Project Sorna

Thirty-one

                                           "Did I mention that I have a treehouse?" quarried Lara.

                                          Robin didn't think she could be any more shocked. "Nope-that's the first, actually!"

                                         Lara made a questionable face, her playful demeanor grinning across her face. As if Robin's friend had eyes on the back of her head, Lara continued walking backwards with a guided walk to her. "The first you ever heard of a treehouse? That's funny."

                                           "P-lease, this is my first time on the island! I've been poked and prodded at enough with all the 'residents' here." Robin smiled.

                                           Croft looked around. "Shhhh. You don't want to wake these guys up."

                                           "Huh?"

                                           Robin followed her guide to a minor Clift in the rocks. Her eyes followed a stream nearby that arched right over. Lara issued that she stay put while she snuck a distance away over the Clift.

                                             Minutes later, there was the women again. "Okay-coast in clear. Let's move in."

                                            "Gotcha." said Robin. The two delicately began to make their way down a series of streams, bungalows of the asleep just to the right of them.

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                                          We came to a stop. A dark mass of a tree loomed just ahead, roots gnarled this way and that way, the trunk just right for size, though massive. A single ladder reached into the branches above. I stood with a disapproving look, unsure if it was my skin turning pale, or the moon's first cascade of light on me.

                                          "I had this coming, didn't I?" I gave a nasty gulp.

                                          Lara glanced from the cover  of her shoulder with the usual playful demeanor. "Maybe. We'll get up there sooner later." she scaled the tree. A wave of guilt swept over me as I stood not far away. 

                                        "Come on-I'll be your mount!"

                                        One last look told me face my fears. If any survivor of this hell could climb some mangrove with confident in her voice, so could I. It wasn't very comfortable, latching onto Lara with dear life. But her agility was what impressed me on the spot. A skid up the tree she went, and jumped onto a ladder. Before long, we reached the tree house in complete darkness, our wits still intact.

                                      "We're here!"

                                      She hauled us up the final steps and onto a porch. A door was opened into the room, cascading the few hints of lights on the furniture.

                                     "Oh." I was pretending to be sunken by the mere difference of the living space. A  few walls stood with a furnace, comforter, couches, a rug, and a mere TV. "Well, this was certainly my time getting over here."

                                    "Come on, now!" went Lara, prowling in the dark for a switch in the dark. Lights emerged from a few cheap chandeliers. "We'll have a blast of a playdate, that I can tell you!"

                                   I chuckled at her. "Might as well. Who am I to judge?"

                                  Once we made up our minds, everything seemed to click at the moment. But my enthusiasm turned to dark curiosity when I turned to see something in the wall. At first, I had a suspicion the dark was playing tricks with my mind. An urge made me come closer to examining the wall. That's when I saw it.

                                    A single slash in the wall paper.

                                   "Robin?" went her friend from across the room, oblivious to Prestley's sinister discovery. Only silence from Robin. Lara Croft paused on that note, angled to where she saw the damage as well. "Robin," she neared slowly until she was right next to her. "Are you okay?"

                                 It wasn't until the two made eye contact that Robin spoke a word. "Lara? Do you see this?"

                               "Ya...ya that's-old." she spoke mindfully.

                              "How old would you say it is, if you know?" interrogated Robin.

                              "Perhaps, before I came here?" her eyes made a dart from around the room. Her guard was undeniably on top.  Something about her was hidden from plain sight in her movement, and before there could be any more questions, the women stopped in her tracks.

                              Then, she said more importantly, "You do believe me right?"

                               Robin started her sentence midway, but all that came left was a thumbs up.

                              Lara coolly secured her arms around herself and strut around the fashionable couch, taking her eyes here and there like a nervous breakdown in a nutshell. "Know the closest island from here?"

                            Prestley made the most unexpressed look. She must be kidding, right?