Timore Animi

Part 7

The next morning, when Caleb and Andrew woke up, Daniel was still sleeping in his bed. They were hoping that Daniel would be back to normal when he woke up this morning, but it was already getting close to 11:00 AM, and they did not think that Daniel was going to wake up.

Caleb and Andrew walked down to the motel lobby and grabbed some items from the breakfast table. They grabbed muffins, bananas, a few slices of bread and some jam to put on the bread. They brought the food back up to their room, and when they entered, they did not see Daniel anywhere. Caleb and Andrew started running around the motel room trying to find Daniel. They looked in the shower, under the bed, and in the closets, but Daniel was nowhere to be found.

Caleb and Andrew knew that when they left Daniel earlier, he was still asleep and did not think that he would wake up. They both had a bad feeling that Daniel was on his way to the forest if he was not there already. They just did not know if Daniel had woken up and driven himself to the forest because he was having a psychological breakdown or if the Timore Animi had snuck into their room while Caleb and Andrew were down in the lobby getting breakfast. Caleb walked over to the window and peaked around the curtain to look outside. When he looked outside, Daniel's car was still parked in the parking lot. They knew this could only mean one thing: the Timore Animi kidnapped Daniel.

Caleb and Andrew quickly searched around the room for the keys to the car and found them buried in Daniel's duffel bag. They hurried out of the room and down to the car. Once Caleb and Andrew were in the car, Caleb sped out of the parking lot and hurried in the direction of the forest.

"If Daniel is dead, I don't know what I'm going to do," said Caleb. "He's my brother. I can't lose him."

Andrew did not know what to say because he felt the Caleb way. Even though he was not related to Caleb and Daniel, Andrew thought of them as his brothers and did not know what he would do either if he were to lose them.

As Caleb and Andrew drove towards the forest, they did not speak one word to each other. They could not think about anything else except for how they were both hoping that Daniel was still alive.

When they arrived at the forest, Caleb and Andrew noticed that the sky had gotten darker, but it was only noon and there were not any dark clouds in the sky. Caleb and Andrew knew that something was not right about this forest. They just haven't figured it out yet.

Caleb continued driving into the forest trying to see if they could see Daniel anywhere. As they drove deeper and deeper into the forest, they did not have any luck finding Daniel.

"Where else could he be?" Caleb asked.

Andrew only shrugged his shoulders as he started to give up all hope he had. Caleb was not going to rest until he found Daniel. He drove further into the forest until they reached a dead end. Caleb started to turn around, but as soon as he turned the car around, he heard a gun firing several shots. Caleb jumped out of the car and shouted, "Daniel!"

There was not a response.

"Daniel!" Caleb shouted again. There still was not a response.

Caleb slid back into the car and started going back towards the entrance of the forest when he suddenly slammed on the breaks when Andrew shouted, "There!" Andrew pointed up into a tree. Caleb leaned forward over top of the steering wheel and saw Daniel lying flat on his stomach on a tree branch.

"No," Caleb whispered. "He can't be."

Caleb shut the engine off and darted out of the car, running as fast as he could towards the tree. Caleb did not know how to climb a tree, but he was determined that he would figure it out so that he could reach Daniel.

Caleb started to climb up the tree when his foot suddenly slipped and sent him tumbling down into a pile of weeds. He was not going to give up though. He started up the tree again. Caleb was half way up the tree when Daniel suddenly rolled off the tree branch and crashed to the ground.

"Daniel!" Caleb shouted. Caleb looked back at Andrew and shouted, "Andy, help him!"

Caleb quickly but carefully made his way down the tree and over to Daniel. When Caleb and Andrew reached Daniel, they rolled him over onto his back and saw that he was alert.

"Daniel, are you okay?" Caleb asked. "What happened?"

Daniel stood up and brushed himself off. When he shook off the shock from falling out of a tree, Daniel started grinning from ear to ear. "I did it, Caleb!"

Caleb looked over the bushes and saw the monster lying in a ditch. "So, is it dead?" Caleb asked.

"Yeah! I think!" Daniel exclaimed. "I just figured that if I fired enough shots into it, it would either die or be paralyzed for good."

Caleb and Andrew looked at each other and shook their heads. "You're stupid, you know that Daniel?" Caleb asked.

Daniel laughed and said, "Yeah. I know."

Daniel, Caleb, and Andrew took one last look at the monster and saw that it was still lying in the ditch. They saw that the monster was still dead and started walking back towards their car. When they got in the car, Daniel started to drive out of the forest when a sudden burst of light coming from behind them. Daniel slammed on the breaks and got his gun ready. Caleb and Andrew also got out of the car to see what was happening. When they glanced into the ditch, they saw that the monster had disappeared.

"That's it. I've had enough," said Daniel as he got back into his car. "Come on, boys. I'm leaving."

"Wait," said Caleb. "What is that in the sky?"

Daniel got out of the car again and looked in the direction that Caleb was pointing. "Do not tell me that it is a UFO. ALIENS DON'T EXIST!" Daniel shouted.

As they were looking into the sky, they noticed the dead monster was being lifted into the sky and into what seemed like a UFO. Once the monster disappeared, the light faded away and the hovercraft blasted away into the sky.

"You've got to be kidding," said Daniel. "Aliens are real?"

They all looked at each other in shock. "Apparently," replied Caleb.

Daniel sighed and shook his head. "Like I said. I've had enough."

Daniel climbed into his car and motioned for Caleb and Andrew to follow him. Daniel started the engine and stomped on the gas, speeding out of the forest. Never in a million years had they imagined that they would ever have to fight against aliens. They knew at that point that they had completely lost their minds. As Daniel started driving down the highway, he made up his mind that he was done fighting monsters. He was going to go back to living in his perfect world where there would not be any monsters, or chaos, or anything that could get him killed.

Daniel knew that he enjoyed fighting monsters and protecting people, but he also learned a valuable lesson: Live your best life because you never know what the future holds.