Ten minutes of digging was all it took for the rest of the party to join them.
Mrs Taiyo scolded and protested at first, but after confirming that there was no danger, she joined them and then one by one the rest of the kids followed except for one.
Margret just stood on the path and watched others take turns digging.
She watched them for almost thirty minutes, before she did What no one would've expected of her in a million years. She took off her green jacket, walked to her left where Lucy's head laid, her heart beating twice as fast while her ebony face dribbled in sweet, picked it up and placed it on her jacket before walking off the path.
Approached the group, she walked past them and knelt near the two body parts.
Before she could pick one part up, Mrs Taiyo who'd been watching her all this time like the rest of the group, closed in on her, took off her black jacket that was dyed in a little red and placed it on the ground before helping Margret with the body parts.
Not Mrs Taiyo, Margret nor any of the kids took their eyes off the body through the entire process, after all they had seen the worst this cursed forest had to offer _ or so they thought.
She really is a hypocrite. Always acting like she doesn't care, but deap down she cares more than any one of us, ha! Alpha signed after watching her, before continuing.
By this time, even though stunned by her actions, no one really paid that much attention to her after.
And just like that a 2 foot hole was dug. It wasn't ideal, but considering the fact that they were kids who didn't even have proper tools, it was the best they could do.
The grave was dug under one of the tall red tree.
And now came the hardest part, saying goodbye.
After everything was done, everyone gathered around the grave, while Margret helped Mrs Taiyo place the body in.
Once again dead silent as she couldn't find the words to use at this type of occasion, Mrs Taiyo, gazed at the grave to see if she could come up with words, though nothing cricked.
But this time the silence didn't last long and was broken a minute after the body placement by Billie.
Taking a handful of sand, he stepped closer and threw it at the body
"A friend. She always had a smile on her face. Even though small, she had the biggest of heart, her generosity new no bounds. She had a sweet voice and the cutest smile, though she looked like a frog when she pouted"
'Hahaha', the group broke into silent laughter before it abruptly turned to whimpers and moans.
With tears streaming down his cheeks, Alpha took a handful of sand and threw it at the body
"A friend."
Mrs Taiyo followed suit, with her white napkin placed right under her nose and threw her sand
"A daughter. I'm sorry we didn't get to eat icecream like I promised "
Ciru, her eyes red from all the crying, had her glasses in her left hand, while she picked a handful of sand with her tiny hands.
"A sister"
"A friend"
"A sister"
All the kids followed suit and before long everyone had done it.
The grave wasn't full yet, after everyone had their turn, Dan and Tony helped with the rest.
When mercy saw this, she tried to find a way to make it more real. And so she immediately began looking around for a different coloured flower, but to her dismay everything from the smallest of grass to the tallest of trees was only red.
Picking up a random one she thought resembled the roses from back home she placed it on the grave. And soon after, everyone followed with a different flower though all of them were of the same colour.
After Alpha placed his flower, he then took the skull part from before and used it's sharp end to scrub on some writing at the tall tree before her grave.
Soon the ceremony that'd randomly started came to an end.
Throughout the ceremony they'd all figured out out some things, even if it was through Alpha's own selfish reasons.
The faceless cowboy didn't attack during the day, and the obvious one being that he couldn't kill anyone on the path, they thought that was the reason he didn't show up_atleast they hoped it was.
So that meant that even though they weren't really sure about it, this also increased their chances of survival as they could traverse through the forest when the sun was up, and search for a river nearby for water they all needed badly.
"So how do we cook it?" Looking at the dead dear that was between the two trees Margret asked.
All gazes fell on Mrs Taiyo.
She'd once told them that she used to go hunting with her brothers, and that she would occasionally roast rabbits and spring bucks for them.
She went silent for a moment
"We have to skin it first."
"How do we do that? We don't have anything to skin it with, we don't even have a matchbox
"I'll show you" with a face full of confidence, Mrs Taiyo answered.