Breeder

Secret Meeting (4)

Third pov

Isabella could feel the adrenaline pumping through her veins as she continued to dig with her bare hands, not caring about ruining her clothes or fingernails.

If she was right, then Erica was far more dangerous than she'd ever thought possible.

Isabella slowed down as her fingers hit a foreign object buried nearly directly under the large oak tree- a relatively big tin box, almost full.

Not bothering to dig it up fully, Isabella moved the slightly ajar lid away to notice... a pile of bones. Some were toes, some were fingers. Some were smaller than others, and some had what looked like claws. The older ones had lost their claws, which were left lying at the bottom of the box.

What's a box like this even doing here? Isabella wondered, paling at the thought of one of the kids collecting random fingers and toes from who knows where. But there was no guarantee that the box was from her generation- it could've been from someone from decades ago.

Furthermore, who did the box belong to? A child? A Mama?

Neither seemed likely. You couldn't get so many bones from anywhere, after all. Either it was some sick person collecting body parts from children over time, stashed away beneath the free as a means of a trophy or a token of some kind, or....

Or...

It was Erica's.

.

.

.

While Isabella was having a moment of mental crisis outside, the four children were having the time of their lives.

"Ha! I win again!!" Emma whisper-exclaimed eagerly, face alight with bright smiles as she took the marker in the middle of their circle and drew the other half of the mustache on Norman's upper lip.

They were playing a game of Jackstones*, where the "stones" were just some differently coloured wooden cubes.

Emma, having the best physical prowess, was easily winning. Of course, Erica and Ray won occasionally too, but the best player out of the four of them was Emma. As punishment, the four of them agreed that the winner would get to draw one funny shape/line on the others.

So far, Ray had "idiot" written on his forehead in big bold letters, a cat nose, three whiskers on each cheek, and fake eyebags drawn under his eyes.

Erica ended up with double panda eyes, thick swirly eyebrows, a goatee and a beard drawn on her face.

Norman had one panda eye, a set of an amazing swirly mustache, and the word "crybaby" written on his forehead.

And unlike her three friends, Emma only had a mustache and a goatee on her face.

The four of them had to stifle their mouth physically every time they saw each other's faces. After minutes of quiet giggling and laughing and pointing fingers, the four of them looked at each other with big grins on their faces, before coming to a conclusion.

"Last round?" Norman asked.

"Last round," Ray replied, the girls also nodding to confirm.

Just as they were about to start, Erica put out a hand to stop them. The others froze at Erica's gesture, letting the utter silence envelop them.

".....She's coming," Erica whispered, enhanced ears easily picking up Isabella's muted footsteps against the wooden floors.

In the next moment, the boys quickly packed up the snacks in the blanket, tying them together. Erica stuffed Emma back into the tunnel they'd come from, handing her the bag of snacks.

"Go back to your room; remember to clean your face, okay? Be quiet and don't get caught. Don't bother with the snacks, we can return them later."

Meanwhile, Norman and Ray hurriedly took their shoes off and got in bed, Ray choosing to face away from the door while Norman hugged his pillow to hide his own.

Erica took Ray's spare handkerchief he kept on his nightstand, dunked it in her cup of water by her bed and furiously rubbed her face. Then she grabbed her bedsheet and put it over her head and body. Instead of going to bed, she took a seat by the windowsill and looked out into the moon. It would be easier to explain any noise that Isabella might have heard coming down the hall and to cover for the boys or Emma if they made noise.

Creeeak....

And just as they finished getting ready, Isabella quietly came into their room.

"Can't sleep, Erica?"

"Certainly better than you, Mama."

"Why don't we have a little talk, then? Let me make a nice warm cup of milk with honey for you."

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Note:

(Korean version, also known as "Gonggi Play/Game" is a game where you use a series of similar-sized objects shaped like small hexagonal boxes (meant to be like pebbles).

Simply put: You throw one up into the air, then grab one from the floor, then catch the falling stone. You increase the number of stones you're supposed to grab per round, throwing a stone up each time. If you don't manage to catch the stone in time, or if don't grab the right amount of stones before catching the falling stone, then you lose.

The goal of the game is to grab all stones + falling stone without dropping any of them.

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2.7 pages, 905 words