"Arthur…?" Vivi asked slowly, blinking gently, "What are you doing here?" Arthur blinked slowly, squinting from the bright light now in his face.
"Vivi… We've gotta!" Arthur looked over his shoulder, expecting to see Lewis in his face, but there was nothing.
"We've gotta what Arthur…?" She asked slowly, glancing where he had come from. Arthur looked to her and paled a little. I can't tell her… I just can't… I can't tell her I was being chased by that ghost from the mansion… She'll ask me what the ghost has against me… She'll try to find the truth… She can't know the truth… She'll hate me.
"We've gotta…get back to camp…" Arthur said slowly as he looked at her. "I broke my string somehow and got lost… Is yours still in one piece?" Vivi smiled softly and showed him a blue thread in her hands.
"Mine's good," She said happily. Vivi climbed to her feet and offered a hand out to Arthur. "Come on Art… It's getting late, and this horror show is pretty much solved." Arthur took her hand and slowly got to his feet.
"What do yo-OUCH!" Arthur fell over slightly and grabbed a nearby tree, not wanting to pull Vivi down with his weight. His ankle burned intensively, and now that the adrenaline was out of his system, he could only focus on the pain. Vivi saw his face and her eyes widened.
"Are you okay?" She asked, quickly putting her arm under his shoulder.
"I-I think so…" He said slowly, "I-I think I-I twisted m-my a-ankle though… I-I tripped on a root…" He left out the fact that he had been running on it and tripped a second time, but Vivi didn't question him right then.
"I've got a first aid kit at camp," She assured him as she started leading him back towards camp. "While I'm bandaging you up, I'll explain this case to you. You won't believe what Mystery and I found while you were away." Arthur followed her carefully, trying his best to keep his weight off of her.
"After all the cases we've done, I doubt that V." He said slowly, quickly glancing over his shoulder at the dark. After tonight, I'm sure nothing would surprise me anymore.
She got him back to camp easily, then turned on a few different lanterns they had stashed away before setting to work on Arthur. She carefully removed his shoe and sock, letting out a slow breath when she saw his ankle. "It looks like you've sprained it Arthur," She said slowly as she gently took it in his hands. Arthur couldn't hold back a small whimper as she carefully moved his foot. "It's swollen and bruised, and it obviously hurts when I move it… Does it hurt when you move your knee?" Arthur looked down at her and shook his head slowly.
"Only the ankle…" He said slowly. Vivi turned it over a little more, before grabbing the first-aid kit from her backpack.
"It doesn't feel like you popped it out of place, but I think you tore something." Vivi said calmly. "We'll have to get you some crutches." She found an ace wrap and carefully wrapped Arthur's foot, making sure not to cut off any circulation. She then handed him some Ibuprofen and water, before making an ice pack from a plastic bag and some ice from the cooler. She placed a towel on his ankle before placing the ice pack over it. "There…hold this to your ankle from the next 20 minutes or so." Vivi smiled as Arthur quickly grabbed the ice pack and held it firmly against his ankle.
"Thanks V…" He said slowly, the pain only fading a little. "You said you'd already solved this case?" He looked up at Vivi and saw her smile.
"Well, Mystery did the hard part," She said happily as she took a seat next to Arthur. "While we were exploring, we saw an odd fire glowing in the distance. I turned off my flashlight and slowly snuck up on the campfire, and I found a group of filmmakers laughing and hanging out. I've got it on film. For the past few months, they've been out here filming the adventures of whoever came into the forest, even scaring some of them. From what I got on film, they paid the people to keep quiet about what they had done." Arthur sat back a little in his seat and sighed loudly.
"A bunch of college kids having fun…" Arthur said slowly, unable to hide his annoyance. "How did Mystery do the hard part exactly?" Vivi smiled, hoping he would ask.
"Well, Mystery snuck up on them and scared all of them!" She said eagerly. "He chased them all completely out of the forest. I caught it all on film! The best part? I think one of those guys wet his pants when he was running away!" She leaned back and laughed loudly. Arthur smiled and chuckled gently, the pain starting to fade now.
"You really enjoyed yourself…" Arthur said slowly.
"Oh yeah," Vivi said quickly, "After they ran, we scooped up their equipment. We have all their films from their little 'project' out here. Once we give these to the Mayor, we'll definitely get paid." Arthur looked as her cheerful smile and tilted his head.
"You're leaving out something…" Arthur said slowly, "Usually you're a little upset when you learn that a haunting was faked, yet you're extra cheerful." Vivi looked away and smiled even more. Arthur stared at her for a few minutes, then smiled. "You've already made a copy of their videos, haven't you?"
Vivi didn't answer him, but she smiled from ear to ear.