Arden

31. Into the Woods

31.  Into the Woods 

Time spent among trees, is never time wasted...

*** (Long Chapter)

I walked through the trees silently, watching my feet move forward. I heard the crunching of sticks and leaves.

The tiny forest behind my house was my safe haven. I come here almost once a week for silence. Most teenagers lock themselves in their room, but me, I walk alone in the creepy woods. I've been coming here since the fourth grade.

At first, it was weird; I would walk into the woods in the middle of the night. My mother didn't think much about it, though.

As I got older, the lack of my mother's concern, concerned me. She should've been at least worried that I was wondering around in the woods. I soon learned that the trees were olive trees. The whole forest was made of olive trees. My mother said it wasn't weird that I came out here. I was connected to them.

It was like they would call me out here. I would walk around by myself, nothing really going through my mind. It was just me, the trees, and the air that surrounded us.

I also learned that there are owls living in this forest. It was questioning how owls would be in this part of the country but, they were here. One time, there was this one particular owl that stalked me. It was creepy but it didn't bother me too much.

I don't usually think about this place a lot. I don't talk about it either. It was...sacred..to me. My Safe Haven.

As I walk between the trees, I can hear voices. I stopped and started to to hear more clearly. It sounded like two people having an intense conversation. Of course, me and my dumb self followed the voices. Well, that and because the trees were telling me to. I'm serious, maybe they were leading me to my fate.

As I got closer, the voices became louder. Eventually, a cliff came to view. An actual cliff and there was also a car, a very familiar looking car. I moved even closer and hid behind one of the wide trees.

I squinted my eyes...is that...Zane and Hayden...

I leaned forward. Yup, that was definitely them. Alright, what the hell is going on? My eyes shifted as I tried to listen to their conversation.

Hayden was wearing all black and his hair was in it's usual messy-but-good fashion. However, he wore an irritated expression. Zane wore the same. Thousands of questions ran through my mind.

What the hell are they talking about? Why are they in the middle of nowhere? Why were they arguing? And why the hell are they doing it over a cliff?

"Can you not be an asshole for five minutes?" Zane gritted out.

Hayden rolled his eyes. "I don't think you're understanding my whole reason for this plot." They were now in each other's faces and this looked like this was going to end very badly.

My heart rate picked up as I kept listening. I wanted to know where this conversation was going. "I don't give a-" Zane stopped and paused. "Wait." He said lowly as he began to look around.

Oh no. He touched his chest, laid his hand over it flatly and Hayden eyed him carefully. "You're heart fire is activated." He told Zane with raised eyebrows . "I haven't felt that in a long time."

Zane continued to look through the trees, searching for me.

I quickly hid the rest of my body behind the tree, praying that he'll ignore the situation. I felt my warm heart beating against my chest. He knows I'm here.