Alex had to pack up her stuffs over again. When she was done, we finally went back to my house.
Last night, Tyson had stayed up late trying to figure out what the pendant was supposed to be. Apparently, he had confessed to me that he had no idea where we would find the forbidden forest so if the pendant could give him any hint at all he had to find it before Alex changed her mind.
And that led us to this.
"So you mean the way to the forest is through your grandpa's garage?" Erica said with a confused look.
"Yeah" Tyson answered boldly and Erica folded her arms.
"Here I thought my mum offering to cook was the craziest thing I've ever heard"
I gave a little smile at that. It really was one of the craziest thing I've heard. The normal way to travel was through the road but then again, nothing about this trip was normal from the moment something drew itself on my arm.
"I know it sounds crazy but check this out" He walked over to the entrance and pulled down the gate closing us all in. He had shown me this earlier in the morning, there was a keyhole right in the middle of the gate.
"Look at this. This isn't connected to the gate cause it has a different lock. I make use of the garage a lot but I usually ignore it. Then it occurred to me when you said you see a key that this might actually be the way".
"What if it isn't?" Erica asked and Tyson brought out the pendant.
"Why don't we find out" he said as he stretched the key towards Alex "You still see a key right?"
"Yeah"
"Then by all means give it a shot"
She looked at Erica who looked back at her and gave a shrug. "Alright"
She took the pendant and went closer to the gate. I wasn't sure how it looked to her but what I saw her do was press the pendant on the keyhole and give it a turn.
She looked back with a surprised look "It fits"
"Yes!" Tyson threw a fist in the air excitedly.
"Now what?" I asked as nothing happened and then the clueless Tyson clicked in.
"Now... We wait – I guess"
I threw a questioning look at him and looked back at Alex. She tried to turn the pendant further but it didn't budge.
"This seems to be as far as it... Woah!" She stepped back a little too fast that she tripped but I was just close enough to get a hold her.
"Careful"
"Huh?... Oh,yeah, thanks"
I finally caught sight off what made her step away. The garage gate was being cover by something strange. It was black and swirly.
"That wouldn't happen to be the way to the forest would it?" As much as I'm a fan of black, this swirly black thing right in front of me was eerie enough to make me an anti-fan on the spot.
"Wow, you're glowing" Erica suddenly said out and we all looked at her as I saw her stare at my arm then over to Tyson. I looked at it and realized the area where I had my mark was glowing through my sleeve. Same was for Tyson and Alex. Her mark glowed at her back, I couldn't really tell how it was but it looked a lot larger than ours.
"I believe this is the answer for you Tyler". He picked up his backpack and threw it over his shoulder.
This is it.
I also went to get mine.
Alex also picked up her back and gave Erica a hug which Erica returned tightly.
"You have to come back early okay?"
"I would if you refrain from taking out the air in me" Alex forced out and Erica let go of her.
"Give me a call when you get there. You have to tell me everything and every detail of everything you see in there. Anything creepy you come across you have to send me a picture"
"Sure, how hard could that be" Alex rolled her eyes and both chuckled.
"I'm just kidding. Anything creepy... Run" Erica said with quite the serious face now. "Be careful in there. All of you"
"We will" Tyson replied as he gave a sigh as he looked at the black wave and then back at us "Now, do we all have everything we need or feel we need? ... I'll take your silence as a yes. Alright. So,Who goes first?"
I stared at him and went silent. Apparently, Erica and Alex were also thinking the same thing.
"My bad. I meant, I'll go first" With that he sighed again "Here goes"
He walked closer to it and stretched his hand forward but stopped and looked back at us. Like we had the look 'go on' on our faces he blinked and nodded.
"Sure"
He swallowed and dipped his hand in with his eyes have closed. It felt really creepy to watch his hand go in, then his body, then his bag and then, he was gone.
I looked at Alex and asked "You ready?"
She ruffled her face and said "I think". She looked back at Erica "Here goes"
Erica nodded with a smile. We both went closer and when we began to go in together, I got dragged back out. I opened my half closed eyes to see Erica standing looking really worried.
"Erica?"
Alex had now fully gone through.
"Look, I know you just met Alex so what I'm about to ask you to do might be burdensome to you but I believe its the least you could do if she's going 'cause your brother asked her to" she said looking more serious than I had ever seen her. Just a while ago, I thought she looked super excited but she was actually worried.
"Sure. I'm listening"
"She's not in anyway good with anything scary so first thing first, never... I repeat, never, leave her on her own. Make sure she doesn't skip her meal, make sure she takes care of her hair, make sure she doesn't sleep too much, make sure takes enough water" My mouth opened slightly in wonder of why her request was about things that anyone would do without being told but I just let her go on. She finally came to a stop with "Make sure you and your brother take Care of yourselves, especially you. If anything were to happen to you then there was no point in all this anyway"
I couldn't understand what that meant but the next and last thing she said caught my attention.
"Keep an eye on her. I mean it. Let me know if she does anything strange at all okay?"
"Why would I have to keep an eye on eye?"
"It's a long story but promise you me you'll do that? Please"
I didn't why she wanted me to do that but I could tell she was serious about it. Which made me ask.
"Is there something I should know about Alex before I go in".
She seemed to ponder about it. Then she said.
"I can't explain in details, you might end up knowing or not knowing about it but its very important you keep an eye on her...please'." She said and I nodded.
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////...
I finally went in and I froze at the atmosphere. I stood in the middle of a forest. The floor covered with dead leaves as more rained down from the really tall trees. The wind picked up a little and for a while I was caught up in the beautiful but bloody scenery. The trees swayed around the red leaves in the silent forest.
I looked back and realized the black swirly stuff was gone. I was curious at the strange atmosphere of the forest but more importantly I was more curious as to why I was standing in the middle of an unknown place – alone.
I looked around, turning a full three sixty and half but I was around nothing but tall trees and the color red. No sight of Alex or Tyson. Did they go on ahead?
"You've got to be kidding me" I muttered to myself in awe as I somewhat realized what the current situation was.
We got separated?!
Suddenly, it came flying back in. "Never ... I repeat,never,leave her on her own"
"Oh my god" I pressed on my temple with my eyes closed as I tried to get things under control in my head. I let out a sigh. First, I had to try to meet up with them one way or the other. I couldn't get what Erica had told me out of my head. It made me feel even more uncomfortable being away from Alex.
'I can't explain in details, you might end up knowing or not knowing about it but its very important you keep an eye on her...please'.
"Tyson!"
"Alex!"
"Guys!"
I yelled but no reply.
I took out my phone and the dead signal caught my eyes. Great.
Alright then. I couldn't just stand around.
Now first question.
Which way do I go?
I started heading in any direction not sure if it was the front, back, left or right. I just went on.
Suddenly I stopped – or more like something stopped me. I looked down at my feet and realized the ground beneath my feet started bubbling.
My journey began the moment I stepped foot inside the forest.