Mansion in the Forest

She Hasn't Found Her

All they could do is to pray to whoever was listening and watching them cry for their friends' situation. Sitting outside the operating room anxiously. Not only because Jisu, Denver and Blake are already on the verge of dying, but also because they are inside the hospital where a lot of people could see them and worse, they might recognize them.

"Don't look up." Lexi told them, so they were all looking down at the white tiled floor of the hospital for almost two hours and their necks are hurting but they needed to tolerate it.

Jazen was also brought to a room where they were checking on her to make sure that she didn't get any concussion in that horrible accident.

Actually, it wasn't even an accident. It was planned all along as Sakura's men had been following them around since they got out of that park. They just waited for the perfect place to execute their plan to crash the camper van in a deserted road where no one could help them.

But unfortunately for their enemies, Chantelle was too smart for them to handle. Though it was just a coincidence that she has her father's phone and immediately calls for help, but still, no one knows what will happen that time and got lucky that help arrived right away. For sure, Sakura will never stop till everyone dies.

"Your father said that you guys should go into one of your friend's room so people won't see you." A guy wearing a black suit said, it's one of a bodyguard of Chantelle's parents. He then led everyone to Jazen's room and told them to never go out since there are people around starting to get curious about the teenagers who just arrived with severe cases.

Lexi sat on the edge of the bed while staring at Jazen's face. "They will be fine, right?" She asked.

"Not to be cocky, but those doctors are the best surgeons in this town." Chantelle said. It somehow made them feel relief and assurance that their friends will be fine.

"You sure have rich and powerful parents." Siena said with a sigh at the end.

"Yeah, my father was holding this town in his hand."

"At first, I was really wondering on how on earth your parents reached this side of the country, but then I realized that you are living around here." Iris concluded since it was really confusing how Chantelle's parents suddenly showed up out of nowhere because they thought they were living in the city, which turned out not.

"Yeah. I was sent abroad but I escaped and lived in the city alone without them knowing."

"Who's supporting you? I mean, if you're a bum and homeless, how could you manage to survive?" Trevor asked.

"I lived with my grandma, a college professor. She raised me and didn't inform my parents that I'm living with her, but when I was 9, she died and left me a hefty amount of money but sadly, my dad took that from me because they thought that I'm still abroad." Chantelle explaining with a bitter smile on her lips. "Then I met this one guy, he's the one who taught me to be a professional pickpockets— that I'm not proud of, but he was caught one night and was thrown at jail. So I had to live on my own from then on."

"Your grandma died." Lexi mumbled as she looked up to Chantelle. "Because a monster killed her?"

Chantelle chuckled painfully, she could still remember vividly on how that monster took her grandmother's life in front of her one snowy night of December inside their house.

"He was looking for a shelter." Chantelle started, her eyes traced the line in the blanket around Jazen's body. "And my grandmother let him in for a night since he looks like a decent man but got caught up in a snowstorm. He told my grandmother that he was on his way home but due to heavy snowfall that night with zero visibility, he needed to stop. My grandmother was too nice to him that he even offered him a cup of hot tea to lessen the cold, I was there, watching him since I don't trust anyone in general aside from my grandmother."

"Look, if you're not comfortable enough to tell us, don't force yourself." Lexi said when they saw how it was hard for the girl to recall that horrific night.

"It's okay." Chantelle smiled as she sat on the other side of the bed and pushed aside some hair strands to Jazen's ear. "He was looking back at me with dilated eyes and I deadass thought that he's on drugs. I told my grandma about it but she told me that we have to be nice to the man, he will stay only for a few hours till the storm calms down and he will go to his own family." She continued, everyone was just listening to her attentively. "But that guy.." She gulped thickly, holding back her tears as hard as she could. "Transformed into a monster and attacked my grandma, I saw how he killed her then fled away after."

"Wait." Iris said, she held out her hand in front of Chantelle and she looked up to the ceiling, as if she's trying to search some memory at the very back of her head. "8 years ago, me and Siena encountered a man running in the middle of the snow storm with bloody clothes."

"Ooh! Right, that was the night we also encountered a monster! At first, we thought that he got into an accident, but when he stopped in front of us, he transformed into a monster."

"Then what happened next?" Lexi asked.

"b***h, of course we ran! He saw us but we were too small at that time and could easily hide." Siena scoffed.

"Well, I was expecting more from you. Like I thought you fought him and killed him." Lexi snorted.

"I was only 4 feet that time, what could a 7 and 8 years old kid do against a 9 footer monster? Are you even thinking straight?"

"Calm down, I was just kidding." Lexi laughed, Trevor, Chantelle and Iris joined her.

"But yeah, that simple encounter led the two of us in this situation." Iris said after her laughter died down.

