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Chapter 2: Benjamin

"How'd you get all the way up there?" A voice echoes from below me. I jolted back surprise, then gripped the branch of the tree to regain my balance. A boy that looks about my age was standing at the base of the trunk. He ran his fingers through his short brown hair back so it flipped up in the front and was out of his eyes. "I don't know, I just kinda climbed." I called back. "I'll come down! What are even you doing out here?" I shout as I begin to make my down the tree. When I reach the bottom branch I jump off and as I straighten up I realize that he stands almost a foot above me. I laugh and rub the back of my neck. He smiles.

"I'm Benjamin. I live in the village not too far south of here, but I take a jog every afternoon around here. I'm surprised we haven't run into each other!" "Ya!" I say. His dark brown eyes lock with mine and he raises his eyebrows as if expecting me to say more, but I have nothing to say so I just raise my eyebrows back. He laughs. "So I'm guessing you live around here?" I nod. "I go to school just around a couple blocks." We begin to walk the opposite direction. "I go to school where I live so that's probably why I don't recognize you." "Ya. Oh, by the way, I'm Margaret." I reply.

We came to a large branch stretching in our path. I walk to a part with a ledge and heave myself up on it. I tried to make it look like it was easy, but totally failed. I stood up laughing. He laughed back. He then proceeded to pull himself onto the log with the greatest of ease. I realized how muscular he was and couldn't stop looking in awe. I see why he runs every afternoon now. Once he stands up he smirks at me and slides off the other side. I jump after him and smirk back. We start walking again. "You're a jock I'm guessing." I ask. "Yeah..." He responds. "And you?" "I'm more of an artist." I say, "I like to take pictures." "That's.. actually really cool." He responds. "Thanks..."

Suddenly, we begin to smell something strange... "Hey, that you?" He jokes. I lightly punch his chest. "Shut up! I don't smell that bad!" I roll my eyes and giggle. He snickers. Then, I realize what the smell was. We were standing 10 feet away from the log crossing the creek. "Ugh! The smell is coming from that log! I crossed it on my way home from school. I think an animal died in there!" He makes a face. "No... I don't think it's an animal..." "What... do you mean?" I stutter. We creep towards a hole in the side of the trunk, where a white object is barely visible. This better not be what I think it is. I plug my nose and squint as smell gets stronger and stronger. We look in the hole. I almost barf. It's exactly what I thought it was.