So, after I finished sobbing, Ben got another piece of paper, and made sure it was actually blank before writing the new hint on it. I sat in the giant bean bag chair and got my phone out. The chair wasn't actually that bad, it was extremely soft, and big enough for two or three people to sit on at once, it was like a large couch, but so much better. I like it.
To Dad-I'm going to be sleeping by the tree tonight, I'll be back in the morning.-Skye
I put my phone back in my pocket and watched Ben pace around the room. He mumbled the hint to himself over and over again.
"Ben, its not like we have to get it by morning, we can take our time." I said, trying to calm him down a little bit. He just shook his head. "Ben." I said flatly, making him stop pacing and look at me. "You've already worked your brain enough today. Just sit down for a while and try not to hurt yourself." I said, patting the spot next to me. I braided my hair and leaned back into the chair. Ben sat down gently, knowing that if he sat down quickly or too hard, it would be like a air mattress and would send me flying. It would have been funny, but painful.
"What time is it?" He asked. I looked at the time on my phone.
"Late." I said simply. He chuckled and shook his head.
"We should start getting back then shouldn't we?" He asked. I shrugged.
"You can, I think I'm going to crash here tonight." I said. He huffed and shook his head again.
"No, not leaving, If I leave, you could get hurt trying to get through the trap door." He said. I sat up quickly.
"Because I'm a girl? I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself." I snapped slightly. Only because I was tired really, but he didn't know that, and I regretted saying it in such a harsh way. But he smiled and shook his head.
"I know perfectly well that your capable of taking care of yourself Skye, I said you Could get hurt, not that you would. Because either way I'm going to worry, and your dad's going to worry, and I'm going to worry some more. I could either sleep here, or not sleep at all because I feel bad for leaving." Ben explained in much more detail. Now I see why he didn't say the whole thing the first time.
"Oh, well, there are a ton of blankets down here, and even more pillows, so I think there's enough for two beds." I said, looking at the pile of blankets and pillows by a dresser. Wait, a dresser? Why hadn't I looked in this sooner? I stood up and walked over the dresser, putting my phone on top of it. I opened a drawer, empty, another, still empty, Ben seemed to have caught on and started opening some. It was a really long dresser, with about ten drawers. There was one that wasn't empty, it had a few toys, they all looked really old. I picked a small doll up. It had pink hair, and what looked to be a homemade dress. It was really cool actually. I put it back in the drawer and let Ben look at everything in it, he would probably find something I missed.
I made my way over to the pile of blankets and pillows. I grabbed a bunch of them and spread them in a pile on the floor. kind of making the shape of the bean bag chair, with pillows. I spread a blanket out across the floor, it was a huge blanket, almost reached all four corners of the room. I dumped all the pillows but two onto it and grabbed the four corners, making it into a bag-like shape and putting it in the corner, now it really looked like a bean bag chair, and it was just as soft too. I used more blankets to make it larger and softer, then I collapsed onto the really bean bag chair and sighed.
"That was heavy." I told myself. Ben looked up from the drawer and saw the bed I made.
"How did you do that so fast!?" He exclaimed. I smiled and put my hand up.
"A magician never reveals her secrets." I jokingly said. He shook his head and smiled.
"Fine magician, don't tell me. But I'll figure it out someday." He said, putting the doll back in the drawer and shutting it. My phone vibrated on the dresser.
"Could you bring me that?" I asked, too lazy to get up, he grabbed my phone and tossed it to me. I yelped dramatically. "Ben, don't throw my phone!" I yelled, again, dramatically. He put his hands up defensively. I ignored it and checked the texts.
Alright, goodnight, but be back by nine tomorrow, need some help with the guests, and tell Ben, someone clogged the pipes again.-Dad
I sighed, the guests were about to come flooding in, but, it was for a good reason, and it would bring enough money in to keep the lodge going for a very, very long time. Hopefully at least.
"Pipes are clogged-" He interrupted me with a groan.
"You know, its nice and all that I'm needed to do these things, but it is really gross." Ben said, I smiled. I knew it was gross, I had to do it while he was gone. It was awful.
"Its ok, we can teach Noah how to do it." I said, Ben shook his head, not jokingly, or because he was trying to keep himself from laughing, but because he meant it.
"No. Just no. Do not. Get. Noah. Anywhere. Near. The Pipes." He said, very clearly. He really didn't want Noah anywhere near anything that wasn't tech.
"Ok?' I said, turning my phone off and putting it on the floor.
"Last time I tried to get him to do that, he burst a hole in the pipe. and entirely soaked the both of us in... Gross stuff." Ben said, his face crinkling up at the memory. I saw him visibly shake for a moment and grab a blanket and pillow. I didn't the same. He was all the way on the other side of the room. Right as I started to drift to sleep, my phone buzzed again.
Skye, where are you? Your dad said you were at the tree, and then I came, and you weren't there?-Josh
"Uh oh." I said. "Ben. Get up." I called over to the other side of the room. He sat up.
"What?" He asked, he already sounded like he had been sleeping for hours.
"Its Josh, he's at the tree, looking for me." I said worriedly. I stood up and fixed my hair. "Iv got to go up before someone else figures out about this place." I said, hoping on one foot, trying to get my shoes back on.
"You want me to go with you?" He asked. I thought about it for a second.
"I just need you to get me up to the trap door, but if I run out of the woods with you, its going to look a little weird, especially to Josh." I said. He nodded and pulled his shoes back on. I walked over to the trap door that lead to the pulley thing and started to crawl through. I heard Ben shut the trap door behind me. We got through fairly quicker than last time. I stood on the wood that we did last time, and we went up. It was nowhere near as scary as last time, but Ben still held my arm to keep me away from the edge. I opened the trap door and Ben boosted me up.
"I'll go back down and see you when you get back." He said, starting to go down.
"If I come back. I'll text you if I cant." I called down. He nodded and went down faster. I shut the trap door and ran towards the lodge, it was even darker this time, and I could have swore that something was watching me, but I ignored it. I made it to the edge of the woods and saw Josh at the tree, the lights lit up. I ran over and sat on the bench next to him.
"Where have you been!?" He asked loudly. I put a finger to my mouth.
"I was here about a hour ago-"
"-Lie, iv been here longer than that. Skye." He warned. I sighed. I stood up and paced for a second. The lights on the tree woke me up more, but they made everywhere around the tree seem darker, I had been afraid of the dark when I was younger, and the feeling I got back in the woods scared me a little. It urged me to run a little faster.
"You have to keep this a secret." I said finally, after a long time of me pacing and him watching me. He nodded. "That includes everyone Josh, not people on the internet, not people you know, not family, not anyone." I said firmly. He nodded again.
"I wont tell a soul. Joshie promise." He said, holding one hand over his heart and the other up in the air.
"My mum has more secrets." I said. His mouth dropped in an excited way.
To be continued...