"Jisu didn't even encounter a monster nor see one, but she's in the OR, fighting for her life. Life isn't really fair." Trevor said while shaking his head. "She's innocent and has nothing to do with all of this."

"When did life become fair anyway? As long as you are affiliated with a person who has something to do with monsters, then you're one of us—." Iris stopped when the door suddenly swung open, they all stood up abruptly but they relaxed when they saw a nurse entering the room.

"Sorry for interrupting but this is an emergency." The nurse said in a rush tone of voice.

"What happ—."

"You have to leave now, someone is looking for you in the lobby and they know all of you." Chantelle's father said when he suddenly popped out at the door.

"Then tell them we're not here!" Chantelle sneered.

"We already told them, but they know you guys are here, we're already transferring your friends in an ambulance and we'll bring them to another hospital, so you guys need to be fast and use the emergency exit at the back."

"Damn it, who could it be?" Lexi groaned.

"It was a lady and some men."

The teenagers looked at each other before looking back to Mortelle. They already knew who it was but they were not going to tell him because it might cause a panic inside the hospital. Sakura will never be civilians anyway since the government already warned them that they needed to keep a low profile and not let anyone know that there are monsters in their country.

"We should go." Iris said as she grabbed the wheelchair on the corner.

Lexi and Trevor carried Jazen and carefully put her down in the wheelchair. Siena checked the hallway if it's safe to go out then call her friends.

Chantelle didn't even spare her father a glance as she walked past him, but before she could step out of the room, Mortelle grabbed her hand, so she looked over her shoulder.

"What?" She asked coldly.

"You still know where we live, right?"

"I grew up there for 8 years, of course I know." Chantelle said as she took back her hand and ran after her friends who were already waiting for her at the emergency exit.

Lexi looked down and saw a car at the ground and also Chantelle's mother waving her hand calling at them to go down as quickly as they could since Sakura and her men were already on their way to the room they vacate.

When they reached the ground floor, Chandra handed the keys of their house and pulled her daughter into a hug but Chantelle didn't hug her back.

"Your friends will be okay so don't worry about them. Please, be careful, honey."

Chantelle scoffed slightly and didn't say anything then she got inside the car, but she was looking at her mom as Trevor started driving as fast as he could away from the hospital.

"Will they be fine?" Siena asked when they were already far from the place.

"Yeah, there are lot of people in that place, there's no way in Hell Sakura would show their true identity with other people or else, the government will have another problem covering up their shits." Lexi said.

"Since Sakura is still running after our asses, I assume she hasn't found her sister yet." Iris concluded.

She wasn't able to find a kid who didn't want others to find her. Herlie is hiding in a place where no one would ever try to go since it was abandoned and the place was too creepy for humans to dare going to that place.

"That's possible. Why don't we let her know that Herlie wasn't with us anymore?"

"You think she'll believe us? That woman is such a pain in the ass." Lexi scoffed and rolled her eyes, then she looked at the rearview mirror to see Chantelle. "Do you have any idea which hospital they would bring our friends to?"

"I'm not really sure, my dad owns five hospitals around the city, but I think they will bring them to the hospital near our house since they want us to go to their house."

"We should check them there." Iris suggested and they all agreed. "But first, let us bring Jazen to your parent's house. This girl has been through a lot while she's in a coma."

"Right, we can't go around with Jazen being like this. She needs to stay in one place so that she will be safe." Siena said and they looked at Lexi, as if waiting for her to agree on them.

"Okay then, but are you sure that she'll be safe in your parent's house?" She asked Chantelle.

"Their house has the best security in this town, I'm sure no one could ever get inside without my parents' permission."

They all agreed to leave Jazen in the said place, then after Chantelle told the bodyguards to keep an eye on the patient, they all headed to the hospital where they brought Jisu, Blake and Denver.

Trevor suddenly hit the brake when they were close to the hospital which made the girls surprised at the sudden stop.

"What the hell, Trev?!" Lexi groaned while rubbing her forehead as she hit on the dashboard. "Why did you stop?"

"They are here." He pointed at the van outside the hospital where three to four men were standing outside as a lookout. There are no ambulances around so they are thinking that their friends were brought to another hospital.

"We should go to another one just outside the town." Chantelle said. Trevor nodded his head and he manoeuvred the car but as soon as they were about to go, the ambulance carrying their friends finally arrived and Sakura's men get alerted.

"Lex." Trevor called his best friend and just by looking at each other, they already understood what they needed to do.

"Kill or get killed." Lexi said as she pushed open the door on her side and got out of the car. She stretched her arms above her head and looked over her shoulder to see her friends getting out of the car. "Make sure that our friends will get inside safely." She said before they all ran together towards Sakura's men who were surprised by the sudden attack.

___________