~The Rotten Branch~

Chapter 04: Engulfed in Darkness

~Naoko~

Amaya and I ventured deeper into the forest. The dense foliage surrounded us, casting eerie shadows that danced with every rustle of the leaves. My heart pounded in my chest, each beat echoing in the silence of the woods.

Amaya's hand slipped into mine, offering a silent reassurance that we were in this together. But even her touch couldn't quell the rising tide of apprehension within me. I knew we shouldn't be here, searching for Gloria's hairbrush of all things, but the pressure to conform to the group's wishes was overwhelming.

If anyone knows what peer pressure feels like, it's me. And it really sucks, making you feel like there's no way out of it. We pressed on, the forest growing darker and more foreboding with each step. The air was heavy with the scent of damp earth and decaying leaves, adding to the sense of dread that hung over us like a shroud.

Suddenly, we stumbled upon a narrow path hidden beneath the undergrowth. It seemed to beckon to us, promising secrets and mysteries waiting to be uncovered. Amaya shot me a hesitant glance, her eyes reflecting the same apprehension I felt.

"Should we... go in?" she whispered, her voice barely audible above the rustling of the leaves.

"In the cave?" I asked with a shocked expression on my face.

"Yeah! It'll be fun!" She assured me.

"What about bears?"

"Oh, c'mon Naoko, didn't you say you wanted to become an archeologist?"

"Yeah, I guess we should,"

"Guys! There's a cave!" Amaya screeched at the top of her lungs.
She ran around like Usain Bolt, and expected me to keep up. I was trying to become an archeologist, not an athlete.

"A cave?" Cameron asks.

Suddenly, Gloria repeats his words louder: "A cave!"

There is an echo, deriving from the others amongst the group. Then a loud wave of people running is sounded. We are like a herd, and each day someone else becomes our leader.

A wind rushes through. Perhaps this was blown by our friends charging towards us. Perhaps this was natural. Perhaps this was both.

We have crashed the serenity of this forest. Now mixed, and molded in, we find ourselves blending in. However long we will stay here, is how much of a dent; a footprint, that we will leave.

"Where is my hairbrush?" Gloria cries out, and starts off inside the cave, most likely without a single idea of what she was doing.

"Hairbrush? You have a hairbrush?" Ri'me echoes Gloria's words, just like the echo that derived from us before.

With an aggrieved but yet somehow scowling tone, Jacan continued Ri'me's line, "Is the hairbrush a utilitarian hairbrush? Or is it just another one of those opulent treasures you have? Why should we bother to look for your own possessions?"

Under his breath, he mutters with aspersion, "Why can't we just disconcert you..."

I seldomly just decisively choose to blink at people, like they were some lunatic of some sorts, but this time, I did. I blinked a few times at Jacan. Gloria was quite capricious, in my opinion. I couldn't tell whether she was in a phlegmatic mood—as if she ever was— or a choleric mood. All of this perturbed me. From day one, I have never been a fan of the internecine conflicts. Out of all times, I did not want for one to escalate right here and right now.

I wanted for someone to come up with some apothegm, to somehow eradicate this escalating conflict. I wished I had a coadjutor to do such things, but I did not. Sometimes, conflicts were ineluctable. Sometimes they were not. This time, yet again, I just had to play the role of the audience.