Watch the Northern Lights

Chapter 2: Death. Probably Death.

Chapter 2:

Four Days Ago

When morning came, as promised, they all decided to walk beyond their campsite.

"So, what did your friend tell you about this place?" Ingrid asked Skye, as they were walking.

"Umm. Not much." Skye scanned the area, and stopped Ingrid, turning her in the direction Skye was looking at. "She did say that polar bears came around sometimes, though."

A mother polar bear and two cubs were walking a couple miles away, and Ingrid smiled brightly. "Oh my gosh, yay! Polar bears!" Ingrid said, as she took out her phone and took a picture of them. She looked at the picture after she took it and smiled. Then, she had an idea. "Hey guys, why don't we take a picture with the polar bears in the background?"

"Sure!" Skye says, and Ingrid stepped in front of everyone.

Skye stood next to Ingrid, Brandon stood behind Skye, with a hand on her shoulder. Lauren and Bree stood somewhere in the middle, and Lauren put two fingers behind Skye's head. Alex stood behind Bree and Lauren, and everyone gave their smile. The polar bears were right at the corner of the photo. Ingrid took the picture and looked at it as soon as it took.

"Cute!" Skye looked at the picture as well and she clapped.

"You HAVE to send that to me!"

"Me too!" Lauren said.

"Me three." Bree continued.

"I'll just send it to everyone." Ingrid smiled as she went on to send the picture to everyone.

As promised by Skye's Alaskan friend, the retreat was something to see. The snow had blanketed over everything, making it a wintery oasis. A sight of beauty.

The six friends were having fun as they hiked miles and miles away from their campsite. They had seen a couple more polar bears, and came across a lot more wildlife. But, it was almost 5 at night, and they had to cut their trip short and head back to camp. After all, Skye wanted to see the northern lights. That was the whole point of this trip, right?

--

As they neared the campsite, and the sun was starting to set, Skye absentmindedly looked over to where she saw the cave last night. They were closer to it than she was when she noticed it.

"Hey, guys..." Skye said, finally gaining some courage. "Look at that cave over there." She pointed at it, and the rest of the gang looked in that direction.

"Creepy," Alex wrinkled his nose in noticeable uneasiness. "That cave just looks like... something out of horror movie.

It did, actually. Icicles were all around the top of the mouth of the cave, and you could hear the sounds of water dripping very clearly.

And it was big. Bigger than it had been when Skye saw it the previous night.

Everyone who knows Skye, knows that she wouldn't be caught dead watching a horror movie. So something like this would usually freak her out and have her running for the hills.

Something about the cave though, interested her. "Should we go check it out?" Skye asked, with a smile that showed her curiosity.

"Hah, no." Brandon said, with not even a moment's hesitation. "We should go back to camp. Northern lights, Skye. Think of the northern lights."

"But..." Skye looks at the cave again. She looks back at her friends. "I want to look inside."

"Skye," Bree comes up to Skye and puts her hands on her shoulders. "Did—Did you hit your head on something that we don't know about? You heard Alex. This cave SCREAMS 'kill me.' Let's not."