CHAPTER 4

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Assembling a tent is hard. Securing your place in a tent is harder. We had three small tents, and six people, meaning we would have to sleep in pairs of two. This situation is just so prone to arguments.

"No, so, it could be Steven and Bella, and-" Sey tried elaborating, but Bella interrupted. "No way I'm tenting with that lunatic."

"Hey!" Steven frowned.

"What if," Mike, the one with some sense, spoke up. "Bella with Seyra, since they're... comfortable with each other." He emphasized the 'comfortable' with air quotes. 

"Me with Steven, so he doesn't do something idiotic. And Seyra with Louis, so he can learn to pull that stick out of his ass." Mike offered Louis a mocking smile.

"Fuck off." Louis grumbled.

"My point exactly." Mike cocked his head to the side.

"Speaking of sticks!" Steven interjected. "Since you spent 3 HOURS trying to build those tents, I'm not sure if you can see that it's getting dark and we need to start a fire."

"For the first and last time, I will have to agree with Steven." Bella added, already grabbing Sey's hand and skipping off in a random direction. "WE'RE GOING TO LOOK FOR FIREWOOD, BYE!" She yelled over her shoulder.

I squinted my eyes in suspicion.

"Yeah, JUST looking for firewood." Mike scoffed. Steven stifled a laugh.

"Okay, let's actually help them now." Mike glanced between us. "Steven go that direction," Mike pointed. "Louis in that, Hayley in that, and I'll go over there."

"What if I get eaten by a bear?" I asked in a joking manner, even if deep down  I thought of it as a possibility.

"Skill issue." Steven stated.

Louis snorted, and despite wanting to protest, I shoved my fears aside and started walking towards the direction I was assigned, as did everybody else.

Louis snorted, and despite wanting to protest, I shoved my fears aside and started walking towards the direction I was assigned, as did everybody else

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The sun was halfway set, leaving the sky in a beautiful orange-fading-red gradient. I pulled out a flashlight from my fanny pack, twisting it on to give me some form of light source.

The setting of the sky and the light from my flashlight caused the trees to cast figure-like shadows all around. Merely the thought made me uncomfortable.

Darkness always frightened me, even when I'm not so sure what to be frightened of.

Maybe it's because humans are curious beings, and it makes us aggravated when we don't know what could be lurking.

Maybe it's the way that the human mind instantly strays towards negative thoughts when they don't know something for sure.

And if a bear did maul me to death right here and right now, the forest extends so far that nobody would hear me.

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