The Wrong Direction

Chapter Six

Adriana

Chapter Six

"Hey Ben!" Louis and Sienna called at the same time as they returned to camp.  "We have a tasty treat for you!"  It was quite creepy, actually.  They sounded like they had rehearsed it, but they hardly seemed like the type of people to do that.

"Ooh, is it brownies?" asked Ben excitedly as he raced over to them.

Louis grinned, shaking his head.  "Nope.  It's even better than brownies."

Ben frowned and crossed his arms.  "Nothing is better than brownies."

"Well, then you haven't tried these before," Sienna piped in.

Louis reached into his pocket and pulled out a handful of yellow, prickly berries.  They didn't look very tasty to me.  Maybe Sienna poked his eyes in the forest so he couldn't tell the difference.  I don't know Sienna particularly well, but I could somehow see her doing that.

"I'm only eating them if Louis feeds them to me!" Ben said stubbornly.

"No!" Louis exclaimed, clearly not wanting to put his fingers anywhere near Ben's mouth, which is pretty understandable.  Ben has a tendency to follow on sudden urges . . . .

"You promised!" Ben whined like a baby.

Oh why couldn't I be an only child?  It'd make my life so much easier.  People who don't have siblings don't know how lucky they are.  It's so sad to not even be able to go get ice-cream without getting strange looks from everyone when Ben jumps up and down demanding he get chocolate ice-cream.  I don't even know how I turned out sane after my childhood.

"Oh just do it, Louis," Sienna said impatiently.

Louis sighed, but didn't argue any longer.  Angrily, he shoved the berries in Ben's face.  Ben didn't seem to notice how frustrated Louis was, because he had a dreamy look on his face and he started to creepily sway back and forth as Louis fed him.  It didn't take long for Ben to eat all of the berries Louis and Sienna had brought back, but it sure was long enough for Louis.

"Ugh, that's not fair," Niall complained as he sat down next to me by the fire.  "I wanted some of those berries.  Ben needs to learn how to share.  That's basic knowledge."

I glanced at Niall and shook my head.  "Trust me, you do not want any of those berries, Niall."

"Why not?"

"Because," I paused to sneak a peek over my shoulder at Louis, Sienna, and Ben, "something must be wrong with those berries.  Otherwise Louis wouldn't be hand-feeding them to Ben.  Just sharing a camp with Ben is hard enough.  Feeding him is like torture.  Louis is probably scared out of his mind right now."  I paused again before adding, "And didn't you already eat some mysterious berries?  How did that work out for you, Niall?  Most people would refrain from eating unidentified berries after eating some poisonous ones.  You're just lucky they weren't too toxic."

"Hey, don't blame Harry's stupidness on me!  I'll eat about anything given to me.  It's his fault for offering it to me in the first place.  And you know, I have gotten Louis to feed me once before too.  It's not a new thing for him."

My eyes widened and I shook my head disappointingly.  "Niall, that is one story I'd rather not hear."

"Suit yourself," Niall replied.  "But seriously, I'm starving!  I haven't ate in forever."

"I think Harry's about to cook the squirrels," I said, watching Harry march back into camp with a very badly carved wooden spoon.  I don't even want to know . . . .