Heading to The Forest (II)
The gang already stopped talking as it was an awkward moment for them all. David breaks the silence, "Do you want to visit the Elmory Wilds, Ben?"
"Isn't that place where people have gone missing?" Ben raised his brow.
"Yes, but we're just going to drive to the outskirts and go back to your home." David answers. "It's for your own good to get things off your mind."
Ben thought for a moment and answered David, "Okay, let's go then. It will be nice before we meet again at Odette's birthday party."
---
"Well, let me get changed and then we can go." Ben switches his gaze between his friends and replies. "Do you all need anything before we go?"
"No, I don't think I need anything, Ben." David shakes his head and answers.
"Me neither, Ben." The two girls both answered and shook their heads as well."
"Okay, then I'll be back really quick." Ben said as he headed up the stairs.
---
"I'm back, we can go now." As Ben comes down the stairs.
David and Veronica put away their phones while Ashley puts away her book as they see Ben coming down the stairs.
Ben's outfit now consists of a black and white, Korean-style jacket and a black jogger pants.
"I noticed, since it was getting cold--," holding a long Korean trench coat in his hand, he walks up to Ashley and puts it around her. "It's for you Ashe, I don't want you to get cold."
"T-thank you, Ben." Ashley's face burns up as she didn't expect Ben to be a bit bold. She thought to herself, 'This must be another dream come true!'
Veronica looks at the two of them and she feels like she ate two cups of vanilla pudding. "Can you both stop? I don't think I can handle this much sugar."
Ashley was about to say something, but she catches herself and looks away from Ben and the rest of her friends. While Ben rubs the back of his head and smiles as though he won a poker game.
"Hmm, good." Veronica smiles to herself and looks at David. "David?"
"Yes, Vee?" David looks at her and realizes what she wants. He takes off his gray jacket he had gotten from the car and puts it around her. "Are you warm, Vee?"
"Yes, I am David." Veronica hugs David's arm as she feels as snug as a bug in a rug. She gave him a kiss on the cheek.
Ashley sees this and thinks to herself, 'Hypocrite.'
Though she did say anything and held Ben's sleeve. Ben notices this and holds her hand instead.
"Okay, and David here is another jacket for you." Ben gives David another jacket on his arm and knew this would happen. "Though it won't be a total fit."
"Thanks Ben!" David put the jacket on, and it was a bit too tight around the shoulders, so he left it unzipped. "Alright we can go now, right?"
"Yup, but let me text my mom and Ling. So, you all can wait in the car." Ben answers.
David and Veronica understood and left to wait inside the car.
"Can I stay with you, Ben?" Ashley coos.
"Yes, you can Ashe, but is it because you wanted to see your mother-in-law?" Ben teases her.
"No." As she looks away for a bit before she looks at Ben's phone screen.
---
Group Chat
Hu Jian Qiang (Ben) : "Mom, I'm going to hangout with my friends, so I'll be going home late. Is that okay with you?
Yan Li Juan (Mom) : Okay, Jian'er. Have fun. Oh, is my daughter-in-law with you?
Hu Jiam Qiang (Ben) : She's right here with me.
"Ashe, can I take a picture of us?" Ben looks at her and asks.
"S-sure, you can take a picture of us, Ben." Ashe answered shyly and tucks her hair behind her ear. She somewhat expected this to happen.
Ben hugs Ashe's waist, while Ashe puts her head on his shoulder and her hand on his chest. They tried to put on their best smiles as they looked at the camera and took a selfie.
Ben sent it to his mom.
---
Group Chat
Yan Li Juan (Mom) : Aww, so cute. But your sister is jealous.
Yan Lingyun (Little Sis) : No, I'm not mom! Hello, sister-in-law.
Hu Jian Qiang (Ben) : Haha, this is Ashley. It is nice to meet you both. We will be going okay?
Yan Li Juan (Mom) : It's so nice to be young. Bye Ashley dear. Take care of her, Ben.
Yan Lingyun (Little Sis) : Bye bye, Ashley! It was nice meeting you, too. Bye bye, Jamie!
---
Ben and Ashley chuckle a bit, while Ashley replies, "I like your family, Ben. They're pretty nice."
"Hmm, they are, but before I forget. I have this question that I wanted to ask: what about the other guy who liked you? What's his name again?"
"Oh, Eniel." Ashley furrows her brows and scoffs a bit. "I would consider him a mud fish, so let's leave it like that."
"Okay, okay." Ben felt that he wronged Ashley and hugged her tightly. He talks to her with a soft whisper, "We won't talk about him anymore. David and Vee are waiting for us."
Ashley's brows lie down to their original position as she listens to Ben. She bobs her head, "Okay, and thanks for listening to me a bit, Ben."
