Mansion in the Forest

MAYBE WE'RE HAUNTED?

As Blake and Lexi prepared to jump, they both made sure that there are no traps on the spot where they decided to land.

"I'll go first—."

"No." Lexi cuts off Blake immediately. "I'll go down first and if I tell you to go down, then you'll jump." She added. She will never take the risk of letting Blake to jump first because he might betray them, knowing that he despise Lexi more than anything and he tried killing her multiple times but kept failing each attempts.

Lexi heaved a deep breath and exhaled exasperatedly before jumping from the balcony, as she landed on the ground, she rolled three times before stopping and quickly recomposed herself. She shrugged every dirt on her clothes and looked up.

"Throw me a gun!" Lexi yelled. Jazen threw the gun at her and she caught it in the air, c****d it and then she looked up again. "Now jump." She instructed Blake.

Blake chuckled dryly and shook his head. "The gun is unnecessary." He said but Lexi didn't respond to that and just waited for him to jump. "Fine." He withdrew a sharp breath before jumping off of the balcony and luckily landed on her feet but quickly rolled out just to lessen the pressure on his legs and he wouldn't get hurt himself.

After Blake stood up, Lexi held the gun ready just in case Blake did something against her, but the latter didn't even look at her as he made his way to the boxes of explosives and carefully scanned it to look for the trigger.

"Found it." He said when he saw the trigger but he snapped his head up. "Guys, stay away from the fence!" He shouted which everyone immediately backed away from the fence.

"Why? What's going on?" Lexi asked.

"These strings connected up to that fence and once they accidentally stepped on the trigger, it would explode and all of us would die." Blake explained, then he unsheathed his dagger from his waist, which Lexi got startled and she immediately lifted up the gun and pointed it to Blake. "Relax, I'm just going to disarm it using this." He showed the dagger to Lexi but the latter didn't eat up his explanation and still pointing the gun at him just to be sure. Blake just decided to back his focus on the trigger and removed its cap, revealing the wires inside.

There are three wires, blue, yellow and red, which is pretty normal for explosives with triggers, he just have to cut the right order of wires to disarm the bombs. He studied it scrutinizingly before deciding to take the red wire first, his heart beating frantically and holding her breath before cutting it. Luckily, there was no explosion so he continued with the blue wire, again, no explosion, the last one is yellow but before Blake cut it, he heard something so he looked over his shoulder and suddenly threw his dagger towards Lexi.

Lexi immediately ducked down and when she was about to shoot Blake, he shouted. "Don't stand up!" He yelled and rolled out on the ground, picked up the stone and threw it on the guy hiding behind the three and holding a rifle. He screamed but pulled the trigger which startled everyone and they looked down but carefully not touching the fence.

"What happened?!" Jazen shouted but didn't get any response as Blake and Lexi ran towards the man.

Blake picked up the guy from the ground and locked his arms behind him before pressing his face on the tree, while Lexi picked up the rifle.

"You don't know how to be sneaky?" Blake asked the guy smugly. "You could've killed us both if you knew how to avoid stepping on the branches of trees." He added.

The guy just groaned and tried to push back Blake but the latter is much bigger and stronger than him and he pressed him even harder to restrain him from moving. Lexi looked for something to tie the guy but ended up seeing nothing so he just decided to knock him using the butt of the rifle and he passed out.

Blake let his body drop on the ground and turned to Lexi. "Sorry about earlier, I just have to do that."

"You throw your dagger at me! What if I don't have quick reflexes?!"

"But you have that's why I didn't think twice of doing that." Blake shrugged his shoulders and picked up his dagger then walked back to the explosives to continue what he was doing earlier. "Just keep an eye on him and don't bother me, I wouldn't do anything stupid against everyone." He said to Lexi.

Lexi nodded her head even if Blake couldn't see her and she picked up the guy and dragged him back to her spot earlier.

"Who's that?" Iris asked when they saw the unconscious guy with Lexi.

"I don't know, but he wanted to kill us." Lexi replied.

"It's done. Now everyone can go down." Blake tells them and they quickly move. They tied Trevor's body with the vines and slowly descended him while Blake and Lexi waited for him. When they made sure that Trevor was already safe, they all went down using the vines.

"Let's grab some so we can use it just in case we encounter some enemies on our way." Jisu suggested so they took some of the explosives and put it inside her bag.

"So what are we going to do with that guy?" Siena asked while looking at the unconscious guy.

"Let's just leave him here, we're already out anyway, there's no reason to take him with us." Denver said.

"He's right, let's just go." Lexi agreed and she put Trevor's arm on her shoulder and wrapped her arm around Trevor's waist while Denver go to his other side and did the same thing.

All of them walked to the forest without any idea where they were heading, but they were sure of one thing. To go away from the mansion as far as they could. But it's been two hours but they couldn't see any path around, as if there were not even a trace of vehicles and people walked in the area where the mansion stood and the worst thing is, they keep going back at the same spot where they started even if they changing their directions, they will still end up in the mansion.

