Mansion in the Forest

It Worked Anyway.

There was really a fifty feet cliff on the said area, the bottom was just a calm river that is about 4 feet deep and if you're thinking to dive, then you'll see your creator in no time. And if you're unlucky enough and are a bad guy, you'll meet your creator's enemy.

The teenagers quickly moved and they all got out of the SUV, they searched for the rope and found it at the corner, the end was tied safely in a body of a giant Sequoia.

"How about him?" Denver asked while pointing at Han's father when they were all preparing to get down, not even thinking what will be at the bottom.

"It is better to leave me here, bringing me with you will just put all of you in danger." He said.

"Oh no, I'm not going to let you go that easily—."

"They are tracking this car and they will be here as we speak. Why don't you just waste your time escaping rather than doing something to satisfy your evil ego?" The guy scoffed.

"Why didn't you tell us sooner?!" Trevor grabbed his collar and pulled him out of the SUV. "Are you really trying to help us or entrapping us?!"

"I'm sorry, okay? I didn't know it until I saw that!" He used his head to point at the dashboard inside where a small thing was attached on it.

"You can't fool us!" Blake hissed and he was about to punch the guy but Lexi grabbed his hand. "What?!"

"Let's go, we shouldn't waste more time." She said with a poker face. She was mad at him as well, but instead of wasting energy on him, they should start escaping.

"Now we're not sure if it's safe to go down there." Chantelle scoffed and glared at the guy.

"Don't worry, I was the only one aside from Han who knows about that rope." The guy said and looked up to Lexi. "There's a tunnel at the bottom and at the end of the tunnel there will be a small hole in a bush at the park nearby."

"How can we make sure you're telling us the truth this time?" Lexi asked.

"My daughter is back in my house, once I fail to bring all of you back to the mansion, they will kill her. Please, save her."

Lexi stared at the guy and she could see the sincerity in them. She sighed deeply and looked up to her friends. "Push the SUV to the cliff."

"What?" They asked in unison.

"So they would think that we're already dead." Lexi said and she looked back to Han's father. "And you have to hide as well and don't let them see you."

The guy looked up to Lexi with confused eyes. He could understand what she was trying to do, but the thing he couldn't understand is why the government badly wanted to kill these innocent teenagers.

"Let's go." Lexi said when the guy didn't say anything.

"Are you sure it's safe?" Jazen asked worriedly, holding Lexi's arm tightly.

"We will see." She replied as she removed Jazen's hand gently and grabbed the rope. "I'll be the first one to go down to see if it's safe."

"What? No!" Trevor refused and he stole the rope from Lexi. "Let me—."

"Look, we both know that I am more a skilled fighter than you so please, we're just wasting time here." Lexi hissed, she doesn't have ill intentions saying those words to her best friend, but it is the truth.

"Just go." Iris said to Lexi with a nod while they were securing the area just in case the enemies already found their place.

Lexi smiled at Trevor before she bend her knees and jumped down. Her hands could feel the heat but she couldn't care less as long as she reached the bottom.

The tunnel wasn't at the bottom, rather in the middle of the cliff but the rope ended up four feet from it. It was not the tunnel she was expecting, it's more like a hole that one person at a time only could get fit in and it wasn't that obvious from above.

After Lexi made sure that it was safe to get down, she looked up and yelled. "Make a move now!"

"Girls, go first." Trevor said and he led them to the rope and made sure that they would be safe while going down.

Jazen was the first one, then Jisu, Siena and Iris. The boys waited till one of the girls informed them that it's safe to go down. The rope may look good and new, but they wouldn't take the risk of going down simultaneously using only one rope.

Denver took the lead after he made sure that Herlie was tied safely behind him and he went down, then Blake followed after. Trevor untied Han's father and he smiled at him.

"Don't worry, we'll save your daughter but you need to be safe first." He said before he grabbed the rope and jumped off of the cliff.

The teenagers crawled into the hole, it was dark and they couldn't see anything at all but there was no other way but to scurry their way inside until the end of that hole.

"Can we stop first?" Denver asked panting.

"Don't talk, you'll lose oxygen." Lexi said as she continued crawling.

Since they are literally underground and seems that they are still far from the end, they started to feel suffocated and losing oxygen. They were also covered with dirt and sweat. So they don't have much time to stop or else, that hole will be their graveyard.

They keep crawling and crawling for more than 20 minutes and no one dared to stop or talk to waste their oxygen. Until at the very far end of the tunnel, Lexi could see some light.

"We're near." She said and her friend could feel relief and hope.

As they finally reach the end, Lexi tells them to wait because she needs to check the perimeter if it's safe to go out. The bush hustled and whatever kind of small animal hiding in that bush got startled and ran off. Lexi peeked her head to see the place, unfortunately, it wasn't empty but luckily there weren't any enemies.

There were a bunch of kids playing around since it was a park, some parents or individuals doing their things and didn't give much attention to the hustling bush on the corner.

Lexi looked around to see if there's any way they could get out without the people noticing them. And she saw trees they could use to hide until they could get to the parking lot.

"Keep crawling behind the trees until we reach the parking lot." She said as she backed down to instruct her friends.

"Are there people outside?" Iris asked.

"Yes. It's a park, so expect some kids— what the f**k!" Lexi exclaimed when she felt a liquid on her back.

"Aah!" A kid screamed loudly when he heard Lexi's voice from the bush. He ran back to his mom while crying in fear.

"You scared the kid." Blake laughed.

"He f*****g peed on me!"

"For the record, he's peeing at the bush not on you." Denver said and they all laughed but when Lexi heard footsteps approaching their spot, she hushed them and they all crawled back.

The bush moved like someone kicking it. "See? There's no one here." A woman's voice said to her child who kept crying.

"I heard her, there was a girl in there!" The kid insisted, so his mom used her hand to split the bush in half.

"See? There's nothing in there." She told her kids and when she's about to let go of the bush, she noticed the hole. A hole that is big enough to fit a person inside. "Wait." The woman said and she bent over to see the hole better.

"Grrrr.."

"Oh my God!" The woman exclaimed and she immediately picked up her son and they ran away.

"Really? A grrr?" Chantelle mocked.

"What? I don't know how to make animal sounds." Lexi said. She peeked out again and looked around. She saw the woman talking with her co-parents at the park while pointing at the bush. "Let's move! Quick!" She told them and they all crawled out.

The people at the park that were looking at the same bush all scream when it started to move unceasingly. They all grabbed their kids and started running away.

"What are they running for?" Denver asked when they all successfully left the hole.

"They think there are wild animals in here." Jisu said as she stood up. They don't need to crawl at all since the park became empty after all the parents panicked and they brought their kids away.

"We should cover the hole, if they report it to the police, then they will know that we faked our deaths." Trevor said and they all agreed to cover the hole with mud and all the things they could use to remove the trace of the hole.

"Now what?" Siena asked when they were all done and covered with mud and dirt.

"We'll find a car and drive back to the ranch and save Han's sister." Lexi said while she's looking around the park and her eyes landed on a Camper van that probably the owner was one of the people earlier. "We'll use that." She pointed at it.

"We're going to steal it?" Jisu asked.

"What's worse than being the enemies of the state?" Blake asked mockingly before he ran towards the camper van and looked around if there were still people who could see them. But they seemed so scared that they left it open. There are even some grilled chicken at the portable grills. "I guess, they were too scared with that 'grrr'."

"Shut up, it worked anyway." Lexi rolled her eyes. "Come on guys, let's leave this place before people get their things back."

__________