It's quite late at night and a member has decided to visit Mindy. The man knocks on the front door. "Mindy listen, it's been an entire day, and we haven't seen you. Answer me now or is this one of your runaways?" The man knocks one more time, and notices something. He sees some red dried up blood, and feels like something is off. "Did she kill another animal? I thought Eder told her that she couldn't anymore."
The man is about to leave but he notices something else. It's the knife Mindy threw at Ashly and it seems Ashly has completely forgotten about it. "What is this girl doing, I have to return it as it's disrespectful to leave such materials on the ground." He picks up the knife and grabs a key, he had been friends with Mindy's parents. They trusted him, and gave him a key to their place to care for Mindy when they are gone.
The man puts the key on the lock and opens the door, he enters and turns the lights on. The place seems normal and cleaned, he is a bit weirded out because Mindy doesn't clean this much. He puts the knife back to its place and is going to leave, but he decides to go to Mindy's room. He tells himself that he is just going to check if she is sleeping to be sure that she hasn't gone off. He slowly walks to Mindy's room and as he opens it. "Mindy if you're sleeping I'm sorry, I'm just checking in on you." The man said in a soft whisper.
As he enters he spots Mindy's body in the bed, he assumes she has fallen asleep and closes the door. "Weird, she isn't snoring at all this time." The man then leaves the cabin, and locked the door, in the distance Ashly is there.
Ashly is hiding inside a bush and she hides her knife. "That was a bit too close, if he found out she was dead…I would have no choice, but to kill him." Ashly says to herself, she sighs in relief as she avoided another problem. Ashly stands up and begins to leave, she is making sure she isn't leaving any footprints behind.
[Day 2]
Lucas has woken up early in the morning, he stretches for a while and begins to make himself breakfast. Lucas decides to cook extra for Ashly as she still doesn't know how to make herself food. As he cooks he looks outside the window, he notices how beautiful the forest is. "It's a shame I can't stay here forever, I should definitely visit this place after this whole thing."
Lucas has sat down on the table and begins to eat, he has a piece of paper in the table. As he is eating he bigings to think about what to tell his foster parents. He begins writing a few things down, he feels happy that he has been learning new things. Things he can tell them, and enough to not run out of letter for a few weeks. "Well I hope this letter is enough for them, I'm worried I may have written it a tad bit to short."
As he folds the paper into a letter he hears knocking coming from the front door. "Coming." Lucas said as he stood up, he walks to the front and opens it to see Ashly. "Good morning Ashly, oh you seem a bit tired . Did you sleep we'll yesterday?" Ashly indeed seemed tired, her eyes were a bit red.
"No I didn't, I thought about taking a stroll in the night but I got lost." She says as she yawns. "This forest got too dark, I was being foolish in thinking that I could navigate in it. I didn't know most of the routes I took, I guess I was asking for it, may I come in?"
"Yeah sure Ashly, I made you some breakfast." Lucas moves out of the way and Ashly enters, Lucas walks to the kitchen and grabs the food. "Here Ashly, I was hoping to ask you to come anyways." he hands her the plate and he sits down.
"Lucas I need to tell you this right now." She said as she began to eat the food. "This is out of nowhere, but I think we have to leave soon." She looks at Lucas who seems intrigued by the question. "It's not like I didn't like any of this, I mean these people are trying to help me out which I appreciate. It's just that I don't like staying inside a forest that's all, it's all so different with dirt in the winter and all."
"Well Ashly that has to do with the geological formation. This forest is pretty much in the east of Iriage, and it means it experiences a much quicker winter than others. It's also with the fact that this forest is also part of what some call it the Quinsoplet plain. This is known to be the only area of Iriage to have winters with the least amount of snow in." He says but then he looks up, and Ashly seems like she is falling asleep. "Sorry for saying to much Ashly, it's exiting to talk about how wonderful this earth is. To have such drastic changes in ares is just too ineresting to not want to study them."
"Oh yeah I forgot about your question, of course we will be leaving soon. I give it about five more days, I still need you to go through these sessions for a bit longer alright?" He asked her.
"No Lucas, I want to leave earlier, two days at the latest. I just don't want to be around that girl anymore, and who's to say she won't try something again. No a better question, who's to say I won't act worse than I already did." Ashly stands up and leaves, leaving her plate half eaten which Lucas stares at for a moment.
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"Where is Mindy?" Agnes asked, "We need to keep an eye on her as well. I know we asked for Ashly to be monitored by Lucas, but Mindy is also half of the problem. If we are having Lucas watching Ashly we have to do our part and check on Mindy."
"I checked on her last night, and she was sleeping. I think I should go and visit her again." Said the man, "I will have to talk to her about it, I believe I'm the one she will listen to the most "
"Alright then Easton, make sure she is cooperative alright." Eder said and Easton begins to go to Mindy. "I'll make sure Mindy stays away from Ashly even if I have to use force."
