Beyond the river .

2 weeks later

"Mari! Be home by 4, don't go into the forest !"

" okay mum !" I screamed back , pulled my shoes on and jumped outside where the hot sun burned my skin . I looked around for some shade when I saw Peter with lemonade in his hand and Olivia and Milly with ice cream . As soon as Milly saw me she screamed waving both her hands in the air and causing a bit of her ice cream to land on her noes and making every one laugh . She looked so shocked by the fact of her ice cream landing on her noes but soon she just laughed with everyone else . I ran over and pulled my sweater that was to big for me up to her noes and whipped the ice cream away

" thank Mari!" She laughed " do you have any money ? "

" yeah-"

" quick ! Quick ! Run to the ice man van ! Before he goes ! " she jumped up and down again " I'll come with you !" She shouted running with me to the ice cream van .

" h-hello" I pushed my head down , I didn't like strangers and I was afraid of making eye contact, but my mum had cut my full fringe recently , a cause of this was that people could see my eyes , and when people looked into them I had a bad habit of turning bright red and not being able to speak at all.

" hey there , what would you like ?"

I didn't lift my head up to look at the man , I placed my £2 on the counter looking at my shoes . " can I have a plain ice cream with a flake please" I felt my voice go quiet and innocent like a new born baby . I looked to the side to see Millys day-dreaming face staring at the different flavours of ice cream on the poster and now she was drooling. And I couldn't help but laugh .

" here you are miss"

This was it , I had to move my head up to get the ice cream " t-thank you " I lifted my head up and watched as my hands shivered to the ice cream and I carefully took it out the mans hand the put my face back down and walked away with Milly

" you got a flake !"

" yup!" I smiled looking rather proud of myself " you wanna bit?"

" yassss!" I broke my flake in half and gave her a bit

" here you are"  we both bit into it at the same time and our eyes lit up with sparkles and we sucked on our ice cream while we walked to find Peter and Olivia

-

" hey guys " Fritz began " I heard there's an apple tree growing near the path !"

" I heard that too!" Shouted Milly jumping again " mum said we can go as long as we don't walk off the path !"

"Hang on I'll ask my mum "

" me too"

" I wanna go "

" I'll be right back"

" I'll go ask "

"Same here !" I shouted walking off , everyone ran back to there house leaving Fritz and Milly by them selfs.

I ran back with the sleeves of my sweater swinging in the air , I felt my short hair get messy from the small amount of wind that pushed it from one side to the other but I kept running to get back to my house to see if I could go apple picking .

" mummy! Mummy!" I shouted banging on the door

" what is it ?" She opened the door with cooking gloves on her hands " quick, I've got to get back to dinner or you'll have burnt pasta for dinner" she smiled at me

" can I go apple picking with Milly and Fritz and Peter and Olivia and Adam and Charlotte and -"

" and Harry and Jeremy ?"

" no Harry's not coming but Jeremy is !"

She laughed " okay you can go but don't go to deep , stay on the path and back by 4 , okay?"

" okay! Thank you !" I hugged her and ran back to my friends where most of them had been waiting but we were still waiting on a few . Slowly they came and we were waiting on Charlotte who later came with a Woden fruits basket in her hand . After talking for a bit we all set of for our apple picking hunt .

" I heard the best spot for picking apples was over the hill but my mum said we shouldn't go past the hill , however I am allowed to go to the old mill " said Charlotte showing of her knowledge.

" same " fritz said , he was a shy kid who mostly played with Jeremy so we were very surprised by him saying this one word , but we all kind of knew he had something for Charlotte.

" Mari, are you scared ?" Milly smiled at me but I could hear the terror in her voice even though she tried to hide it .

" no why would I ?" She took a step closer to me and held my hand while she started to skip , we had been friends since we were born because my mum was friends with her mum . I started to skip in time with her , holding hands and watching the daisies go by and the grass more slightly with the light wind that took away the heat for a moment . We were slightly off the path but that was only because the path was taken up by everyone else. I better not tell mum that I walked slightly off the path , she would worry too much.

" because you almost died last time you came here"

" I know but we will stay near the path, won't we " I laughed pulling her closer to the path , we were the same age but she acted like she was 3

She giggled and spun around and around and around until she got dizzy and fell . She tripped over her feet and my face stood in shock as I watched , she stumbled to the ground backwards with a small scream and I felt a tug on my arm where she had let go of my hand and pulled my arm for safety, I let out a loud screech as I got pulled down to the ground and tumbled on top of her , she screamed once more as out hands twisted and I did a backwards roll causing my neck to click and making as both let of a cry as I pushed her twisting hand away from my arm so that I wouldn't break her arm , this cause her to tumble down a small hill , she grabbed some grass but it ripped out of the ground , I got pushed to the side and headed down the hill and towards the river , I heard Fritz scream but I couldn't finger out what he said . I stretched my feet out causing myself to stop just before I fell into the river , I quickly looked to my side to see nothing , I heard screaming and shouting coming from everyone on top of the small hill , still on the path and not fearing to go of it .

" MARI!" I heard a scream and looked to the side to see Milly clinging onto a tilted tree on the hill , her arms clinging to a branch that looked like it could break , her feet resting in a root that had grown out of the ground , I was so glad she was alive and didn't fall into the river . " Mari ! Are you okay?" She shouted and I smiled back at her

" yes! A-I'm so glad your okay!" I shouted back , I was going to ask if she was okay but it was a stupid question as I could already see that .

" I know !" She laughed " that was fun!" She shouted back and I couldn't help but laugh at her positivity.

" would you two stop messing around and get your tiny butts back up here , you almost gave me a heart attack !" Charlotte screamed at us , I grabbed onto a pice of grass and pulled myself up to her tree and she gave me a cheeky grin , I grabbed her hand and we slowly made our way back onto that path.

"Mari?" A voice of someone I thought I knew called me as I climbed up the hill but I ignored it even though I knew I shouldn't have . I looked back but only for a second and saw a shadow but I got stopped by Milly pulling me up and I went back to getting up to the path to be safe

" will you two be more careful!" Adam and Olivia shouted at us as she both exchanged a cheeky look and continued walking to find the apple tree.

-

" Mari?" A voice of someone I knew called me as I walked up the hill but I