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Chapter 25

       I remember when I was younger that we all bet each other by how far we went into the forest. We were all around elementary age, except for the younger kids. Jamie and Angelica were in kindergarten at the time. Daiki was always scared and begged me to come with him for the bet. 

" You shouldn't bet then," I told him. I turned to Jason, " Why would you allow him to do that?" 

Jason grinned, " Well, he wanted to try. He's just afraid of the forest, when there's nothing there." 

" Do you really think that?" Jamie asked him quietly. 

" Of course, the legend that they use is all a myth. There's no way there's a witch that lives in the forest." 

" You seem so sure," Jimmy said. 

Jason turned to Jimmy, " Do you think there is?" he asked. He seemed so smug back then, always confident with his answers. He was also missing front teeth back then.

Jimmy shook his head. " No, I already know there's no such thing as witches but the younger kids don't know that much." 

Angelica pulled her brother's shirt in order to get his attention. She didn't explain anything, but he must have understood, because he nodded. " Angelica doesn't want to go into the forest," he told us. 

" Well, that means it's Jamie and I along with you and Daiki," he said. 

I looked down at my twin, who was still wiping his tears. " I'll go with you Daiki," I said with a sigh, " and we will be the first ones in." 

Jason stepped to the side, allowing us to go. " Alright, go have fun." 

" Don't make it sound like fun," I told him. 

Daiki tightened his hold in my hand when we stepped further into the forest. The sunlight disappeared and was replaced with darkness. This didn't seem so bad. Everyone always told us that you would find the witch in the middle of the forest, grinning at you. She always kidnapped little kids whom were curious about her. 

" Isabel, do you think she's here?" Daiki asked. 

" No way," I said. "We haven't seen her yet." 

" Then what's that? That figure in the middle?" 

I squinted my eyes to find the figure. I was convinced it was an animal, but they were standing up and staring at us. From here, it looked like they were wearing an old fashioned dress from our parents' time. " I would like to ignore it," I finally decided. 

" What? So you mean we're still going?" 

" Well, if they get closer then we start running." 

" I'm done with this," he muttered, letting go of my hand. " I don't want to know what that is up there." 

" I thought you were the one who wanted to prove Jason wrong?" 

"Yeah...but-" 

" You begged me to come in here with you," I interjected. 

He continued looking at the figure and pointed over to it. " I think it came closer." 

" Now don't be silly. I think it's just an animal that's messing with us." When I looked back at the figure, it did indeed move closer to us. I was starting to think that this is how children were kidnapped when they were younger. For a second, I thought I saw small red eyes coming from the figure. " Okay, let's go!" I shouted, turning back my to the figure. I pushed Daiki in front of me so that he could get a head start. Whatever that was, it was coming after us fast. As we got further, the light nearly blinded my eyes, causing me to trip over my feet. 

" Whoa, are you okay?!" Jason shouted, helping me up. Daiki was already getting help from Jimmy beforehand. 

" We...saw the woman," I told him. 

" The witch?"

" No, the candy man. Yes, the witch!" 

" There was a figure in the distance," Daiki managed to explain. " Isabel thought it was an animal, but they continued coming closer. That's when we figured it was the witch." 

" So, she actually exists," Jamie muttered under her breath. 

" Maybe it was just an animal," Jason told her. " There's no way that witch exists. I've been here since I was born." 

" And you're seven right now," I told him. " That doesn't mean there hasn't been another house in this forest years before you were born. Honestly, I knew this was a bad idea from the start!" 

" Then why did you go?" Jimmy questioned me. 

" Because my twin wanted me to!" I snapped. " I couldn't leave him back there unless I didn't care about him." 

Jason shook his head, " Alright then. We should head back before our parents find out about it." 

" And I think they found out," I said, pointing into the distance. There, my parents along with Jimmy's were running towards us with worried looks on their faces. I already knew we were in trouble since we walked out here. 

Us children had sat on the bed as our parents scolded us harshly. Jimmy had been the only one who's scolding wasn't as harsh as ours. Perhaps it was because he was mature than the rest of us. It made my blood boil. 

We then weren't allowed out for the rest of the day.  I sighed and rested on the bed. It had reminded me when I used to get bad grades at school and my parents would ground me. I felt like I was a bird trapped in a cage. 

" I'm sorry," Jason suddenly spoke. " I shouldn't have involved you guys to go into the forest like that." 

I sat up in the bed, frowning at him." Did Aunt Jessica tell you to say that or Uncle Yoshiya?"  

" Both." 

" It's alright," Jimmy replied. " We knew you weren't planning on getting someone hurt or sacred for life." 

" Was it scary?" Angelica asked, her voice wavering.

I nodded, " Yeah, with that figure in the distance. Daiki made it seem scarier than usual." 

" Because it looked more like a person than an animal," Daiki said. " I swore I thought we were about to die there." 

" We were not about to die," I said, hitting him in the head. " It was only a figure who was standing in the forest. I bet it didn't even chase us out, but we made it seem like it did." 

" Because you're scared," Jason teased. "I never thought Isabella would be this scared over something so little." 

I glared at him. " Don't call me Isabella. I hate that name." 

" But it's your name," Jamie said. " You can't change your name just because you don't enjoy it. I never liked my name either." 

" Your name does not sound girly," I told her. " It could either be a boy or a girl's name. However, I don't think people know which one you are." 

Without a reaction, Jamie stood from the chair and walked out of the room, slamming the door behind her. After she left, I caught Jason glaring at me. " That was uncalled for." 

" She was asking for it." 

" She certainly didn't want you to insult her name or gender," Jimmy chimed in. " Jamie didn't wish for you to get angry as well." 

" That girl already knows how I am with certain things. She knew what she was getting into when she talked about my name." 

" Did she?" Daiki asked. " Or are you just making an excuse to be rude to her. From how I see it, you just want to make her feel miserable about how she looks and her gender. Not everyone enjoys themselves unlike you." 

" I don't enjoy myself," I said. 

" Then why do you always sound selfish? You never really cared for that girl."

" I don't have to talk about this now," I said, covering my head with the pillow. It was true, I disliked Jamie. It didn't matter if she was my cousin or not, but honestly everything she did annoyed me greatly. I didn't know why.