Somehow Peter coerced me to join them as they were going out for the second time to look for the poison ivy related clue.

The thing is, it was only Tanya who knew very well how a poison ivy plant looked like so we were all depending on her to find them. She found a few of them that she said she was certain was poison ivy. We all searched around them, very carefully, but we didn't find any piece of paper.

I looked very closely at the leaves of the plants just so I could know exactly how they look. It would help in discovering more for the clues and of course for my safety, I thought.

But as I inspected the leaves, I saw something. A number and a letter was scrawled on the surface of one of the leaves so faintly that if it wasn't one inch from my face, I wouldn't have noticed. The number 14 and the letter ‘t’.

“Hey guys look at this!”

They all scrambled over.

“There's a letter and a number inscribed on this single leaf."

“Oh my God, I'm so stupid!” Tanya suddenly blurted, placing her hand on her forehead. “I saw another leaf with a line drawn across it. I didn't even–"

“You saw a leaf with ink marks on the surface and didn't even suspect anything?” Peter asked her with bulging eyes.

“I know, I'm sorry. My mind was somewhere else. We should go back and check.”

“Hold up,” Peter said, drawing her back. “We need to copy this thing first."

“How did someone even write on the leaf?” Michelle wondered. “Wouldn't they get poisoned or something?"

“They probably used gloves,” Peter reasoned. "And were really careful."

The fact that there could be a someone that was doing all this was an uneasy thought. But then it was even worse if there was no one responsible. I mean, someone had to set the clues. Someone had to be responsible for all of this. Someone we've never seen.

“You're welcome,” I murmured, slinging off my backpack to get a piece of paper and Louie's pencil.

“You see what I said about you helping ou–"

“Yeah, yeah, let's just go on.” I dropped the contents in my bag after I was done copying and lead the way.

“Do you know where you're going?” Tanya said.

I kept moving forward. Peter ran up to catch up with me.

“Know where the next stop is?”

“Well we saw some on our way here right?”

“Hey, guys I thought we were going the other way? Following my lead?” Tanya shouted from behind.

“I know a place with lots of ivy that's very close here,” Michelle sped past both of us. “Catch up quickly!”

“Okay, so now everyone is ignoring me.”

She ran to catch up with us.

That was how it was the whole time. I tried my best to ignore her existence. And I was successful, somehow.

After walking round the forest for hours and searching for the lucky leaf in each of the stops, we'd gotten numbers ranging from one to fifteen and corresponding letters. After we arranged them in order we got this:

1.B
2.U
3.R
4.Y
5.T
6.H
7.E
8.H
9.A
10.T
11.C
12.H
13.E
14.T
15.3

We were confused about the last one. Michelle suggested that it might mean ‘E’ but we weren't sure.

It was pretty funny. Tanya and I were currently not speaking to each other and it was like the clue was telling us to reconcile. Okay, so not funny…creepy. But by the time we had found them all, it was already late and we had to go back to the shed.

That night was the start of many crazy things.

I didn't go to bed with the others. I told them that I was going to sit outside the shed for a while before I came in.

But I didn't sit outside. I took my backpack and carried a flashlight with me and then walked a little farther down from the shed.

Let's just say I was feeling a little too overwhelmed than usual. I felt really heavy as I strolled down a path. I had the sudden urge to let out tears that had been building up from, well, the last time that I cried.

I needed to be alone, desperately. I didn't want anyone to be around me. Usually, at these moments, it was like that. I'd gotten used to handling it alone.

I sat on a log that I found and dropped my backpack next to me. There was no need to fight the overwhelming urge to let out the tears that were already begging to be let out.

So I let them out. There was something pleasing yet painful about crying. Something comforting about sadness. Like you just want to be left alone to feel like shit and somehow that feeling of feeling like shit makes you feel cosy and comfortable but I just can't say if it's a good feeling or not honestly.

And as I let the tears flow out, the pain somehow became worse. More depressing thoughts flooded into my head and I felt worse with each passing second. It was too much. And I didn't like it. I couldn't stand it. And there was only one option to relieve the pain at that moment.

I reached for my bag immediately and searched for the knife. My fingers brushed the blunt edge. I grabbed it and went without a second thought to my lower arm. I placed the edge of the knife to my pale skin and took deep breaths.

I didn't really want to do it. But I needed to. And so I did. I sucked in a sharp breath as I felt the sting of the blade as I traced it along my skin. But then the knife left my hand and clattered to the ground because I heard a sound.

“Omg, stop!”

My heart jumped and I instinctively reached for the cut part of my arm before getting up and whipping around.

It was Tanya. She was staring at me, horrified. Her lips were trembling and tears were already streaming down her face.

“Why the fuck are you stalking me?”

She tried to speak but she could only take in shaky breaths.

I looked back at my arm. The blood was dripping straight down the length of it. She was the last person I wanted to catch me doing it.

“L-Larry I'm so sorry. I didn't–”

“I don't want to hear it. Please just leave.”

I tried my best not to feel any emotion towards her. Not even anger. I tried to focus on other things. Like the throbbing pain of the cut or the chilly weather and the heavy wind that flew past us, causing the leaves all around to rustle wildly making the trees dance like someone on fire.

“Larry, I'm sorry… you don't have to do this–”

“This has nothing to do with you. Just…go. Leave me alone.” From the corner of my eyes I could see the glint of the blade. The knife was still lying on the floor. I turned around and walked over to pick it up.

I cleaned the blade on a trunk and used some leaves to clean my bloodied arm. Fortunately the bleeding had stopped and I felt a little better.

“I did deserve it.”

I froze in the middle of zipping my bag.

“And you didn't…and I was stupid to say that. Just because I'm a shitty person and I'm bitter doesn't mean that I should have dumped all my misery on you and just made it worse and…and made you do this…” she started to sob again.

I sighed as I got up and ran both of my hands through my hair. The chilly air and the darkness caused me to feel drowsy. My eyes lids felt heavy and I yawned.

“Tanya, honestly, I'm tired. I don't know what to say and sadly I don't even have the energy to have emotions and–”

"I still like you.”

My stomach flipped. I wondered why I still had such a reaction to her and her words. I didn't want that. I didn't want her. Anymore.

“Okay,” I said, grabbing my backpack and slinging it over my shoulder.

“Larry about the cut–”

“We should go, it's late.”

Just immediately after I was done talking, I heard the sound again. The buzzing noise. It was louder this time. Like a multitude of bees were nearby just waiting.

“What's that?"

I didn't want to stick around to find out. I knew ignoring something like that wasn't really a good idea. The next morning, I decided, if I heard it for a third time then I was going to investigate.

As of then, the only thing on my mind was sleeping. So we left.

+_+_+_
A/N

Do you want them to remain enemies?