Verdant

How you truly feel

We waited for Madi and Harper to catch up, which took a few minutes as the forest was actually fairly big judging by the dome above. They probably just hoped staying in a straight line would lead to us. Wherever we were in the room that is, my guess was around the middle. I looked around as Ryan set me down, continuing to stay close to me. Perhaps the fear of someone taking me again. It seemed like staying next to him would be my safest option for now. I've never been around so much metal, I feel encased.

There was a large treehouse/cabin looking structure ahead of us that was surrounded by bunches of wilting plants and flowers. Mainly vines, overgrowth that surrounded the structure like it was trying to be hidden. Somehow... it felt like when you wanted to curl up and cry from the feeling of... well, being abandoned. It was just an inanimate structure though. Then my eyes scanned around the place which left me more puzzled. It's not just a forest... there's all sorts of trees growing down here. It's sectioned off like slices. Like each was its own environment.

Ryan nudged me forward as I must have been stuck in my thoughts. It's not that I was scared or shy about exploring around somewhere I was trapped. So I curiously walked up the steps into the house. Brushing past some of the overhanging vines. Carefully turning the nob into the cold room. Despite the eerie feeling... it somehow felt homely and welcoming. It looked like it had roughly two and a half stories. I assume one of the two doors on the other side of the room lead upstairs? This place is pretty small otherwise.

Tree roots covered parts of the wall with a minimal amount of furniture and notebooks scattered around the room. It was quaint but looked like it had been ransacked or a fight happened here. Maybe an earthquake or something, we must've been pretty far underground in the first place. Yet the air here wasn't tense, the whole area felt like it did up there on the surface.

"This place is a dump without you to look after it." Ryan sighed, admiring the room with a sense of sadness.

"Without me?" I questioned looking at all the overgrowth. It was more apparent inside then out. It was like the cities, even far off you could see how nature has been moving in and retaking the concrete buildings. This was more like it was protecting something than overtaking it. I couldn't tell you why I felt that, but I've always been close to nature like that.

You could tell it had been abandoned for years. This place had an absence of formality, but I could only see small memories in my head. It was somehow more familiar now as my eyes scanned the room. It was a calm desolate looking place. It was in much better shape than the cities though, and not quite as overgrown as the forests had become. Certainly not as cracked and broken. Then there was a fact they had working electricity here. I'd seen it once or twice when I traveled around to different encampments. This is a whole multilevel building though.

Madi and Harper joined Ryan and I inside after a few minutes of us exploring around the main room. I was crouched down reorganizing a bookshelf that had tipped over.

"This seems...familiar." Harper bent down to pick up a notebook. Flipping it in one hand to each cover. "It looks like Connors writing." He trailed off touching some writing on a page with his free hand. "And... mine?" He sounded mildly confused as he looked a few pages over. Flipping a little faster as he brought it closer to his face.

Madi walked up behind him and flipped through a few more pages. "It looks like a bunch of letters taped inside." She looked my way. "Addressed to you?" Madi took the notebook from Harper and handed it to me. Which gave Harper a dumbfounded look but he quickly got over it.

"Nope, you're not reading this." Ryan casually whisked it out of my hands before I could even eye over it.

"What, hey-!" I tried to refute reaching up for the book, but he looked away hiding it.