Golden Secrets of Summer ✰ Rafe Cameron,

South Bound

Treasure Treehouse, 9:34 A.M.

I walked up the hill to see Rafe was already there.

"Nice of you to show up." he laughed.

"Yeah, you're lucky I did." I taunted back. "I mean, what did you even do for the four minutes I wasn't here?"

"Tan?"

I climbed up the tree and took a seat.

"It's gonna be hot today," he informed me. "Over 100."

"Heatwave, huh?"

"Yeah."

"We should get walking." I suggested. "Maybe we can find something to do."

We started walking around the town, thinking about what we could do.

"So, we'd have to get like six months worth of supplies, a million gallons of fuel, and sunscreen to get to Florida?" I asked.

"Yeah, granted we take my dad's boat." he confirmed. "We'd get there in like five days."

"Maybe-" I paused, hearing a whine.

It was the sound of an animal. Rafe and I turned around to see a tiny puppy. He had dirty blonde fur, warm brown eyes, and he was really thin.

"It's a stray." I said, looking at the pup. "Weird, they usually try to avoid people."

The dog's whines sounded tired, and out of breath.

"I think he's thirsty. The heatwave is probably draining him."

"I don't have any water, do you?"

"Yeah." he smiled, leaning down to the golden pup.

The dog whined at first, and backed away a little. Rafe pulled out a small water bottle, and poured some water into the puppy's mouth. The little creature quickly gulped all of it up. Afterwards, Rafe petted it.

"I don't see any fleas on him." I smiled.

I kneeled down to pet the dog too. He was adorable.

"I know what we're going to do today." Rafe smiled.

Treasure Treehouse, 10:37 A.M.

"Water?" he asked.

"Got it."

"Food?" I asked.

"Got it."

"Wagon?" he asked.

"Right here."

"Let's do this."

Rafe and I walked down the hill with a wagon full of water bottles and fruit. Hopefully, animals could eat oranges and grapes. We began walking along the island, stopping at any sign of a dehydrated animal. There weren't too many.

"Where are all the animals?" I asked. "We just saw a puppy."

"There's less animals on this side," he explained. "More are on the Cut."

"How do we get there?"

"You want to go to the Cut?" he asked, surprised.

"Why not?"

"It's dangerous," he said, briefly.

"I'm from New York City." I reminded. "How dangerous are we talking?"

He shrugged.

"I've never been there. Well I have, in the car with my dad, but I wasn't allowed to get out." he shared.