"No problem." Ben plays with her ponytail. He stares at her lips for a moment and asks with a slight-abashed and apologetic face. "I don't think I'm ready to kiss you yet, Ashe."
"I waited for this long, right?" Ashley giggles and takes Ben's hand while they walk outside. She turns her head back towards Ben. "So, I can wait a little bit longer, Ben."
Ben's door automatically locks itself as Ben and Ashley walk to David's car.
"Did you two wait for us long?" Ben answers.
"No problem for me." David gives Ben an "okay" sign.
"Both of you took your sweet time, huh?" While Veronica gives them a playful smirk.
"Okay, David, Vee. We can go now." Ben answers for Ashley who didn't want to look directly at Veronica's gaze.
David starts the car and drives to Elmory Wilds. Though the gang didn't realize that there was another car following them just yet.
---
5:49 PM ( or 17:49)
"We are already a little bit more than halfway there." David told them as took a quick look at his car's navigation system, Mapz, and continued driving as usual. "We'll be there in about 1 hour and 30 minutes."
Ben and Veronica groaned. Ben had a face of regret, "Why did I agree to this? I forgot that this was an extremely long drive."
"At least you're hanging out with your friends Ben." David replied as quietly as he could. He glanced at the front view mirror to see Ben and Ashley.
Ashley already fell asleep long ago and was sleeping on Ben's shoulder. Veronica also turned her head behind to see Ben and Ashley too. "Adorable~"
David checked the front view mirror again. There were only a few cars on the road, but he saw another car following them just two cars' length away. "Hmm, we're really being followed, huh?"
"Really? Should we call the police to let them know that we are being followed?" Veronica voiced her concern.
"No, we shouldn't just call the police and make a report yet." David holds her hand and replies. "The police won't do anything if we think they're following us. It would only be a coincidence to them. So, it is also up to them to decide if the person or persons in the car are going to commit a crime and so forth."
"So, we shouldn't panic as much. We're going to wait a bit and make a pitstop to a nearby gas station. As soon as we were done we should head to Elmory and lose them there."
Ben and Veronica nodded their heads and agreed with David.
"Okay, we'll go with that David." Ben said.
David drives a bit faster and heads to an exit. While the other car sped up to match their speed.
David drives up to a "Hello Again" gas station #3 gas pump. "Do you three want to get something inside the station?"
Veronica nods her head and thinks about the kind of items they needed.
"Ashe, wake up." Ben shakes Ashley up.
She opens her eyes to get her bearings of the area. Putting on her glasses, she rubs her knuckle to her eyes and asks Ben, "Where are we, Ben?"
"No, time to explain here." Ben grabs her hand and tells her what happened as they're going inside the gas station as though they are strolling within a park. "We are being followed by this one car, so we should go to the restroom to do our business, then go out and buy a few items to make it a bit convincing."
"Got it Ben."
Ben and the girls went inside and David used his credit card to get some gas. He scanned his surroundings and saw the car driving in slowly to a far away gas pump. He acted as normal as he could waiting for gas and took out his phone to play with.
Hearing a click after a minute or so, David puts the nozzle back and waits in the car for Ben and the two girls to come back.
After some time, he squints his eyes and sees them going outside holding a few items.
Ben opens the doors for the two girls and they head inside.
"What do you three have?" David looks at them and asks.
"We bought a three-pack flashlight, five-Silk lighters, some AAA batteries, a few snacks, and two fanny packs." Veronica tells him a rundown of items they have.
"Okay, that's good enough." David starts the car and steps on it to the freeway.
The other car notices this and matches their speed.
David's car speedometer reads seventy-five miles per hour or 120 kilometers per hour. David could go above that speed limit, but nonetheless he didn't want to put more risks on his friends if something were to happen somewhere down the road.
Checking his front rear view mirror again, he sees that the car was trying its best to catch up.
"David, I barely got a good look at the person as his window was tinted--" Ben responds with a sour face. "But he was the guy we met at the festival."
"Really?" Ashley wears an annoyed face. "Is he that petty and holds a grudge too?"
"Well, he was asking for it," Veronica chips in and looks at David. "Do we continue David?"
"Well, there is practically no hospital, fire station, and police station until the next hour or so."
David replied with a calm face as he looked on Mapz. "Vee, call the police just in-case. We'll still go to Elmory Wilds to shake him off."
"Got it David." Veronica took out her phone and dialed for the police.
David still continues to drive to Elmory Wilds.
---
Even after driving for an hour, Veronica kept on trying to call the police. All she heard was a beep and straight to voicemail.
"David, I can't call anybody." Veronica's face turns red.
Even Ben, Ashley, and David begin to worry as well. Veronica asks, "Should we turn back?"
Before anyone, including the guy who followed them, could do anything. Two large figures hit their cars. They start tumbling down into the forest.