Into The Woods

Chapter 12

     "What have I done?" Serena whimpered into her hands.
     After the creature had spoken to them, they knew that it would be a long night trying to stay awake and not close their eyes as the creature instructed.
     "W-what are we supposed to do now? That t-thing probably has Tatum and won't g-give him back until one of us gets s-sacrificed or something" Irene sobbed hysterically.
     "We can fight this thing together Irene. It's not anyone's fault that he's missing" Uriah informed.
     "So we're supposed to stay awake for the entire night? That's non-sense!" Vincent announced angrily.
     "We have to do whatever we can to stay alive Vincent, and if that means not sleeping for a day then let's do it. We've already gone over a day without food and water" Charlie said comparatively.
     They made themselves comfortable in preparation for a long night. It's almost as if someone had put time into slow motion. Minutes felt like hours and hours felt like days.
     Vincent got up and started walking to the centre of the narrow cave.
     "Vincent, what are you up to now?" Charlie questioned.
     "Just doing some stretching" Vincent explained while bending into a lunging position.
     "Oh, Lord help us all" Malachi whispered to himself.
     "Hey, I gotta do something to stay awake, right?" Vincent replied with a smirk.
     "I guess you're right" Malachi admitted.
     Vincent stayed stretching while Malachi and Serena drew pictures in the surface of the ground with their fingers. Uriah and Irene were making up complicated handshakes further down the side of the cave were Charlie and Vanessa seemed to be deep into a meaningful conversation.
     "Hey Ness?" Charlie whispered.
     "Yeah?" Vanessa replied softly.
     "Can I ask you something? I don't want it to be awkward" Charlie posed in a sleepy tone.
     "Yeah for sure. Hit me with it" Vanessa giggled.
     "Do you, or have you ever, liked me as more than your best friend?" Charlie spoke nervously.
     "Um well yeah I do. I've kinda, sorta been keeping it from you because I didn't want to ruin our friendship, but if you don't feel the same we can pretend we never had this-" Vanessa got cut off.
     Charlie planted a kiss on her full lips and backed away as if he did something wrong. Vanessa faced him with her mouth slightly open and her eyes starring.
     "I-I what-" Vanessa stuttered.
     "Yes. I do like you Ness. I just can't believe that all this time we hadn't realized it" Charlie smiled with a short laugh.
     Vanessa hugged him tightly with the biggest grin on her face.
     "Woah, woah, woah, what just happened?" Malachi said very confused.
     "Nothing" Charlie winked.
     "Oh. My. Gosh. You two confessed didn't you?" Irene giggled.
     Charlie smiled hard and so did Vanessa. Charlie put his arm around her and his head against the damp wall.
     "Help! Help!" A deep voice yelled suddenly from a distance.
     "Who was that?" Vincent said while looking into the darkness.
     "Could it be...Tatum?" Serena mentioned hopefully.