My heart thumped slightly as I followed. It has been nearly five or six hours. I've been trailing her all over the place, and yet I still can't get myself to meet her. There's something about her that makes me feel weird. My stomach would be in knots and my heart would beat faster every time I saw her. Well, even by following, I'm doing a bad job hiding myself. They supposedly have some plan to see who I am, but I managed to hear it out. Even then, they'd find out about me soon, unless I decide to meet them first. She's alone now, it would be easy. Or I could just give up and disappear.
She stopped.
This is my chance.
Bia stood at the same spot, leaning against a tree in a somewhat remote place. If anything, this would be the place where the stalker would be watching. She wanted to peer around, but figured that doing so would ward off the target. There was a continuous faint rustle of leaves as the wind breezed across the trees. It was a very quiet place. Bia tensed a little, as she felt the branch she was perched on creak downwards by a fraction. She turned around, seeing nothing. But there was the new feeling of fear as she stood, staring around, scouring the trees for details. An intrusive rustle sounded, and Bia swerved to look at the source. A dense pack of leaves. She edged closer, wanting to shift the leaves aside, a little fearful of what she might find. She stopped in front of the cluster, hesitating on whether to see what was behind or not. She gulped, and swiftly peered through the dense pack of leaves. Nothing, except for a Brazil nut balanced carefully on a group of branches. Bia frowned, and picked it from its position. Something was amiss, and it didn't take long for Bia to figure it out. That part of the grove didn't have any Brazil nut trees.
The moment Bia had set foot in the hollow, a vine tightened around her ankle, and she yelped as she was hosted upside down in a flash.
"Tiago!" She yelled, after recovering from her shock.
"Sorry! I was getting too fidgety," Tiago appeared from a corner, and, without warning, bit through the vine suspending Bia. His sister let out another yelp before dropping face first into the hollow floor. Bruno and Carla soon peeked out of the latter's room, and Ana popped out from Bia's room.
"Well you just ruined that long wait," Carla groaned, crossing her wings as she stared at Tiago.
"Guys, tone down, I think I can confirm something," Bia whispered. Everyone huddled a little closer, eager to hear what she had to say.
"I believe our dear friend doesn't mean any harm," Bia continued in a soft voice. She held out a talon, with what seemed like a small Brazil nut in its grasp. "I have adequate reasons to believe that the stalker left me this."
"What if it's poisoned?" Tiago asked, chuckling a little. His amusement died off as he realized that nobody reacted.
"Well, it might just be a shy person," Ana whispered.
"Or an admirer," Carla smiled at Bia.
"That's ridiculous, nobody even sees me most of the time," Bia huffed, but partly believed that it was the case.
"Yea, we never even seen Bia until three days after we met Tiago and Carla," Bruno agreed.
"Wow, that long?" Bia asked, somewhat dumbfounded. Her siblings had been bugging her for quite some time to meet some friends, but she couldn't believe that it had been so long.
"Yes, it was always 'later, I'm almost done with this chapter' or something," Tiago recalled.
"Well, back to the point, what do we do about the stalker?" Ana interrupted.
"We could coax him out, or leave Bia alone for a long time," Carla suggested. "He might just be shy after all."
"Yes, we could leave Bia alone," Tiago grinned. "And spy on her from somewhere hidden. We might find her lover."
"Ha ha," Bia grunted sarcastically, but then realized that everyone was agreeing with Tiago's plan.
"You can't, be serious," she rolled her eyes.
"Well, it isn't totally bad," Ana tried to convince.
"Hiding from a hider is pretty impossible if you ask me."
"Oh come on, it's nearly evening, just try it out? We don't have anything to lose," Carla groaned, already ready to try anything to expose whoever was stalking them.
In that one sided decision, Bia was again pushed out to 'attract' the culprit. She flew deep into the grove once again, into a quiet area, and waited. She knew Tiago and Ana were following somewhere, but didn't hear or spot them.
"Hello?" Bia called out.
As she expected, no reply.
"Come on, I know you're watching somewhere," she coaxed again.
Still no reply. She crossed her wings, then glanced around.
"This doesn't seem to be working," Tiago whispered to Ana.
"Give it a chance, it has only been a few seconds," Ana replied, and hushed Tiago before he could retort.
"Wait, look!" Tiago hissed, pointing at a thick cluster of leaves. Ana squinted to see what he was pointing at, and for a moment, failed to. But after some time, she made out a blue figure concealed among the leaves.
"What do we do?" Ana whispered back.
"Let's see what he's doing."
A faint rustle gave the intruder's position away to Bia. She slowly turned to face the leaves, squinting at the area. She could faintly make out a tint of blue, just behind the leaves. She took a few slow steps closer. The leaves rustled a little as she got closer.
"Hello?" Bia called out softly, extending a wing toward the leaves. She yelped and jumped back in shock as a figure violently shot out of the bush in a burst of speed. Bia could make out two blurs following as Tiago and Ana shot after the culprit.
"Slow down! We just want to meet you!" Ana yelled out at the escaping macaw, but as expected, he didn't respond.
"Stop or I'll stop you for you!" Tiago yelled nonsensically.
