|chapter 09|

|texting the psychiatrist|
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Rune jolted up breathing heavily. Her heartbeat was fast. The stone fell from her hand and she kept the hand on her chest to feel the heartbeat rate. She shouted, "ugggggghhhh!!! I'm going insane!" Hearing her, all of them came running leaving their food on the table. "What happened, Rune?" Ariadne was shocked to see her like this.

"Guys, let's go. I can wait for him to return. We have to help him. We all know he can't return from there on his own" Rune shouted, getting up from the couch.

"But Rune listen, we can do nothing. Try to understand. It was a story we made." Jan said.

"No, it was not. You too know that. I can't let my best friend die there. I just can't" she broke down, falling on her knees she pleaded them to help her.

"Awww! Baby, don't cry. I'm coming with you" Callan sat beside her.

"If you think that's true and not a story we made, then let's go and find out ourselves," Ariadne said.

"I'm going. He is my friend too and I believe in Rune. I can't forget what happened to my sister." Ivy put her hand on Rune's shoulder and gave her a little squeeze.

"I'm in. I can't let you girls go alone. It will be a shame for me." Dylen joins in.

"Seriously, Dylen? You want to go there?" Jan was shocked.

"Yes, I'm going. They need someone to drive them to that woods" Dylen said.

"But Dylen, you can't go there. I can't afford to lose you. You know, I love you" heading to what Jan said, their jaw dropped in shock. They can't believe what they just heard.

"Don't tell me you two are dating!" Ariadne raised a finger towards them.

"Actually...that...we..." Jan babbled.

"Yes, we are dating. We were about to tell you but these things...you know what I mean." Dylen held Jan's hand and gave a peck on it.

"O my gosh! O my gosh! O my goshhhhh!!!! Woah! You two really are dating. I can't believe. Rune do you? Did you see what he did?" Callan jumped in excitement making Rune chuckle.

"Thank God, at least you smiled. Now stop crying and let's go. Jan you coming with me?" Dylen was still holding her hand.

"Umm...okay, only because I can't let you go alone. I know it's all not true" as Jan said that, Dylen laughed, "Okay, my lady, let's go then. You know you are so cute" Dylen gave a peck on Jan's lips.

"Ewwww! You both, stop it. Get a room please!" Ariadne shouted.

"Why? You want it too? Come I'll give you" Dylen moved towards Ariadne but she ran away. "You pervert, don't you dare come near me. At least think of Jan, what impression you are giving her about you." She ran on the stairs.

"I don't mind, Ariadne. After all, he is your friend" Jan laughed out loudly.

"You! I'll show you. Don't do these cheesy things in front of me." Ariadne said.

"It's not cheesy, honey. It's cute." Callan said from across the living room.

"Shut up! Don't take their side. It's cheesy only, okay?" She said.

"Okay, 'miss cool'" Jan sarcastically made air quotations.

Before they could start again, Ivy stopped them."It's getting dark. We should go"
They all went out and sat in Dylen's jeep and took off on the road.

It was a no-entry area and they were not small like before to hide and enter the forest. Jan went and talked to the guards. As her father was a sheriff they allowed them to go in thinking it's so kind of work that her father gave them.

The sun was going down. The sky was getting dark. All the birds went to their nest, to their families. The woods were silent as always. It was unusual for a forest to be so quiet. The branches of the trees were making creepy shadows. The eyes of the bats were glowing. Dylen was driving across the woods when it got stuck due to some rocks. They all pull out of the car and decided to walk.

They were walking close behind each other when they heard a spine chilling howl. They followed the voice which leads them to a place where someone was laying down on the ground. The trees above that place joint and formed a dome blocking the moonlight.

There was this creature which was moving towards Someone in a black cloak. It had glowing serpent eyes with obsidian fur.

It was as if that person in the cloak was protecting the one on the ground. The creature was growling, snapping at that person. As they stepped in that area, the person in cloak ran towards the tree, disappearing in the dark with that creature hastening behind him.

Not wasting a single second they turned around the person on the ground and was shocked to see that was Aiden all along. He was lying there, unconscious. There were marks on his body like, someone scratched him with sharp claws. Blood was flowing from his head and other parts of the body.