"This is ridiculous! Why do we keep going back here?!" Denver exclaimed frustratedly.

"Even if we keep changing our direction, we're still going back in here." Iris added as she pointed to the balcony.

"Maybe we're haunted? Or played by fairies." Siena even shuddered at that thought but she just received a mocking laugh from everyone. "I'm serious! After all, we are surrounded by these trees and there may be evil spirits living here."

"Those are just urban legends and old people are the only ones who believe in that." Chantelle snorted.

"What if she's right? What if we are really getting played on?" Jisu asked, there's a fear in her eyes that made everyone look at her ludicrously except from Siena.

"Let's just try again and find another way." Lexi suggested. They all agreed to her and continued their journey. This time, they didn't go back to the mansion, but they were lost. "Let's have a rest for the meantime." She said as she helped Trevor sit down carefully and once she made him uncomfortable, she lay down on the grass and stretched her body.

"I'm sorry." Trevor said when he noticed how tired Lexi was for carrying him around. "You should let me walk on my own."

"Yeah yeah, if you can." Lexi waved her hand dismissively.

"I'm serious, Lex."

"I'm serious too, Trev. If I can see that you can walk on your own, then I will let you, but for now, let me help you till we get out of this forest."

"I'm hungry." Denver chimes in to stop their bantering.

"Good thing I always have this." Jisu said as she opened her bag excitedly.

"I'm not going to eat those dynamites." Denver chuckled.

"Dumbass, I mean this." Jisu sneered and threw the bed at him which Denver luckily caught and took a big bite quickly. "Don't worry, I have bread for everyone." She said and gave one to each of them.

While they were eating, Iris and Blake felt that there was someone watching them. "Okay, I want everyone to be ready but act naturally." Iris tells them.

"What's going on?" Chantelle asked but she still continued eating her bread because Iris said that they need to act natural.

"There is someone around." Blake replied and he prepared his dagger while his eyes wandered around to look for it. "There, 4 o'clock." He said when he saw the silhouette hiding behind the tree.

Jazen readied her gun, Lexi scoot closer to Trevor to protect him, Chantelle and Jisu slowly laying down just in case the person has a gun. Siena hid behind Iris and Denver picked up a rock next to him and they all waited for the right timing to attack simultaneously.

They waited for Blake to give them a signal and when he stood up threw his dagger, Jazen shot it perfectly so it wouldn't hit the person behind the three.

"Why did you do that?!" Blake asked raggedly.

"It was a girl!" Jazen yelled back at him.

Denver, who's about to throw the rock, retreated back and he dropped it before running towards the girl who crouched down after the gunshot. She looks so scared with her body trembling.

"Hey, are you okay?" Denver asked as he approached the girl. "I'm sorry about that, we didn't want to hurt you, we just thought that you're an enemy." He consoled the girl.

"Who are you?" Blake asked when they all walked towards the girl.

"I'm H-herlie." The girl stuttered and there were tears streaming down her face.

"What are you doing in the middle of this dense forest?" Jazen asked through concern but she never let her guard down.

"We lived here."

"We? So you are with your parents?"

"No." Herlie shook her head. "I'm with my grandpa and our house was just right behind that hill." She pointed at the hill not too far from their spot.

"Why are you living in this dangerous forest? Aren't you guys aware that there are a lot of monsters scattered around here at night?" Lexi asked.

"We know." The kid replied and she looked up to Lexi, then her gaze shifted to Trevor.

"What?" Lexi asked when she noticed the kid looking at both of them like she wanted to say something but won't open her mouth.

"Herlie!" A voice of a man called the kid's name. "Herlie!" He called again and he seemed just around the corner.

"I'm here grandpa!" Herlie yelled back to let his grandpa her spot. Then there's the rustling sounds of leaves and a rush of footsteps towards them.

"I told you to stop snooping around—." The old guy stopped when he saw a group of teenagers in front of his granddaughter, he lifted his shotgun and pointed it at them. "Don't you dare to touch my granddaughter!" He warned.

"Whoa whoa hold up, old man. We're not going to hurt your grandchild." Blake said with his arms on his side like he's surrendering.

"You almost did." Siena snorted.

"Just because I thought that she's an enemy or worse, a monster." Blake retorted.

"Who are you?!" The old man asked them as he took steps towards his granddaughter and pulled her hand. "Stay behind." He said.

"Sir relax, we don't want to harm you or your granddaughter." Lexi said as she stepped out from behind. "We are not bad people and we need help, my best friend is severely injured."

"That's your fault, how do you feel huh?" Siena asked Blake mockingly but earned an eye roll from the latter.

"Wait." The old man stopped and he looked at Lexi intently and his eyes widened. "Lexi?!"

________