"Stop following me!" A faint voice seemed to echo a reply.
"It's not like we're trying to cook you! Just slow down!" Ana shouted, getting somewhat impatient. The macaw swerved to a side, and the pursuers swerved to follow, but a fruit was thrown at Tiago, momentarily blinding him. He yelped in confusion, and rammed into Ana in his disorientated flying, causing both to plummet into the soft shrubbery below. Tiago groaned as he got up, spitting out a leaf. Ana picked herself up, swiping leaves out of her feathers. Her emerald eyes blinked in annoyance as she proceeded to stroke down her messy feathers.
"You okay?" Tiago asked, picking a leaf off her head.
"I'm fine, but we lost him," Ana groaned.
"Well I wouldn't exactly say that he was lost," Bia cut in. Ana and Tiago peered at her, and gaped as they saw Bruno and Carla pinning down a macaw. He was built like Tiago, thin and streamlined, but his feathers were a light shade of blue, and he had 2 protruding crest feathers that stuck out awkwardly. The rest of his feathers looked disheveled, and his wings were small for his size. He pried himself loose, and almost took flight again when Bruno tackled him onto the forest floor.
"Oh no you don't," he laughed in triumph as he pinned down the bird again.
"Who are you?" Carla asked, walking around the macaw, as if inspecting him for anything amiss.
"You... Don't need to know," he blurted out without really thinking. His struggling didn't cease, but it wasn't doing much under Bruno's weight either.
"You can be here a long time if you stick with that thought," Ana reminded him of his current state. He looked around him, and groaned as he finally understood that there was no way out.
"Caio," he sighed.
"That wasn't so hard, was it?" Bia asked rhetorically.
"No," he smiled at her. "Not at all."
"Okay, why are you stalking us?" Bia asked sternly, instantly wiping the smile off his face.
"I... Er... Wasn't stalking you?" He replied, sounding more like he was asking a question, but his somewhat guilty look gave away his already obvious lie fully.
"You can be here all day long," Ana yawned, peering at the sun.
"But," he began, but was cut off by Tiago.
"No buts, just answer the question," Tiago said, still annoyed at how Caio hurled a fruit in his face.
"Okay," he sighed, and squirted out a lie again. "I did it for fun."
Everyone stared at him with amusement.
"You can't possibly spend hours stalking us, and think that it's fun!" Carla stated crossly.
"I could try squishing him," Bruno suggested.
"What?" Caio squeaked, and started trying to scramble out again.
"Nobody's squishing anybody," Bia groaned, and Caio calmed down a little. "Unless you still don't want to tell us the reason."
"But that was my reason!" He whined, temporarily stopping his struggling. Bruno squeezed him, causing him to squeak a little, and continue struggling, trying to pull himself out by grabbing onto nearby grass.
"Okay! Okay!" Caio wheezed, and Bruno eased the pressure.
"We're waiting," Bia tapped her foot slowly, staring at Caio in annoyance.
"Please don't make me say it," he begged.
"Why, is it that weird of a reason?" Carla rolled her eyes. He hesitated for a moment, not understanding that he question was rhetorical.
"Maybe."
His reply drew in more weird stares, and he reddened slightly, and squirmed uncomfortably.
"What now?" Bia asked after a period of awkward silence.
"Let me go?" Caio asked hopefully.
"You haven't told us why yet," Bruno reminded.
"Just spit it out!" Ana groaned in frustration at their captive's stubbornness.
"I...can't," he replied, and everyone groaned as they were back at square one. Bia brightened as she thought of something.
"Hey guys. Remember Crash and Dash?" Bia smirked. Tiago and Carla smiled knowingly, while Bruno and Ana looked in confusion.
"W..what about them?" Caio asked, already intimidated by the notorious twins' names.
"Oh, so you know them?" Bia asked.
"Yes, I had to take care of them once," he replied with a slime, with a strangely calmer tone.
"Stop smiling at me like that! It's giving me the creeps," Bia took a step back.
"Hold on, I know what he was doing!" Ana boomed, and everyone turned to look.
Please don't guess it, please don't guess it... Caio's mind could only imagine the embarrassment he'd get if they managed to guess.
"He has a crush on Bia!" Ana laughed.
"What?!" Bia screeched. Despite all the proof of it, she still found it dubious, until Ana said it flatly in front of her. Even then, she still could not bring herself to believe it, until she noticed Caio covering his head with a wing, shielding his beetroot face from everyone.
"Stop joking around," Bruno laughed, not believing any of it. And much to Caio's (and Bia's) relief, everybody else decided to take it as a joke as well.
"This is getting old," Tiago muttered. "And I still want my revenge," he smiled sweetly at Caio, causing the captive to gulp.
"Who are your parents?" Carla asked out of pure curiosity. Caio shook his head furiously, not wanting anybody to know.
"Can I please go now?" He asked again.
"But we still have so many questions," Carla continued.
"Like why did you leave that Brazil nut for Bia?"
"As a random gift?" He replied in his 'invented on the spot' tone.
"Okay, he's lying again, definitely," Ana stated the obvious.
"Okay. Ever heard of the twins' plan B?" Bia smirked.