Easton has arrived at the cabin and knocks on the door. "Mindy I know you're in there, you haven't come out yet." For a moment it's all silence. "Mindy I'm entering if you're not answering, don't tell me you're out on your walks again." Again there is no response so he pulls out the key and opens the door.
The place looks as clean as it did at night, he begins to walk to Mindy's bedroom. "Mindy, this is your last change to answer me." Easton then opens the door, and spots her in her bed in the exact position as last night. He notices that she has her eyes open and seems to be staring directly to the ceiling. "Mindy? This can't be was she…" Easton walks up to Mindy, and notices a cut on her neck.
Easton should of knew something was off when Mindy hasn't been snoring. "I have to tell the others that she has bee-" His mouth was then covered by a hand, he tries to turn around, but the person who is holding him is stronger than him. "hhhmmmh" he tries to speak, Easton tries to move.
"You shouldn't have returned at all." Easton has heard this voice before it's Ashly. He manages to force his face to turn a bit left and it was hers "Listen, I don't want to do this as much as you don't want me to eitherx" Ashly then pulls out her knife. "Please dont squirm or attempt to escape me, I'll make this quick and painless. This isn't your fault at all, you just got unlucky that's all." She draws the knife closer to his neck.
"Hhhmmmmhmn" Easton struggles to break free, he shakes trying to break free. He is sweating and is feeling utterly scared. Ashly presses the knife on his neck, he keeps on trying to shake her off. He pushes himself a bit back causing her to falter for a moment, and he lifts Ashly's hand from his mouth,"You killed Mindy didn't you." Easton then attempts to run past her, he manages to run outside but Ashly is much faster.
Ashly runs and shoves him making him fall to the ground. "I told you to not to struggle." She says as she pins him to the ground, she decides to not waste anymore time, and she stabs him on the back of his head. "I was being nice to you but you refused, if it hurts it's all your fault." Ashly then pulls the knife out, and plunges it back inside. She repeats this for what seems like forever. "Fuck, this is much messier than with Mindy." Ashly stands up and checks her hands which are covered in blood.
"I guess I would have to hide your, and her body much sooner than I wanted. I bet they will be searching for you in no more than three hours." Ashly says with annoyance as she begins to drag his body away.
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"Where is Easton? He should've been returning by now." Eder said as they all sit down waiting for his report. "Lucas where is Ashly? We need to make sure Mindy and her don't interact." Lucas nods and tells them that Ashly seems very tired so she won't be going outside for a while. "Still just go to her and make sure she isn't alone, try your best to not lose track of her."
As he tells this to Lucas Ashly has arrived. "I heard you were all talking about me, mind telling me it to my face." She says as she approaches, she notices how serious they look. "Come on, it's not like I'm an animal. Don't just give me that stare, I'm not going to do anything."
"Oh thank goodness you're here Ashly, I was just going to get you. I was told that I have to look out for you, make sure you and Mindy aren't alone for the while we stay here." Lucas says as he stands up, and walks up to her. "Ashly there is some good news that I was just told, they will make sure you and Mindy aren't left alone." Ashly doesn't seem excited at all. "They mean it, they will have an eye on her as they told me to do so on you. This is great as they realize this wasn't completely your fault. With this we can all trust each other until we solve this small problem."
Ashly rolls her eyes "Wow I'm very impressed by this, so what else is there that I didn't know already." The Quill Makers inform Ashly about Easton, and how he is currently going to her place. "Oh that guy, I saw him not to long ago." They all look at her with surprise. "He told me something like how Mindy probably is going for a walk or something. He said how he wants to go find her before she completely disappears. I guess by what Lucas has told me he wanted to keep an eye on her, but may I ask, what is this walk or whatever that Mindy does."
"Well that solves this then, I have a guess that Easton isn't going to give up at all. He is definitely going to run around like a mad man, if you or Lucas find him tell us. Tell him as well to call it off, and we advice you to stick with us or Lucas." Eder said as as he looks at Agnes who nods. "So with this walk of hers it's quite simple, sometimes randomly she likes to disappear. Usually for three days, but she will always come back unharmed so we don't worry much. The problem is that she never tells us about this, and with you here this is going to be tough. Mindy would sometimes return much earlier, and since she finds you interesting she will probably be back in a day or two."
"Well then, I guess if Easton doesn't return by sundown we will have to send a few men to search for him." Agnes says as she is carving a piece of wood. "That will have to wait for tomorrow so let's ignore it for now. Ashly do you feel ready for another session right now?" she says.
"Uh sure… as long as I am in your sight, and not with Mindy I'm ready." Ashly says as she walks past Lucas and sits down. "Let's continues this, maybe I'll definitely change after today." She says smirking. "Oh yeah, mind if I and Lucas help you out. I mean with what I leaned over the years, I'm definitely useful. I want you to trust me more, and prove that I just made a mistake, don't worry about letting me be alone." Ashly then pulls Lucas closer. "I will have Lucas nearby, the search will start in the morning right?" Eder nods in agreement, Ashly can't believe how easy this is going.