We didn't find Peter and Michelle at the spot. We stood waiting for a long time and then started to get worried.

“We should go to the shed,” Tanya suggested.

“Are you sure? What if they come back and start looking for us?”

“Let’s just go.”

“Okay.” I didn't want to argue with her. I'd already broken her heart in just a few minutes of her confessing to me that she liked me. And I still felt horrible about that whole thing, because, fuck, I did like her back. We proceeded to walk back to the tent in silence.

To our surprise, Peter and Michelle were sitting outside, chatting.

“Guys!” I strolled over to them.

They looked up.

“What?” Peter asked.

“We thought you were going to wait for us at the spot. We've been waiting for you for a long time."

“Oh, sorry,” he said with a shrug.

I sighed and walked into the tent. I slung my backpack off my shoulders, dropped it carefully at a corner and lay down on the sleeping bag I used.

“You okay Tanya?” I heard Michelle ask.

“Yeah…just tired.”

“Go in and have a rest then,” Peter told her.

I tensed. She couldn't stay with me alone right now.

“Nah, I'll just sit with you guys.”

I exhaled and rolled over a little.

“Hey Larry!” Peter called out. “Aren't we supposed to talk about the clues?!”

“Ugh,” I groaned and staying down for a few seconds before grabbing my backpack and crawling out.

I tried to glance at Tanya but she wasn't even looking at anyone. I just wished she'd put the whole thing behind us.

“So what did you guys find?”

“Nothing.”

“Really?”

“Well I didn't know what to look for and we tried. We saw the sunset though and it was beautiful.”

“We didn't really see it well.”

“We did,” Tanya murmured.

They turned to her.
“It was magical. Could literally steal your breath away…and never give it back.”

Peter raised his eyebrows at her.

“Yes,” I answered, drawing his attention to me. “and at that spot, we found this.”

I got my backpack off my shoulder and opened it up quickly. I took the bottle out.

“Woah, what's that?” he said, getting up and practically running over to me.

“I…have no idea. You got any ideas?”

He took it from me and shook it. The small ball rolled around.
“It's a grecian bottle.”

“Where did you find it?” Michelle asked. She had suddenly materialised next to me.

“In a hole in the trunk of a tree. We found it just when the sunset was at its prime. I don't know the chances but yeah.”

“We need to solve it.”

“We do?”

“Yeah, we could find something by doing that.”

“You mean another clue? You know I'm starting to miss the original notes we used to find.”

“I don't really care. I don't mind what form they come in as far as I solve them and hopefully in the end we get out this forest.”

“What if we never get out of the forest?” Tanya said suddenly from her spot far away from us. She was drinking from a bottle of water.

“Say what?” Peter said, whipping around to face her.

She chuckled. “We might keep solving these clues and they might be endless and we might never leave this forest. There might actually be a way out of here. Something that doesn't have to do with these stupid games we're playing.”

“Tanya, please I thought we were over this.” Peter sounded slightly annoyed.

“I don't know,” she began, getting up, “when you all come to your senses and realise the situation we're actually in.”

With that she disappeared into the shed and slammed the door.

“What's up with her? I swear she was fine yesterday.”

I shrugged and glanced to the side. I hope the guilt I was feeling at the moment wasn't plastered boldly across my face.

“So how do you solve it?” Michelle asked.

“You have to find a way to get the ball out of the bottle first.”

“But that's impossible,” I said. “There's a fat stick literally sticking out and blocking the damn hole.”

Peter chuckled at me. “Yes, but in order to get the stick out you have to get the bolt out of the stick and then the pin and then you can take the stick out of the bottle and then the ball comes out.”

“And then what?”

Peter shrugged with a heavy sigh.

“I do not know Michelle but we just have to do it, I think. You guys found this at a location that was perfect for watching the sunset…and at its prime. So I think it's the right… thing.”

“Alright but that'll be tomorrow.” I said, getting my flashlight out and flicking it on. Suddenly, I saw the arrow.

“Dude,” I started, rummaging frantically in the bag for the piece of paper I found in it.

“I know,” he said, handing the bottle back to me.

“No, there was a note I  found in the nock of that arrow that almost killed you.”

“What…?” Michelle whispered.

“What?” Peter echoed, now looking around us warily.

“Yes!” I found it. I handed it over to him and gave him the flashlight so he and Michelle could read it.

“What the fuck…?”

“Yeah.”

He glanced around wearily again. I saw him shiver slightly.

“We should head into the shed."

***

“So we're stuck in the middle of a forest that we can't possibly seem to find a way out of. And now we're solving clues that we discovered might be the only way out of the forest. And now there's a note telling us that we should finish what we start or else we would what…die?”

