"What's going on you two?" She asked in a thick, dignified adult man voice. There was still the Aurora tint to it.

"Oh, Sir… W-We were just playing around." Sean explained hesitantly.

"Playing around… Or bullying?" Giselle the mastermind stepped in.

"B-B-Playing." Sean stuttered on purpose.

They all laughed as Sean helped Ethan out the lake. He quickly ran inside the cabin as he froze. Poor guy.

The other girls arrived back with a basket full of berries. The basket overflowed with sweets.

The breakfast served was mushroom soup, and berry salad. Emilia sure knew what she was doing!

She also cooked mushroom cream pie on that wooden stove on a pot for brunch. She was talented in many ways.

Lucy helped Emilia pack brunch so they could go for a little hike. They were going to see a cavern that was famous for its small watercourse that overflowed about like a waterfall.

They packed their daypacks with essentials. At first, Sean had advised Aurora to just stay put in the cabin but she insisted on joining.

Their hike was going to be 2 hours long to reach there then 2 hours to come back. They had already prepped dinner, and just had to cook the fish when they came back.

Ethan had found the new talent of being able to cook the best roasted fish. Maybe both Ethan and Emilia were meant for each other, considering how good they cooked.

The hike didn't feel that long. These youngsters were still full of stamina, considering how fast they reached the cavern.

"So the rumors were true." Giselle muttered.

"They weren't rumors, Giselle." Sean corrected her. "They were tour reports."

The cavern wasn't too deep. Almost like a bear's den. Maybe it was, until cruel humans found it.

The little waterfalls built up several watercourses. It was a perfect picnic spot. Unless some bear eats them for dinner.

They had brunch on that specific picnic spot. The mushroom cream pie was delightful.

They returned back and roasted the fish as well. While roasting the fish, they sat around the fire in a circle.

"Campfire stories!!!" Emilia excitedly suggested.

Of course, it was their last night here. Campfire stories were a must.

"I'll start since I gave the idea." Emilia announced before clearing her throat. "I'll tell you a scary one that happened to me and Adam once." She added.

She grabbed her phone and turned on the flashlight, placing it right under her chin to create the atmosphere.

"Once upon a time when I used to be in middle-school, I had to stay late because I was the CR and had some work to do. I hadn't told at home so Sean came over to pick me up. All the lights were off and he didn't know my classroom."

"I don't remember this." Sean muttered.

"Shh! It's because you switched later." She clarified. "Anyhow, he reached my classroom as Adam. I don't know how Adam knew of my classroom. But he reached it. At that time, only Adam, me and a security guard were at the school."

Everyone paid attention to her story.

"I was finally done with my work." She continued. "So Adam decided to escort me back home. We left my classroom and I had to use the restroom. So I went inside, right? But when I came back, Adam wasn't there." She built up the suspense.

"Then?" Sean asked, not being able to remember anything.

"Then I searched for him but he wasn't anywhere. So, I came back home alone and he was there, as Sean. I asked mom and she said he never left the house...." Emilia finished the story.

"Wait, that's from that one time you went crazy about how I went to pick you up but I actually didn't go?" Sean understood. "Oh."

"That's kinda creepy though. Did you ever find out what was up?" Lucy asked.

"When I told the principal, we checked the CCTVs… Guess what?"

The suspense arose.

"Only I was shown."

"She's making this up." Sean laughed. "But good story."

"I'm not making it up!!"

The siblings were sweet, and the story was good. Aurora hoped so much that this day wouldn't end. But sadly, every day does.

[December 16th, 2020]

She couldn't recall any event from this day.