Lisa, John, and Louis were walking through the forest, still searching for Luna and Max. After a while, Lisa spoke up.
"Just where could they be?"
Both boys stayed silent. They didn't answer Lisa's question and kept walking quietly. When she didn't get a reply, Lisa sighed, thinking maybe they didn't know what to say.
They continued walking in silence when Lisa suddenly heard something — a loud thud, like something heavy had fallen. She said quickly,
"Did you guys hear that?"
"Yes, I heard it. But where did it come from?" John replied.
"I think it came from over there. Let's go," Louis said.
"Do you guys really think we should look?" Lisa asked.
"Yes, maybe we'll find a clue," Louis replied.
"Fine," Lisa said.
The three of them ran toward the direction of the sound.
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Louis and Luka were following the same loud noise. Luka wasn't happy about it, but he didn't want to be alone either.
After a while, Luka stopped and said, "I told you we shouldn't follow random noises."
"Are you tired, Luka?" Louis asked, stopping beside him.
"No, I'm not," Luka replied.
"Then why did you stop running?" Louis asked.
"It's because we've been following that sound for minutes, and we still haven't found anything," Luka said.
"You're right… where did that loud noise come from?"
"I don't know, but I'm telling you, we shouldn't follow random voices. There's something wrong in this forest. We should just look for our friends and get out of here," Luka grumbled.
"Right, my bad. Let's go find them," Louis said.
Then suddenly, he stopped and pointed behind a tree. "Luka, look at that."
Luka looked where Louis pointed and frowned in confusion. Both stared at the spot behind the tree, wondering what was going on.
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Lisa, Stephanie, and Max were watching a shaking bush, afraid of what might come out. When someone — or something — finally appeared, they sighed in relief. It was just a black cat.
The black cat looked at them and meowed softly before walking away.
"It's just a cat," Max said, relieved.
"Yes, I was scared it might be something dangerous, like a wild animal," Lisa said.
"Are you scared, Lisa?" Max asked.
"Just a little," Lisa replied.
"Don't worry, I'm here," Max said.
"Oh? Are you saying you'll protect me from any danger?" Lisa teased.
"Yes, I am," Max said confidently.
"Liar. If danger comes, you'll be the first to run away," Lisa said.
"Hey, that really hurts my feelings!" Max complained.
Then suddenly, they heard voices again — familiar ones. It was the same voices they had heard earlier.
"It's Mom and Dad's voices!" Stephanie said quickly.
"Yeah, let's go! Maybe they're nearby," Lisa said.
Max nodded, and the three of them ran toward the direction of the voices again.
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Luna and John were walking quietly, searching for their friends.
"Hey Luna, do you think we can find them?" John asked.
"I don't know, but we can try," Luna replied.
"What if we don't find them?"
"Then we'll wait until morning. If we still can't find them, we'll ask for help," Luna said.
"Hm… I wonder if Louis is okay," John said.
"I hope so," Luna replied.
"I also hope we can find Stephanie's parents," John said.
"Yeah."
They both fell silent again and continued their search.
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Luna was running through the forest, trying to escape the horrible voices she had heard earlier. She wished she hadn't encountered them again. After a while, the terrifying sounds stopped, and she finally halted, panting hard from exhaustion.
She regretted going to search for help and wished she didn't agreed with John's suggestion to follow the old man. She thought, If we hadn't followed him, we wouldn't have gotten separated or met our fake selves.
She also thought, If I've met someone who isn't my real friends… then maybe the others are also with the fakes one.
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Max and Anna were running through the jungle when they witnessed a horrifying scene unfold before them. Anna screamed loudly as Max grabbed her arm and pulled her along, running as fast as they could.
When they finally stopped, exhausted and out of breath, Anna said while crying, "Max, I'm so scared!"
"Hey, Anna, don't worry. I'm with you," Max said, trying to reassure her.
"Just what was that?" Anna asked.
"I don't know… but you need to calm down and stop crying," Max said gently.
"How can I calm down after seeing something that terrifying?" Anna said, still sobbing.
She sat on the ground and continued crying quietly. Max sat down beside her and said softly, "Maybe you just need a little rest. After that, we'll think about what to do next."
Anna didn't reply and kept crying quietly, while Max watched her, thinking about how to escape this terrifying situation.