"Those" people

Chapter 3: Our surprise trip

By the beginning of our second year, we had all settled into our sweet little routine. We had visited family over the summer and had spent our first month back at school relishing in each other's company in our small apartment and in the basement of The Hangout. Then a bank holiday came around, and we were all stumped as to what to do.

'Ok guys look. We have a long weekend, and there's no point going home to see our family since we saw them a few months ago anyways. We should go CAMPING.' Toby pitched the project with a big smile on his face

'Yes please. Yes. Yes.' Arina was excited.

Delilah and I were also insanely excited. Eve was the only one needing a touch of encouragement, considering the absence of electricity and therefore lack of video games but she came around.

Our issue was that we couldn't leave the country considering our money issues, and all of Toby's elaborate plans were set in other countries. Thankfully, I camped a lot with my dad in the UK from when I was younger, so I had some ideas. I explained my plan to the others one night when we were all sat in our mismatched living room. Eve was listening half heartedly, stuck in a hard game on her console. The cats were lying on the television set and on people's laps, and the dogs were resting on their beds and cuddling with us.

'So there are these things called bothies. A bothy is a basic shelter, left unlocked and available for anyone to use free of charge.There are raised platforms to sleep away from the cold and usually a fireplace. No bedding, mattresses or blankets are provided because, you know, sanitary reasons.' I explained.

'That sounds amazing!' Toby was grinning.

'We can go to a certain one in Wales that's right by the forest. I've been there a few times and it's far away from everything and it gets eerie late at night...' I said, trying to spook them.

Eve scoffed. 'We'll see about eerie. I've played a lot of FNAF. I fear nothing' 

'We shall see. We shall see.' Delilah scoffed. 

And so, we set off. We left at twilight early on Saturday morning. We debated on bringing the cats, but we decided against it. So we only brought the three dogs. ONLY. We had rented a small transit van and had some trouble deciding the seating arrangements. The drive was only three and a half hours, but we squabbled over the seating for twenty minutes before leaving. Because I was the one most fit to drive in that instant, I had the power to choose who would be taking shotgun. I concluded with Delilah, considering she was the one who would be craving control over the radio the most. Arina was barely awake and stumbled into one of the back seats. Eve was unhappily settled next to her, disappointed about not being able to sit up front. Toby wasn't too upset about being at the back. We had connected the back seats and the trunk so that the dogs could sit with all of us and not be alone.

As expected, Toby had over prepared and was ready for all and everything. He had a big leather satchel he carried on his back that he carefully placed by his feet in the car. Arina and Eve had only packed cute clothes that were definitely not appropriate for Wales in October. Arina had also picked up some stuffed animals for the road to keep her comfortable, and Eve had brought a console. I had packed too many books. We had picked up food and drinks and a small portable stove. Toby had too many air mattresses and sleeping bags, so he had plenty for us all.

I drove for the first two hours. Delilah blasted her music, and her dancing was too infectious. I gave in and danced with her too, all the while concentrating on the road. Toby was basically shaking with excitement, window open, his hand outside. Eve was trying to get Arina to wake up, and when we finally did they played 1V1 games on Eve's console. Arina lost every time. Arina and I switched places for the last hour and a half, with Toby slowly explaining to her how to read a map and which way we had to go. We got lost 4 times. 

We finally arrived at the bothy at 11:00 o'clock. slightly later than planned. We had to park the van down by the river, and hike up to where the bothy was. It was a couple hour's hike, and wasn't much trouble fro Toby and me, but the other complained nearly the entire time. I relished in the crisp weather and Toby relished taking us to his paradise which was hiking. We walked and walked until we finally arrived at the bothy. To our luck, no one else had taken up any beds. The bothy was an abandoned farmhouse. It was stone, smack bang in the middle of the forest. We ventured inside. The bothy had two rooms, one where we kept our food and where there were a few chairs, and one with the beds. There were four single beds and a bunk bed. Bed was a slight over statement. They were wooden platforms, but they became comfortable enough when we blew up our air mattresses and put our sleeping bags down. I scrambled up to get the top bunk that was next to the one of two windows in the room, looking off into the forest. Toby got the bottom bunk and the other girls scrambled onto the single beds. There was a fire place in the room, but we needed to cut our own firewood. Toby found a saw that we could use to cut up the logs that were piled up behind the house. 

The saw was very sharp.