The Old Hideout
Daniel took a deep breath. The fresh summer air was a nice change from the stifling indoors and the chill in Area 50 the night before. She couldn’t pause too long to enjoy it though, worried that her parents would try to follow her. She stalked across the backyard to where her bike still leaned against the fence.
She was half expecting glittery tassels to be coming from the handles but the simple, dark blue vehicle awaited her as a nice surprise. She rolled it out into the back roads that ran through the neighborhood, hopped on, and took off. The houses blurred by, entangled with the familiar smell of freshly cut grass and charcoal burning on a barbecue. At least it was still summer, Daniel thought with a dismal smirk.
Soon the houses had faded and she was speeding through the lush green woodlands that bordered the city. Sunlight filtered through the leaves and added a warm atmosphere to her drive. By the time she arrived at her destination she felt focused and for once, calm.
The “old hideout” Pammy had mentioned was a small tree house the gang had built in middle school. It was barely a tree house really, sitting amid the branches of a squat plant and only a few feet off the ground but they had taken what they could get after being banned from building in their backyards. Of course it wasn’t technically allowed back here either; the difference was nobody bothered to check. Even the builders rarely did upon entering high school. That made it the perfect place to deal with this sort of...unusual situation.
David was waiting outside when the decrepit clubhouse came into view. He frowned sympathetically while Daniel wheeled her bike over. Daniel just shrugged in response.
“Pammy called me and the others. Everyone’s waiting inside,” David said. Daniel blinked. She’d almost forgotten that Jake and Gassan had been wrapped up in this mess too. She wondered what happened to them. In any case, they were back now too so she wouldn’t have to wonder much longer. She grabbed a branch for support and stepped onto the gnarled trunk of the tree.
“Let’s go in, shall we?”
Written by Flutterbest on 03 February 2018