Chapter 2

"If it isn't my favorite girl!" Betty says with so much joy and happiness as she engulfs me in a warm nurturing hug, making me want to just sleep in her arms.

"Oh come on in, come meet Jake. He's been waiting for you guys". We go in and see Jake, Dylan's dad, coming to meet us. He smiles at me and I swear I see Dylan in his face for a second. They look so much alike.

"Ah! I see you're here already. Took you both long enough. Come give me a hug, it's been what? Six months?" We all laughed, and I rushed to hug him quickly. They both look so happy and kind.

The love between them seems unwavering and genuine. Unlike my parents who split when I was just four. Dylan's parents are the nicest people I've ever met. And they look so young and vibrant in their mid and late forties.

"Where's my son?" Betty asks, looking towards the door.

"I don't know, he was on the phone when I left him outside."

"Okay then," Jake says and picks his key up from the table,"Let's get going, people!" He points to the door dramatically, and we all laugh, heading outside.

Once we're outside, we see Dylan leaning on the car looking expressionless towards us. Betty picks up her pace towards him and hugs him tightly, peppering kisses on his face, and he tries to smile, but it looks really plastic. At least I can tell.

"My lovely prodigal son," Jake says, smiling as we neared them, "won't you give your father a hug?"

"We're going in my car. I and Crystal, that is." Dylan responds with no regard for his father at all. Betty and I look at them in silence. A flash of hurt passes through her face, but it's gone as quickly as it came.

"But the fun all starts from here. We all go in a car. Together," Jake says, smiling, but his eyes hold some hidden fact that I do not understand as he keeps eye contact with Dylan, who equally glares at his own father. I want to say something but all I can do is look between both of them, trying to decipher what the heck is going on.

"Start the car while I go get our bags," Jake says in a tone that permits no further discussion and goes back into the house.

"Dylan-",

"Get into the car." He cuts me off, and I do exactly as he says, sitting in the passenger's seat getting somewhat scared of him. A few seconds later, he comes in holding the steering wheel so tightly that I'm scared his veins would pop out any second.

I just look at him confused about what to say or do. I suddenly don't want to go on this trip anymore. There's obvious bad blood between him and his father. No wonder he never lets us visit or communicate with them often. I wonder what might have happened to make him hate his father so much. Jake has been the nicest father-in-law anyone could wish for and Betty is just an angel in disguise. Why then does he hate them so much that the mere thought of being with them for three days and two nights inundates him with so much anger? I've known him to be very intrepid and fearless, but this case seems to be the reverse.

"Crystal," I hear him say with so much seriousness, but I don't look at him.

"Look at me, now," the worry, anger and urgency in his voice makes me turn towards him like a robot and my eyes widen at what I see.

"Fuck Dylan! What is that? Why do you have it with you?!" I whisper-yell at him, and looked around for anyone.

"Take this," he grabs my hand and puts the small shiny black gun in my hand, holding it firmly there. I try to free myself from him out of fear and panic.

"Crystal!" he yells, and I calm down, a streak of tear escaping from my left eye as I look straight in his dark brown ones.

"Look, I know exactly how you feel, but I want you to keep this with you. Always. Don't let it out of your sight and it should be for your own sight alone. No one else's. I mean it"

"Why? Why should I keep this with me? What's going on?" I ask with shaky breaths, and he pulls me in for a hug.

"The cabin is in the woods and the woods is a dangerous place, Crystal. I just want you to be safe, okay." He sounds so worried, and I don't like him like that. I nod my head in agreement, and he lets me go. Quickly, I hide the gun in my pants, covering it up with my jacket as I cleaned my face and put on a smile as Betty and Jake gets in the back.

"Let's do this." Dylan says as he drives off to the woods.

All too soon, we get to the entrance of the forest where we have to go by foot, carrying our bags in hand. Luckily, they weren't so heavy. A forty-minute drive in awkward conversations and silence really took its toll on me. Thank God for the cookies and chocolate I stocked up my backpack with. Betty also baked some delicious cream cookies that made mine taste like crunchy paper.

"Hey!" Dylan shouts and grabs my arm, stopping me from going any further. "Watch your step, Crystal, you almost stepped into a trap."

I look at the ground and see a black metal-like object covered with grass and dried leaf. I don't even want to think about what would've happened if Dylan wasn't on time. Whispering a thank you to him, we start walking, and I look up ahead at the forest. It looks very different from before.

The trees look taller and bigger, their bark is black and covered in mud and grass. The path we were following seemed to have vanished into the tall grasses and shrubs. The leaves on the trees seem very weird and strange. I start to get an eerie feeling about this place, getting really impatient to get to the cabin.

"How long till we reach the cabin?" I asked no one in particular.

"Judging by our speed, we should be there in the next ten minutes," Jake says from behind.

"I remember how Selena kept whining and complaining till we finally got there," Betty says and laughs, but soon stops when she realizes she was the only one laughing.

"Who's Selena?" I ask, but a few seconds pass and no one says anything.