Lost within myself

Rain

My stomach lurched to the thought of Megan being behind us the whole time. What was she doing and why did she want to follow us? I thought.

The sky was completely dark now and it was threatening to rain. My spine tingled as a large gust of wind swept me. The weather seemed to be quite strange. At first it was super sunny and now completely dull. 

As we waited for Megan to return, the teachers went and looked around. Whilst standing there in boredom I felt a drop of rain. I looked up and realised it was sprinkling. The teachers ran back to us and told us to follow them into Steve's wildlife hut. 

It started pouring within seconds as we entered the hut. We sat on Steve's bed and warm mats that were beside a fireplace right next to a cabinet.

Mr Long looked shocked and didn't seem to be in a good mood. He looked through the small window, as the rain slid down it. Katy and Miranda were sitting in a corner staring at the ground which was quite surprising because they never really liked sitting on the dusty floor.

Steve went to his mini kitchen and boiled up some hot soup with garlic and cooked vegetables. The smell drifted across the entire room. 

He poured it into some steel bowls and handed us a spoon. I watched as everyone closed their eyes and enjoyed the hot substance. I leant against the wall that was behind the bed and slowly sipped on the soup. 

After we had all finished we heard a loud knock at the door. Mr Long was at the door before Steve could even move.

He opened it and there we saw Megan. She had her blush pink scarf tied around her head like a beanie that was soaking wet. Her black cardigan wrapped tightly around upper body. Her legs had goose bumps all over and her canvases were battered and muddy.

Mr Long helped her inside as she went straight towards the blazing fire and tucked up. Steve handed her some of the soup as her cold and red face shone by the fire. 

I watched as Miranda and Katy flung over to Megan and embraced her with a tight hug. She looked at them with great relief and looked around the entire room. Everyone gazed in her direction and only the sound of the fire and the pouring of the rain was to be heard. 

Thunder was now starting to form as white strikes glowed in the sky. "What were you doing?" Mr Fillet asked. 

"Um, I got a bit lost whilst looking at the scenery," Megan replied giving a cold stare in my direction.

She was obviously joking as her facial expressions gave a nasty tormenting look. "Well, as long as you are safe we are happy although please do not go off like that again," Mr long said. 

"Well we will be leaving tomorrow to go back to the school. We didn't get to spend a night back at Camp Bridget in the huts due to the rain. We will just go directly back to school," 

Lucas and I exchanged looks. "How will we solve the rest of it?" I asked quietly.

"No idea," Lucas muttered. "We'll just have to see,"

It was around 7:30 pm but the rain continued. The distant trees oscillated in the background. Steve opened a cupboard that was above the stove. He pulled out several red blankets and handed them one by one to us. 

He then went outside with a black umbrella and fed all of is animals and covered their cages with a cloth that was of plastic material. 

We all had to share the blanket with a partner. Lucas and I shared one as we sat on the bed squished in the corner making as much room possible for others.

The night continued as Steve told funny stories and we listened to his soothing voice. 

After an hour and a half everyone was practically asleep. I was finding it difficult. Not being able to actually lie down on the bed, my back was aching and the profound thoughts of Megan sneaking on us were distracting.

The night carried on as I looked out of the window on the other side of the room that gave the smallest bit of light in the unlit room.

I put my head between my knees and tucked up in the blanket. Lucas was already asleep as his fringe covered his large eyelids.

Closing my eyes, I slowly fell asleep...

The morning came no sooner and thankfully the rain had stopped. We quickly got ready and were outside by 8:30 am.

It was still pretty cold and everything around us was all soggy and muddy. The animals were safe and sound under the yellow plastic material that was dripping with water. 

Mr Long asked us to stay near Steve's house while he and Mr Fillet went and checked on the bus driver to drive us back. 

"Well, our adventure remains incomplete," I said moving my foot around in a small puddle. Lucas groaned as we waited for Mr Long to return.

After some good 30 minutes Mr Long appeared with a very tired looking Mr Fillet. "Everyone gather around," he started. "Our bus has broken down due to the rains and hence we will be delaying the time to reach the school. We have called a mechanic that is nearby to Camp Bridget but it will take quite a while to repair everything. We would like you all to stay here with Steve while all teachers and I go and look at the bus. No one is to be going anywhere," he declared. 

I couldn't have ever loved this news. Everyone around us looked bored and frustrated but Lucas and I loved every bit of this moment. We quickly crept over to Steve and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Steve, can you please let us go, we need to find the next clue and...,"

"Slow down Lucas," he said. "What clue is this by the way?"

Lucas and I explained everything to Steve as he curiously listened to every word. "I don't think you should go. You might get lost again," he said.

"Please Steve, please. We have got a chance to find out the truth and we need to find out about my parents," I said eagerly.

"Oh, alright but you need something for contact. Steve told us to follow him inside and he gave us walkie talkies. Use these if you need me and I'll keep you updated about things around here," he told.

"Sweet," Lucas replied.

I grabbed the walkie talkie from his hand as we closed the door shut and went straight towards the dark forest.