"This forest is a little bit bigger than I remember." I grunt as we tramp through the overgrown undergrowth. We got a map from the park ranger station, and we're trying to find the burr oak I saw in my dream, but we're just a little bit lost.
"Hey, why don't you call Lauren?" Aatami suggests. "She's a park ranger's daughter, right?"
"Yeah, she is. Do you think we could call her in to help, Sam?"
"I don't know. She's just a civilian. We wouldn't want her to get mixed up in anything."
"Please?" I say. "I think she could really help. We're really lost."
Sam sighs. "Okay. But if she's here, we can't engage with the man from your dream. We'll have to wait until she's gone."
I nod, and then step away to call her.
She answers on the first ring. "Hey, Delilah."
"Hi, Lauren. Um, I was wondering if I could take you up on your offer to be a guide? We're kind of lost."
She laughs. "Of course. Okay, I'm actually at the park right now. Just describe your surroundings to me, and I'll get to you."
"Okay, well, there's a lot of trees. There's this big rock that kinda looks like a poop emoji, if that helps."
"I think I might know where you're talking about. Okay, give me like two minutes." She says, and then abruptly hangs up. I fill Nydia, Sam, and Aatami in on the conversation, and we sit down on the poop emoji to wait.
A few minutes later, we hear the crunching of leaves and Lauren emerges from the trees.
"I did it! Y'all are lucky Delilah is a great descriptor, otherwise I wouldn't've found you." She says with a smile, and I laugh.
"We're lucky you know this area so well." I counter.
"Yeah, that's true." She shrugs and grins. "Okay, so where are y'all lookin to go?"
"Um, we want to see the giant burr oak tree." Nydia says.
"Oh, we're right near there! Follow me!"
We tromp through the forest for a while until we reach a giant trunk that we probably couldn't fit around if all of us tried to grab each other's hands and hug it.
Right there, in the middle of the trunk, are the words DC AND TC WERE HERE, in my twelve-year-old handwriting.
Nydia notices me staring at it and says, "Is that from you?"
"Yeah."
"You must've been, what, eleven when you wrote that?" Lauren asks.
"Twelve."
"Back then, this tree was blocked off! You woulda had to climb over the ropes!"
"Yeah, we did." I say sheepishly. "Sorry."
"Nah, you were just leaving your mark. I totally get it. Look over here." She leads me around the tree and points to a deep carving that says REN JONES HATES IT HERE.
"I made this when I was going through a bit of a goth phase a few years back."
"Wait, is Ren your nickname?" I ask.
"Not really. I tried to get people to start calling me that back then, but it never caught on."
"Oh, I am so calling you that." Aatami says.
"What is it with you and nicknames, Aatami?" Nydia asks.
"What can I say? I'm a sucker for shortening words."
Nydia rolls her eyes.
Aatami turns to me. "Hey, I dare you to climb it."
"Um, the lowest branches are like seven feet up."
Aatami looks at Sam, who is examining the tree and our surroundings for anything that looks like it could be of supernatural origin. At first, I don't realise why Aatami is looking at him, and then it dawns on me.
"Oh, hell no."
"Come on, it'll just be for a second, and then you'll be in the tree."
"No! I am not getting on his shoulders! Besides, he probably wouldn't even let us."
"You really think so?" Aatami says, and then he's racing over to Sam.
"Aatami, no!" Nydia says, but he just keeps going.
"CanmeandDelilahgetonyourshoulderssowecanclimbinthetree?" He says in a burst of words.
"What?" Sam says.
"He wants to get on your shoulders so he can climb in the tree, and he wants me to do it too." I say.
"Oh. Well, if you want to, I guess." he says with a shrug. Aatami pumps his fist and then clambers onto Sam's shoulders. Quickly, he's up in the tree.
"Your turn, Day!" He yells down at me.
"Fine." I sigh, and get on Sam's shoulders. Aatami reaches a hand down to help me up, and then I'm in the tree.
I start to climb higher, but Lauren says, "Hey, can I come up?"
"Of course!" Aatami calls down.
As soon as Lauren gets up, Nydia says, "I guess I should probably get up there too."
Together, all four of us climb until we've reached the very top of the tree.
"Woah. You can see so much up here." Nydia is exaggerating a little, because the tree is only a little bit bigger than the rest of the trees in the forest, but it is still a pretty nice view.
"Hey, what's that?" I say, pointing to a stylised swirl-like shape that looks like it's painted on the ground in a clearing.
"Anybody got a camera?" Aatami asks.
"I left my phone down there." I respond.
"I didn't bring my phone, either." Nydia says.
"I've got mine!" Lauren says. She whips out her phone and snaps a picture.
"Thanks." I say.
"No problem." She flashes me a smile that makes my stomach flip. We climb down, but we don't see Sam when we get to the bottom.
"I'm not jumping." Aatami says.
"Come on." Lauren goads. "It's not that far. Just tuck and roll, and you'll be fine." To demonstrate, she jumps out of the tree and rolls perfectly into a crouch.
"See?" She says with a smile. "No broken bones!"
Nydia shrugs and jumps out after her. Her landing is a little more sloppy, but she doesn't break anything either.
I jump after them, but I am not as graceful. I don't aim exactly right, and I end up falling directly on top of Nydia.
"Shit! Sorry." I say when I scramble up. I try to ignore the blush rising in my cheeks.
At this point, Sam comes around from the other side of the tree. "Why didn't you guys call for me?" He asks. "I was right over there!"
A/N: So sorry, guys! I was really busy yesterday, and I was trying to win the procrastinating championships today. Im glad I was able to churn this out at least. Thank you for reading, and please favorite, follow, and review!