Zeno looked at Natasha and then stood up.
"Now that the barrier is removed, let's go see what the tree does and how to get out of this place"
They walked towards the tree while holding the crowbar and the shovel. The vines of the tree started stretching towards them and tried wrapping itself around them. Natasha yelped and moved towards Zeno. She was scared seeing these thing moving forward. She never saw these things. She moved closer to Zeno and stuck herself to him.
Zeno glanced at Natasha and saw that she was scared. He pulled Natasha close to him and stood behind her with his hands on both sides of her. He kept hitting the vines with his crowbar and moving forward. They reached the base of the tree. Zeno held Natashas hand and took the shovel fron her. He dropped the shovel and pushed Natasha into the hole. Then he dropped his crowbar and jumped into the hole too.
~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~
Natasha woke up with a gasp, panting and breathing heavily. She felt some excruciating pain before waking up. It felt like all her nerves were pinched with thousands of needles. She remembered that she was dreaming about something. But what? She couldn't remember what it was about. She just remembered the boy from school named Zeno being in the dream.
Natasha felt weird.Why was Zeno there in her dream? It's not like she knew Zeno. Today was the first time she met him.They didn't even talk. There was no point in Zeno being present in her dream. She sat up and looked down at her clothes and saw that she was wearing a white t-shirt. Nothing unusual. This is what she wears to bed every night, in contrast to her sister who wears silk night dress for summer and velvet night dress for winter.
Natasha sighed and looked at the small clock in her room and saw that it was only 3:03 am. She had four more hours to sleep before she had to get up for school. She laid down again ang soon drifted to sleep.
Triiinnnggg-- Triinnggggg-- Triiinggggg--
*clack*
Natasha switched off her alarm and got off the bed. She got up a little early today. Usually she would get up after her alarm rang for maybe 5 to 6 times. But today she gpt up on the 3rd ring. Natasha didn't have to worry about someone else waking up from her alarm. Her room was far from the others and the other rooms were pretty soundproof.
She freshened up and went downstairs for breakfast. She knew she would have to find some food and eat fast before her mom wakes up and comes down. She found some rice puffs and cereal and munched on them fast. She finished eating and cleaned the crumbs and drank a glass of water before going to the living room and sitting in a corner.
She was waiting for her parents and sister to come down. She had to wait for her moms instructions to know what was on todays agenda.
Soon she saw her parents coming down. They were dressed for the day. Her sister would be following soon. She stood up but didn't move. She kept standing in the corner. Her mom motioned for her to come forward and she followed.
Natasha was startled hearing that voice from out of nowhere. She turned abruptly and bumped into a vase kept on the table beside her. Before she could do something, the vase fell down and shattered to pieces. She fearfully raised her head and saw her mom looking at her like she was going to eat her alive.
"What is wrong with you Natasha! Can't you even walk properly now?! How can you break this vase? Do you know how hard I had to work to get this vase?" Her mom yelled.
Natasha knew this vase wasn't that expensive. Her mom bargained with the seller pretty hard reducing the price more than half before buying it. But she knew she couldn't say that. Or she would be facing heavier punishment than what she would get now.
"Now what are you doing standing there like a statue. Who is going to clean the mess that you created? Get the broom and clean it properly. You are getting no breakfast today. And clean it before your sister comes down" her mom said.