The Tree House Mystery

Chapter 17

A stream of sunlight falls on my eyes and I shut them tighter. Shifting on my other side, I rub my eyes and open them just a bit to glance at the time. It's 5:30 am.

And yet the sun's up already. Well, it must have just risen.

Debating in my mind whether to get up and go for a peaceful morning stroll in the forest or sleep even more, I finally decide to wake up.

Sitting up in my bed, that is the soft mattress inside our tent, I look at the other two — Raquelle, sleeping with the covers over her head, and Jade, almost curled up into a ball with her blonde hair all strewn across her face.

I leave the tent without a sound, after putting on my jacket and boots. Stepping out into the early-morning sunshine, I smile as it warms my face. Yawning, I shove my hands into the pockets of my jacket and start walking without a destination in mind. After moving some way from the camp, I hear the sound of water gurgling nearby.

Following my instincts to guide me to the source of the sound, I reach a small stream hidden by giant bushes and some way inside a thickly-forested area. The scene is truly breathtaking...

Water, clear as crystals, is flowing down the stream, hitting stones and rocks jutting out of the bottom of the stream, and passing over them or by their sides, making the gurgling sounds. Sunlight falling on the water adds a sparkle to it, and the stones shine as if they're polished! I go right to its edge and bend down to touch the water, but quickly withdraw my hand as soon as my fingers come in contact with the ice-cold water. A tingling sensation lingers on in my fingers, which were so warm just a few seconds ago!

Even though the temperature of the water is quite low, I feel like dipping my legs in it, and then drying them in the gaze of the warm sun. So without thinking anymore, I pull out my boots and fold up my jeans from the bottom before stepping on some flat stones to get to the middle of the shallow stream to sit on a big grey-black rock, bathing in the sun.

Slowly dipping my feet in the water, I close my eyes, bite the inside of my right cheek to stop myself from squealing as the freezing water lapped around my bare feet. After a moment or two, I can't control the amazing feeling and sense of freedom and adventure I'm getting, and start laughing lightly with the sun making me squint my eyes and the soft breeze playing with my long hair.

After a while, I lie back on the stone and close my eyes, enjoying nature to the full.

"Ach-choo! "

My eyes flew open at the sound of someone sneezing, and looking around the bank of the stream, I spot Ned standing with his nose and cheeks somewhat red and a smile playing on his lips. I grin at him and pat the place beside me on the stone on which I'm sitting, gesturing for him to join me.

He looks at me, shielding his eyes from the sun with his right arm, and grins before skipping over some stones in between the flowing water, and lands on my rock with a jump. Without a word, he sits down beside me.

We don't say anything to each other—just sit, silently admiring nature's beauty. The sun warms our backs and soon the water also doesn't feel that cold. Some birds fly above our heads in the sky, chirping along. Just then, the peace of the atmosphere is broken as a bush on the opposite bank rustles violently. Alarmed, some birds fly away in a hurry from the trees. I look at Ned and our gazes lock in fear; it could be just a teacher or another camper, but it could even be a wild animal!

Ned takes my hand and hastily we make our way across the stream to our side of it, hiding behind a great bush. Just as we've settled, two men emerge out of those bushes, glancing all around quickly to make sure no one's there except them.

One is tall and has shaggy hair, dressed in worn-out clothes. He could well be 'Shaggy' from Scooby-Doo, except he wears an angry expression. The other is somewhere between average to small in height, and looks as if he hasn't shaven in quite a few weeks! Both seem scary people.

Angry Shaggy bends down and fills water from the stream in his hands, then brings it to his lips and drinks his full. The process is repeated several times, as Beardy(sorry, I couldn't find a better name!) looks on thirstily. Finally, when Shaggy is done, he stands up straight and takes out a cigarette from his pant pocket, and then out comes a lighter as well.

Beardy stands up and starts speaking while Shaggy listens and smokes. Straining my ears and concentrating fully on their lip movements, catching words here and there, I manage to understand the gist of their conversation:

Beardy: "We don't have a lot of time, and scaring away people is also a difficult task now, Henry."

Shaggy: "If you did your work more carefully, the situation would have been different."

Beardy: "Henry, you don't understand. And you will not, because you don't work the whole day, you don't travel such a long distance every day to carry on the business. You just sit and smoke and drink. We all know how difficult is that!" saying this he throws up his hands in the air in frustration.

Shaggy: "Oh, so you'll teach me what to do, now, huh?(pokes his finger in Beardy's chest) You forget I'm the boss, and it was my idea to scare away people so that your work became easier. Shut up and start working your hands and feet, not your brain!" he says angrily. "And don't call me Henry, call me Boss!"

Beardy(somewhat intimidated): "Sure, boss. But I'm just saying that we should speed up and employ more men on the work..."

Shaggy(Henry): "Don't teach me, I said!" he says, stressing on each word. "I know what's good for us and what's not. Now stop arguing and come on —why are you wasting time now, huh?"

Saying that, Angry Henry storms into the bushes and goes deeper in the forest on that side, and Beardy angrily kicks a stone, making it sink in the stream, before following his 'boss', breaking into a run.

Ned and I look at each other, the same thought running through our minds.

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Sorry for the delay in the update by one day! Hope you liked it...and now everything will be more fast-paced. ;)

Also, next update on or before Friday, so don't forget to check your notifications! :)

And please please please don't ignore grammatical errors or typos, do inform me if you see any.

The image used in this chapter is actually of a place in France and doesn't belong to me. ;)

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