(Mira Oka)
I wondered what happened to me that night. Flashes came into mind. Headaches, coughing, dizziness, pain, loss of breathing. I couldn’t find out what happened, so I checked my body that morning alone in the forest. There was nothing wrong with my upper parts. When I got down to my legs, I found a red mark mostly fading. That’s when I realized. The worms. They weren’t normal. They were large with sucking lips. But they weren’t leeches either. Must’ve been some gross creature. Not long after that, those pains came to me and I thought I was going to die. Could they have been poisonous to an extent? At least I was fine now. Once I finished up, I walked back to the shed and spotted Ace sitting on the roof, hugging his knees.
I tilted my head. “Were you up there all night?”
“I don’t get tired.” He replied, before turning away from me.
His problem, I thought before I headed inside to wake up the others.
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“Let’s keep going,” I instructed once we grouped up again. “If we’re lucky, we might be able to bump into the border, so we’ll know the limits.”
“We don’t even know if we’ll make it out of this forest,” Ace pointed out. “The other exits could be blocked by caution tape, you know.”
“Could something so serious happen in this forest?” Vera asked. “I mean, no one really goes here.”
Ace turned away. “Not my business, not my problem.”
I wrinkled my nose. This guy. He’s cold as ice. The way he has no feelings for people. I mean, I don’t trust others easily, but at least I’m considerate of them. I shook my head. I should focus on more important things.
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As we were walking, I came to realize there was nothing strange here other than those worms Ace and I encountered. I was starting to feel suspicious. But at the same time, this forest was quite large, so maybe we just dodged all the directions that had strange stuff. At that moment, I could feel something weighing me down. My feet were sinking into the ground. I realized we were in a pool of sand that looked like dirt. Quicksand! “Ah!”107Please respect copyright.PENANAMrMsdgln13
Vera shot up at the tree above him before he could get sunk in.
“Help us!” Anita cried.
“Hold on!” Vera called, before leaving the scene.
“There’s not much of a hold on,” Ace called after him. “The sand won’t wait for you!”
Half of my body sank already. My powers wouldn't help at this point.
Just then, I noticed Vera’s extended hair fall down from a tree. I noticed that it could be used as a pulley. “Everyone! Grab on!”
We each held onto a part of it. I had a feeling that Vera is going to have to struggle a little. But this was his plan, right? The hair elevated, as we were slowly released from the sand. We let go from there and climbed from tree to tree to get to Vera’s destination. Anita nearly fell off so I had to carry her on my shoulders.
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When we met up with Vera, he was combing his fingers through his hair. “Man, that was a pain.”
“Sorry.” I said, feeling quite sheepish.
“Everyone’s fine, right?” He asked.
“This forest is whack,” Ace snapped.. “No wonder no one goes here.”
“The streets are way funner.” Anita pouted.
“If you weren’t constantly chased by guards.” I said under my breath.
“They shouldn’t know we’re here,” Anita replied. I was surprised she heard my comment. “Ace broke our phones so we couldn’t contact them.”
I shook my head dismissively. I didn’t want to think about him.
“Now that we’re deeper in this forest,” Anita started before adding quickly. “And possibly lost, things are getting darker.”
“Is there any source of light?” Mira asked. “Otherwise I have to use lighting.”
Anita shook her hands. “No, no, my flower produces light since I feed it a lot.”
“Feed it with what?” Ace asked.
“My joy,” She replied. “This flower is connected to me since we share blood. It’s a long story, but whenever I feel positive it also feels positive and brightens up.”
He rolled his eyes.
“Impressive?” I said, unsure.
Her flower lit up a soft shade of pink. I was somewhat bummed as it wasn’t much, but at least I could see better. I guess this is what it is. First step to solve all of this is to survive.
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