Francis awoke to someone nudging him.
"Uhmm, what?" he asked as he slowly opened his eyes. He looked into the eyes of his oldest brother.
"I said we're here," he repeated himself and got out the car. Francis adjusted his eyes to the mid afternoon sunlight and stretched. The he unbuckled his seat belt and climbed out the car.
No doubt they had reached their destination, but what was special about the woods? There was no air condition and no way to warm your food except over a small fire and sleeping in a tent.
What if bears came in the night and attacked? Or racoons and foxes and other small animals that would steal food? What if a fire burned out and left them shivering in the cold? What if a tent caught fire and burned all the supplies and equipment they had?
Francis knew he was probably over reacting, but he couldn't help but worry. One thing his did know was that cell phones were only going to be used for emergencies, but to see the day when Francesca puts down her phone would be like seeing pigs fly.
Sure enough, France took the cell phone from his daughter and she was having a tantrum on not being able to finish her conversation with her friends.
"I'm sure your friends can survive one week without talking to you," he told her.
"You don't understand, Father!" Francesca continued, stomping her foot. Francis didn't care to hear the rest, she was a spoiled brat. Even so, France didn't look like he was giving back her phone anytime soon.
After helping his mother with the camp site, Francis decided to go exploring in the woods. He asked if his siblings wanted to come, but they all said they had something to do, so he went alone.
Francis had to admit, the fresh air was nice and it felt good being away from his chaotic family. He had took a pocket knife along so he could mark the trees back to camp.
Francis wasn't sure how late he had been gone, but he was enjoying the wilderness after all. Sure there were bugs, and leaves and trees everywhere. But the weather was comfortable and the sounds of birds chirping made it most peaceful.
After a while, he decided to turn around and go back to camp, even if he still didn't feel like putting up with the family. But then something caught his eye to his left.
A rock covered wall with weeds and vines covering it, and there was something about it that made him want to take a closer look.
He tore away the weeds and vines, revealing a more rocky wall. But some of the rocks looked out of place. He pushed and tugged at the lose rocks, but they wouldn't budge.
"Perhaps a secret passageway?" Francis thought out loud to himself. He felt around the wall until he felt yet another rock that was lose. He pressed his finger to it and the passageway made a crackling sound. Francis was hesitant, but he gave the passageway another pull and it opened.
He peeked inside and saw nothing but darkness. Did it lead to somewhere? Surely it did, it was obvious for secret passages. But what was it for?
He didn't bring a flashlight, so he would have to come back and investigate later.
He closed the doorway and it clicked shut. Francis marked the location with a 'star' shape, to remind him later that there was a secret passageway. His mind was roaring with excitement. Where did it lead? Was he going to discover something that very few people knew about? Or did it lead to a beautiful pond where flowers grew endlessly? A place he could hide out until it was time to go back home?
Francis was going to keep the secret passageway a hush-hush. If he discovered a beautiful place, he didn't want his family to make unnecessary trips there. It was going to be his little secret place.
He found the trail he left that would lead him back to camp and he was with his family again within minutes.
"You were gone a long time," the older brother frowned. "I was beginning to think that you had gotten yourself lost."
"You wish," Francis wanted to say, but shrugged and smiled. "Guess I lost track of time."
His older brother watched him suspiciously, but he didn't say anything more.
That night, Francis curled up in the sleeping bag and drifted off to sleep soon after. He was going to go back to the passage while everyone was asleep.
Francis must have been dreaming, because the next thing he knew he was standing in a field of flowers. The butterflies fluttered up and away from the flowers, making a brief swarm of them surrounding Francis. There was a crystallized pond that glistened in the sunlight. Perhaps he was dreaming of the secret passageway and hoping that this was what it was like?
But as the butterflies flew away from Francis, he saw someone else standing by the water's edge.
The person had long blond hair and green eyes, and it didn't take Francis long to find out that it was Elizabeth. She was here too, in this lovely new place Francis discovered?
Elizabeth smiled and gestured with her finger for him to come closer, which Francis obeyed. But he didn't walk, he ran to her with much excitement. They hugged each other close and Francis leaned in to kiss her.
"Hey! What do you think you're doing?!" came an angry voice.
"Hmm?" Francis asked as he awoke from his dream. He stared into the eyes of Francisco, his other older brother, who was glaring at him.
"You were hugging me and trying to kiss me! And you were calling me by a girl's name!" he was frustrated and looked as if he was rudely awakened from his own dream.
"Oh...sorry," Francis said, feeling really embarrassed. Francisco lied back down and turned the other way and mumbling.
"Can't you dream about your stupid girlfriend quieter?"
Francis would have stuck his tongue out at him if his mind was on ugly thoughts, but they weren't.
"I knew that dream was too good to be true. Elizabeth would never let me touch, let alone, go near her," he thought to himself. He then realized that it was dark.
He waited a few minutes to make sure that Francisco was asleep before taking a flashlight and walking out of the tent. Everyone was asleep, but then Francis saw another figure in the dark outside of one of the tents too.
Maybe someone was getting up to go use the 'restroom' in the forest? But Francis peered into the darkness more and could tell that it was France. He too was making sure no one was up and about. Luckily, Francis hid behind a tree to make sure France would see him.
But this was weird, France wasn't going to use the 'restroom' because he wouldn't have been so secretive. Was he going somewhere too? Francis decided to follow him.