Rune sat beside him and kept his head on her lap. Smoothing his hairs, she let out a wail. "Aiden, what happened? Please speak, Aiden". Dylen bent down and kept his two fingers near his nose, "he is alive" he claimed.

"Let's take him to the jeep and get out from here before the creature come again" as Ariadne said this they helped him to get on Dylen's back. As he was unconscious, he can't walk so they have to carry him.

As they were hurrying towards the jeep, they heard someone dashing across the other side. It was looking that the creature was finding someone or more precisely, Aiden. They increased their pace and made it till the jeep. Laying Adien on the seat they took their places. Dylen tried to take the jeep our of the rocks. The fast-moving wheels were making the soil around to rise up in the air. After trying and trying, Dylen was succeeded and they took off towards the entrance of the woods. The branches were slamming on the glass windows. The jeep was in full speed that it was jumping high whenever a pit was coming.

They felt like they were near the entrance when they returned back to the place where they started, the rocks. Everyone was confused and scared. The sweat was flowing down their bodies. The heart rates were at a high pace. Dylen tried and they were near the entrance again. But soon they found themselves stuck in the rocks.

"We are dead now!" Jan cried. Dylen's hands were tumbling on the staring wheel. This time again he tried. With full speed, he tried to take the jeep out of the rock where they saw the creature in front of the jeep. It must have followed the rut and found them. It growled and jumped to attack, when Dylen pushed the escalator and took out the jeep from the rocks in full speed, making the creature to land on the ground.

The creature followed them as they were making their way towards the entrance. This time they made it out. The creature stopped, growled and turned to return back. They were breathing heavily, especially Dylen. Due to speeding the Jeep he got hurt on his hand and it was bleeding.

Finally, they were out. They made it. They were succeeded in saving their friend. Without wasting any time they took him to the hospital. Doctors admitted him as his condition was critical. They told the doctor about what happened and he laughed it out saying, they were joking with him.

As Dylen was injured too, the nurse did the dressing on his hand and told him to take rest. Jan forced him to return to his house and have a nap and insisted for tagging along. They bid their goodbye and went.

The hospital staff was not allowing more visitors to say as it was the night. Rune requested Ariadne to return home as she has a conference yo attend the day after. She told Callan to go with her as staying alone at that time was dangerous for all of them. Before they could leave, Rune told Callan to look after Abigail in books as he was a librarian in the hope that they would find something.

Only Rune and Ivy were left to look after Aiden who was in the emergency room. Rune insisted Ivy go to sleep as she was looking tired and she obeyed what Rune said but on one condition that half of the time she will take rest and the half, Rune will. She agreed and Ivy lay on the side bed and drifted into sleep.

Rune sat on the sofa across the room looking at Aiden, wondering why he decided to back there again. Without blinking an eye she was just staring at him, tears rolling down her cheeks.

There was a knock on the door. "Come in," she said, quickly wiping out her tears. A nurse handed her belongings of Aiden and left with a smile. It seems that the nurse figured it out that she was crying.

Rune went through his stuff. There were his clothes, wallet, shoe, backpack and phone. Keeping all the things on the table rune took the phone in the hand and ogle it. For a moment she thought what to do. 'Maybe I can get my answers here. But isn't it bad to check someone's phone without their permission? As he is my friend, I can do it. He won't mind I guess' She thought to herself. Biting her lips and nodding her head in a way that seems like she was deciding what to do, she switched on the phone.

There was a number of notifications of messages from a single person. She clicks on it and scrolled upwards to read the conversation.

18ᴛʜ ᴍᴀʀᴄʜ

Oh! A psychiatrist. I see...umm...Mrs. Milo is unbelievable sometimes. Who will tell a psychiatrist to talk to her son? But what can we do, after all, she is a single mom working hard to raise a stubborn son like him" she said to herself giving out a chuckle, looking at Aiden. She then continued to read on.

"Whatttt??? Why didn't he said any one of us about this? Why he did that? I'll show him once he wakes up" She said, getting a bit emotional. She scrolled down to read the rest of the conversation.

20ᴛʜ ᴀᴘʀɪʟ

"What?? What's next? Uggghhhh!!!! This battery had to die now only!" She shouted in frustration.

Hope you all like this chapter :)
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What's the reason that Aiden went there?

Who was the person in the cloak?

Will Callan will find something in the library? If yes, then what?

What will happen next?