The Tree [On hold]

Four

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I wake up to the scent of bacon. I literally jump out of bed as soon as I find out what I am smelling. I run down the stairs and practically fall down them. "Holy shit.. Anyway, morning! I smell bacon. Is my nose lying to me?" I ask as I flare my nostrils. "Nope! Your nostrils are telling you the truth!" Mark replies, his back turned to me. I smile as I walk over to him.

"How long have you been up for?" I ask him as I look over his shoulder to see the bacon. "I just got up like ten minutes ago." "Another question," "Hmm?" "why aren't you wearing pants?" "Well, home is where the pants aren't. I never wear pants in my house! I obviously wear my boxers, but I never wear pants!" He says proudly. "Wait did you sleep in your clothes..?" He asks as he looks over at me. "Yeah.. So what?" " I take offense I that. However, since you're my guest, you can wear your shirt on your face and your pants on your arms for all I care." He chuckles. "Well I think I am fine for what I'm wearing and where I'm wearing my clothes right now." I laugh.

"Aaaaaanyway, when are you going to leave?" I ask excitedly. "Whenever we have all our shit together." "Awesome! Uhh wait.. Mark..?" "Hmm?" He asks me as he turns his back to me again, focusing on the bacon. "You're coming with me, right?" "Yeah, why? I don't have to if you don't want me t-" "Do you know how long we will be gone for?" "I don't know, a few months probably.." "I hope you're kidding." "What?" "We will be gone for at least a year or so.."

"Wait what?" "I mean logically speaking-" "Jack look, I.." He begins but stops as if he is thinking. "I forgot about my housemate.." He face palms. "You have a housemate? When did this happen?" "She's out of town until next week. I have always had a housemate but I guess I forgot to tell you about her." "Fair enough, fair enough."

"We can leave after I make a call." Mark says as he walks out of the room to put the bacon on the table. He pulls out his phone and goes into the living room. "Awesome." I walk over to the table and eat some bacon. "Oh crap.. There are only two more strips of bacon left.." I whisper to myself. "I have an idea!" I smile.

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"Hey. So- did you eat all the bacon..?" Mark asks as he walks into the room again. "All but two! We need to make a toast!- I mean.. A bacon!" I say as I give him one of the bacon strips. "Okay what are we making a "bacon" to?" He raises an eyebrow. "Good luck..? I don't really know.. To good bacon!" I cheer as I hold up the piece of bacon. Mark shrugs but chuckles. "To good bacon."

He holds  his bacon to mine and we make fake clinking noises before eating at the same time. I cover my mouth as I chew and attempt to giggle. "Anyway, she said she can take care of the house for however long we are away." Mark says before eating most of the bacon. "Good. So when do you want to leave..?" I ask. "Well, do we have all of our shit?" "Probably." I say as I finish my food. "No we don't." Mark reminds me.

"Oh yeah.. Money.." I say in an annoyed tone. Mark nods before running upstairs. He runs back down to me with money in his hands. "Here. You take half and I take half." I grab some of the money and pull out my wallet to put the cash in. "Now can we leave?" I ask eagerly. "Well one more thing.." He says. I raise an eyebrow and cross my arms.

"Just kidding! We can go." Mark laughs. "I hate you so much right now." I say as I walk to the door. "No you don't." He says before we leave the house. "Bye, house.." Mark says as he pats the door. "Come on. Do you want to bring your b-" "Wait hold on.." Mark runs back in the house and leaves me outside.

I put my hands in my pockets and look around. I think I see something in the corner of my eye, but just shrug it off. I walk over to the bike and touch the handle. I hear a something like a crunching leaf behind me. I am about to turn around but Mark comes back outside with something in his hand.

"What's that?" I ask as I point to the object. "It's a present that Crystal- Crystal is my housemate. Did I ever tell you her name..?" Mark asks. I shake my head. "Oh.. Well anyway it's a 'birthday ring' she gave me a few years ago. I also wrote her a note and I put it on her door." He says after he puts the ring on. "That's cool. You are bringing your phone though.. Right..?" I ask. "Yeah. Why?"

"Well why would you put a note on her door if you can call or text her?" "Because I want to leave her with a handwritten message. It's more meaningful that way.." Mark says. "Yeah.. I guess.. Come on. You taking the bike?" I ask. "No. It wouldn't be fair to the other person. We also don't know when we have to literally pick it up and.. You know the rest. So no we shouldn't bring it." He says before walking ahead of me.

"Fair enough.. W- wait for me!" I say before catching up to him. "So which way do you think we should go?" Mark asks. "I don't know.. Straight I guess.." I laugh. "Well since we both still have some energy, do you want to have another race like yesterday?" Mark smirks. "Hell no. You will win." I say. "Who said that?" "I did.. I know that you will win.."

"You don't know that for sure.." He said. "Ha! Yes I do!" I laugh a little. As I stop laughing, I look at Mark and smirk at him. He has a confused look on his face before I run as fast as I can to the corner. I'm almost there but I hear Mark's footsteps behind me which just makes me run faster. "Hey, Jack." Mark smirks as we run.

"Shut up.." I say before I run faster than I ever had before. I stop at the corner and look back at Mark. I am already gasping for air but I see Mark say "Holy shit!"  which makes my situation even worse because I start laughing. I am guessing Mark thinks that I am dying because I'm laughing and trying to catch my breath at the same time. Then I start making weird noises.

"Oh my god are you okay?" Mark asks with a chuckle or two following his question. "Y.. Y- ye.." I gasp and put my hands on my knees. I bring up a hand and make a thumbs up. "You.. You sure..?" "Mhm.." "So want to run to the next corner?" Mark jokes. I turn my hand from a thumbs up to the middle finger.

I eventually catch my breath and take my hands off my knees. "Okay.. I'm good.. I- I think.." I say. "Okay cool. No more running I guess?" Mark asks. "What do you think?" I raise my eyebrow. "Yeah, no more running.." I nod in response.

"So we should just get out of the-" Mark started. "Yeah. As quickly as we can.. Just no running right now.." I chuckle. "Fair enough." "Well? What are you waiting for? Come on!" I say before walking ahead of him. "Hey! Wait up!"

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Word count: 1,311
Author's note -
Hey! So I haven't uploaded anything this month.. I'm sorry!! However, I am going to start writing the next chapter right after I publish this. I know that the chapters aren't 4,000+ words yet.. I just thought it would be better if I stopped it where I did so I can continue- it will make sense. You will see soon! :D Have a good rest of your day!

:3