Souls In Hiding

The Cabin Murderer

Thoughts kept him awake, no matter how many times he closed his eyes his brain woke him up with guilt. I should be back home with them... They probably think I abandoned them. Soon enough he found himself crying as he lay in the foetal position inside the dark tent. Shuichi grunted, his sore limbs stretching out as he crawled outside towards the ashen firepit.

The freedom from constantly wearing the cloak felt strange as he lay on the grass, staring at the twinkling lights overhead. They sent him waves of comfort as he remembered happy memories. More tears ran down the sides of his face, not able to get his friends out of his head. 
"What's wrong?" He jumped as Maki, holding her hair on her stomach to avoid getting it dirty. "Not that I care, obviously."

"Obviously," he smiled, Maki certainly was caring deep down but he was curious as to why she was so cold outside. "Nothing's wrong per se, I just miss my friends. I've been thinking back to that night but I can't remember anything that would have me ending up in this situation. Except for one thing..."

"Which is?"

"Kidnapping. I don't want to believe it though." Shuichi shoved away his tears.

"Why not?"

"You aren't saying much, are you tired?" He turned to face Maki only to see her glaring at him.

"Do you want to die?"

"U-uh... not really?" He hurried to look back towards the stars.

"Sorry, force of habit. Don't ignore my question." Maki now followed Shuichi's gaze.

"Which one?" He chuckled.

"Why don't you want to believe you were kidnapped?"

"That would mean someone broke into my home, not just my home, but my friends' home too. And I don't even know how long I've been gone. I just hope they're okay..."

A brief silence encased the two, but it was welcome as the cool night breeze washed over the two. Shuichi continued wiping his tears away as they started coming to a halt, his new friend had cheered him up already. Maki soon broke the silence.

"Can we join you?"

"Hm? You mean... follow me back home?"

"No, I mean can we stay with you? I know it's a big ask but we need a place to stay." The two turned to look at each other again. "Kaito, Angie and I don't live here, we move around about every week and live where ever we can set up a camp. It's getting stressful, we keep getting in trouble as I'm sure you've gathered." 

Shuichi's mind started racing with questions. Are they on the run from someone out here? Will the others accept them living with us? They've saved my life, I have no reason to not trust them... and the cabin has a lot of room... He knew what he had to do, he'd be wrought with guilt if he didn't help the group. "Of course you can come with me, the others would love to have you and we have more than enough room!"

"Alright," Maki stood up, pulling Shuichi with her. She nodded in thanks before continuing, "Get some rest, we leave at first light."

"Okay, good night Maki." She hummed in response while crawling into her tent. Shuichi followed her lead and crawled back into his own tent, finally able to rest his head and fall into a comfortable sleep.

The sunrise didn't hide from Shuichi as the tent proved thin and penetrable. He groaned, wrapping himself in the cloak that was his only possession in this adventure. A rude awakening in the form of Kaito forced Shuichi to his feet as the spiky-haired asshole threw open the tent cover.

"Rise and shine!"

"Kaito you fucking dumbass!" Maki appeared beside him and shoved the opening back closed, punching the boy so hard in the arm Shuichi swore he heard it crack.