BAREFACED

Chapter 5

"NO ONE... I'M HERE ALONE..." Eli yells out. Draken grabs Eli's shoulder as Eli tries to approach Mikey. Mikey keeps walking towards the trees, ignoring what Eli is saying. Ren looks over at you. He looks nervous. He slowly stands up and walks out from behind the tree. Mikey stops walking and stares at Ren. Eli's eyes widen. You stay quiet as you lean against the tree listening in on them. Aimi is holding Hana, covering Hana's mouth.

"I'm here too..." Ren quavered. Mikey lifts an eyebrow when Ren spoke.

"Is there anyone else hiding behind the trees?" Mikey asks, starting to slowly move towards the trees again, walking past Ren. You, Aimi and Hana slide to the right, still trying to hide from Mikey's view.

"No..." Ren said in a calm tone. "It's only me and Eli... we chose to stay here after our friends left." Mikey stops walking, he flips open the phone to look at the picture again.

"So... is this your friend's phone?" Mikey asks.

"No... that's Eli's phone." Ren answers pointing towards Eli. Mikey looks up at Eli and nods.

"You really like the color pink... huh?" Mikey scoffs waving the pink phone. Mikey walks over towards the stairs and sits down. Pah-chin grabs Eli, making him kneel on the ground. Peh-yan tries to do the same to Ren but Ren kneels before Peh-yan approached him. "So..." Mikey smiles, looking at the phone and pressing buttons. The light from the screen is shining on his face. "Why were you both hiding behind the trees?" he asks, slowly looking up from the phone, looking at Ren and Eli.

"I-... uh..." Eli's eyes were wide and he's looking down at the ground.

"Were you trying to spy on us?" Mikey asks in a low tone. His eyes are still and blank. Looking at his eyes sent chills down Ren and Eli's back.

"N...no... t...that's not it." Eli stutters.

"Then what was it that you were doing?" Mikey asks, suspicious towards Eli's body language.

"We were just looking around..." Eli answers. He's shaking. You close your eyes scared to what will happen to Eli. Eli is making it too obvious. Mikey knows he's lying.

"They are focused on them... if we crawl towards the back of the shrine... we can jump the wall and escape..." Aimi whispers into your ear. The idea sounds good... before anything happens you have no choice but to leave. But not right now. They will notice.

"Wait... give it a second before we escape..." You whisper back. Aimi nods and Hana stays quiet, with her eyes shut and her hands covering her mouth.

"Looking around? Why?" Mikey asks. He's leaned forward, with his arms resting on his knees. His face is blank and he's staring directly at Eli. Eli starts to clench his pants.

"We were just curious. That's all..." Eli answers. Ren closes his eyes, and his eyebrows furrow.

"Eli is making it worse... he needs to shut up..." Aimi whispers.

"Curious?" Mikey questions, his voice still low. "I don't believe you." Mikey adds. Baji grabs Eli by his hair and leans closer to him.

"Who are you a spy for?" Baji asks, making the two dull fangs appear as he smiles. Eli's eyes widen and he looks away to avoid eye contact. Mikey stands up and slowly walks down the stairs towards Eli.

"Is it for... the Black Dragons? Moebius? Ragnarok? Who?" Mikey asks getting closer towards Eli. Eli shakes his head. "Fine then... I'll beat the answer out of you." Mikey exasperated in a low stern tone. Mikey kicks Eli in the stomach, causing Eli to fall over in pain. Mikey then kicks Eli in the face, knocking Eli over. Aimi, Hana, and you stare from behind the tree. Hana and Aimi's eyes are wide. They look scared.