“Well technically, it said playing with your life.”

“We still die at the end of the day Larry.”

“Hey, only if we don't finish solving the clues,” Michelle said to him.

“Yeah, that's why I'm trying to solve this stupid bottle thingy.” He fiddled with the stick.

“Need any help?” Michelle asked him.

“I don't know, do you know how to solve it?"

“Well, I just discovered that it exists yesterday so…”

Peter sighed and went back to his bottle.

“Hey, what if it's not just that we have to finish the clue hunt for us to be safe. What if, if we also waste time in between clues, we are also not safe,” I pointed out as the thought suddenly popped up in my head.

“Hey, that might be true. Or maybe it's trying to say that we have some amount of time available for us to solve all the clues and if we don't complete it before time runs out..."

"They could've not tried to kill you before warning you," Michelle said.

"I don't think the arrow was meant to kill me..."

“Where the hell did the arrows even come out from?” I asked. A wierd, spooky feeling ran through me and I shivered slightly. “I haven't seen a person in these woods, apart from you guys of course, but it just feels like someone is watching us.”

“Hey, that arrow could've been set somewhere already and–”

“just whizzed through the air and with a pretty good aim right at us?”

He opened his mouth to speak but then he shut them up and focused on his bottle.

“Well that thought is terrifying.”

“Or animals…” I mused then turned to Michelle.

"Have you seen any animals in the forest?"

She shook her head. "I've heard crickets but I've never seen them, birds but they're in the sky so that doesn't count, there are no fishes in the rivers or ponds or–"

"Wait how are we all so chill about-like we're seriously not all freaking out right now?"

Everyone laughed at me. Everyone except Tanya. She was sitting just at the edge of the tent, picking dead leaves and weeds from the floor in silence.

"Wait so Michelle you stayed here all alone for how long?"

“About two weeks. It wasn't all that bad," she said with a shrug.

Peter's brows rose. “You are one scary little girl.”

“Did you guys get to know each other a little better while you went for your part of the clue together?”

“A little,” Peter said. “Cuz she's not really a talker."

“I like being quiet and observant. I see a lot,” Michelle said.

“Have you observed anything strange in these woods?” I asked. "Besides everything else we know of course."

“Yeah...but I don't wanna talk about it.”

“What did you see?”

“It's…nothing. Probably my imagination.”

“No no Michelle it might be real and it might help us!” Peter said.

“Maybe when I can fully process what I see,” she answered with a shrug.

“Look, Michelle, if there's anything that might be helpful you need to tell us. These woods are clearly fucking strange and it'll be great if we have some ideas of where the fuck we are and what the fuck this place is all about."

“I will. I'll try.”

“Now I think of it, it seems like we passed through a portal before we arrived here,” Peter said with a laugh.

We all laughed with him. All of us except Tanya of course.

“Anyways, let me get back to my bottle before another arrow flies out from nowhere and impales me.”

“Need help? Maybe if you teach me I can try.”

“Sure,” he said with a sigh. “All we have to do is use the ball to unscrew the bolt and then you take out the pin. And then you're done.”

“Okay that is easy and difficult at the same time.”

“Yeah and I'm almost done. I've gotten the bolt out. I'm just stuck at the pin.”

“Lemme try.”

He handed it over. After staring at it for a moment, I started to shake it.

“What're you doing?”

“The pin had a lot of space in its hole, yeah?”

He nodded.

“So if I…” I bent the bottle slightly askew. “Shake it at this angle…”

I pushed the wooden stick to a corner of the bottle and shook it from side to side. After a few minutes of doing this, the pin successfully fell out of the wood.

“Bingo!”

“Yay, you did it!” Michelle said.

“That was smart.”

“Meh,” I said, flicking an imaginary hair behind me and they all guffawed at me.

“So now what?” Peter said, getting all the pieces out of the bottle and laying them on the floor. “Normally, the next thing is to put everything back the way it was, which is another hassle on its own. But of course we don't need to.”

“Maybe we can arrange all the pieces together to spell something out?”

“Something like what?”

“I don't fucking know Peter!”

“Well then say things that make sense–!”

“I'm trying to give out ideas, jeez!”

“Please I don't want an arrow embedded in my forehead by tonight!”

“And I don't want to witness that!" I yawned and my limbs suddenly felt heavy. It's already late dude, and we haven't found a piece of paper in like two days…”

Peter chuckled. “Yeah, and?”

“Let's just go and have a rest,” I said with a tone of resignation. “Tomorrow we get out, freshen up, think about this and see what happens.”

“You know I want to argue with you but I don't have the energy. Yeah, let's go.”

“Y'all are starting to get cranky.”

+_+_+
A/N

Do you like puzzles?