𝐋𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆, 𝐏𝐨𝐥𝐲 𝐁𝐋

𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐧, 𝒂 𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒅 𝒄𝒓𝒐𝒘

Caleb

"What does the next note say?" Milo questioned, walking up to the two. Cameron and Mia look up from the paper and their eyes meet with us.

"They grow tall and breath, and dances with the birds and the bee's, that is where you treasure may be."

"What do birds and bees have in common?" Damien questioned as he sighed.

"They fly." I added, I began to repeatedly pat my foot along the ground. It helps me think.
But what also grows and breathes? So I can't be a person, and since the paper said; they, it must come in more than one.

Something birds and bees have in common that breathes, not to mention grows taller. Wait, I got it.

"Trees! They technically breathe, and birds and bees are always around them." The group looks at me, clearly they all agreed, I can tell their facial expressions.

"So the woods?" Milo suggested, "That is where the treasure is?" He sighed, I would sigh too if I was him. He was chased by a bear there, and was injured very badly. None of us here were fond of the woods, we were all terrified when we heard that bear and we had to hide.

"Fine let's go."

***

We stood along the entrance to the woods. None of us truly wanted to go in, but we all wanted that treasure. This is where being greedy gets you. Taking a deep breath I was the first to step forward and walk in. They all eventually followed.

I see something white on the floor and I pick it up, it was another paper. It reads, Keep going until you find the widest tree, that is where your treasures shall be.

"This isn't even a riddle. It's just telling us what to find." I say, Damien and Milo walks over to me and look at the paper.

"What's it say?" Mia asks.

"It just says find a fat tree, that's where our prize is." Said Damien. After a few seconds something fell from the tree right in front of me causing me to nearly scream by what had almost hit me in the head.

A dead crow

I jumped and immediately backed up, bumping into Damien, who was behind me. Milo had grabbed onto my arms, his grip very tight as he moved closer to me. Usually he's never scared, something's off.

"What the fuck?" Damien spoke breathlessly.

"Why are dead birds falling from the sky?" Mia questioned, she instinctively stepped closer to Cameron. Which I found cute. But that's not the point right now.

"Dead crow falling from the sky is a sign of bad luck." Milo spoke aloud, no wonder he was moving closer. He was frighten, because he wouldn't be scared of a meaningless bird dropping from the sky.

"Please tell me y-your lying Milo." Blake stampered as he involuntarily looks around.

"Sadly no."

"Maybe it's just a coincidence that a crow fell directly in front of me." I say, trying to ease everyone. But I was just trying to calm my own nerves.

"Let's just keep going. The quicker we find that tree, that quicker we can get out." Cameron tells us before turning around and begining to walk, and we call subconsciously follow.

"Stay close to me, I don't have a good feeling." Damien murmurs to me and Milo as he walk in front of the both of us, almost shielding us.

We continue walking, suddenly Blake stops causing the rest of us to stop. We question why he stopped.

"Im going back. I don't trust this, you guys can take the prize." Blake immediately turns around and walks the other way until he was too far to see.

"Im leaving too." Milo confessed with a sigh before looking up at us. "Don't get yourselves killed." Was the last thing he said before leaving us.

"Let's hurry and get that damn prize before I change my mind as well." Damien groaned as he continued to walk. I look back before sighing and turning back to my group and our stupid little quest. Was I scared? Yes. If something scared Milo, I was definitely fearful. But I was persistent. I wanted to find that damning prize.

After a matter of minutes we find a large tree. It was huge. Must've been the largest for miles. How come we didn't see this when we were basically stranded.

"Let's split and check around the tree." Cameron suggested as he walked up to the tree in one direction and Mia went in the same direction.

As I attempt to walk I was pulled back. Looking up I see Damien. "Don't leave my side, Let's hurry and find whatever and leave." He finally looks down at me, his eyes were focused. He was on alert. To be fair, the moment we walked in something felt off. But I just can't put my finger on it.

I stayed close to him as we walked on the other side of the tree. I looked up the tree, it looked like it was about 3 elephants wide. What type of shit happened to this tree to make it get so big?

"You look over there, and Ill look over here." I suggests and he nods before going to where I pointed. He was about 8 to 10 feet away, I caught his glances at me. I guess he was making sure I didn't move to where he couldn't see me. Over protective much?

I catch another once of his glances and I stare at him, slightly annoyed. He's acting like I was about to die any moment now. He realized I had an irritated expression and kept his gaze on me, mouthing an apology before his eyes widened.

What was his problem?

Before I knew it he was already in front of me and pushed me and himself into the space of the tree large roots.

His body was pressed against mine, as his elbow was against the tree, completely shielding me from whatever. I felt his quiet breaths hit my forehead as his other arm held my tricep.

I tried to say something but his index pressed against my lips, silencing me. What was going on?

Then I saw it

It was that bear, the same one

How did it get this close to the camp

It walked past, but slowly. Like it was searching for something. And it wasn't happy. After it past, Damien eyes finally met mine. He looked serious, but I can tell he was panicking on the inside by how he began to chew the inside of his lip.

"We need to get out of here." I whispered ever so quietly, noting that the bear was still around.

"No shit... we need to get Mia and Cameron and get the fuck out." Damien ordered, his eyes quickly flickered to my lips before back to my eyes. I had my hand on his chest and his heart was beating at an almost alarming rate, not to mention a slight rosey color on his cheeks. I felt my own heart begin thumping on my rib cage.

"H-How are we gonna get to them with out being food for the bear?"

"We'll have to try." He looks around before backing out of this area of the tree. I hold onto him tightly as we sneakily walk around the tree before eventually finding Cameron and Mia walking towards us before their eyes light up, they must've saw us and they walk faster to us.

"The bear."

"I know, we saw it. We were looking for you two." Said Damien as he checks behind us before looking back at the two. "Let's get the fuck out of here before he notices us."

Without hesitation we all left, quickly and quietly making our way through the forest before we arrived back at the entrance, only to meet with a worried Milo, Blake, and two Camp directors.

"What's going on?"