Ellina's PoV
The clock chimed 5:28 pm.
Oh no
My friends would be here soon and I still haven't completed packing.
I thought to myself and grabbed my knapsack.
This is gonna be a nice trip.
I hope so.
Goodness!
I have never been to a genuine trip and wasn't quite sure what to take.
"Mom I need you!" I shouted hopefully loud enough for my mother to hear from the kitchen downstairs.
"What is it baby?" She appeared after two minutes replying just as sweetly as ever.
"What should I pack?" I muttered.
"You'll be back in a week so I guess couple of clothes and undergarments plus an extra pair of sneakers and some snacks and money will work."
"Can I take some snacks?" Ellina asked.
"As you wish sweetheart" Mom sighed.
Right after 10 minutes I heard a honk amd after 2 minutes Bella crashed into my room followed by Claire, Simon and Zach.
"I'm lowkey bursting with excitement!" Bella exclaimed. She had tied her blonde hair into pigtails and her blue eyes were shining.
"Dude we need to hurry, you wanna miss the bus?" Zach walked towards me giving a peck on my forehead and started shoving my things inside my bag.
I picked all the things mom suggested might be useful and kept them beside the bag while Zach pushed them inside the bag.
When the packing was done we went downstairs and said bye to my mom.
"I love u" I murmured against her neck.
"Love you more, take care sweetheart" Mom replied.
We hoped in the back of Simon's dad's truck. His dad had the day off so agreed to drive us to the bus stop.
"Fifteenth Avenue right?" Simon's dad asked.
"Yes!" We all screamed clearly hyped.
"Baby, you haven't put on mascara" Simon said to his girlfriend Claire bemused.
"Oops, I forgot" Claire let out a laugh.
Quickly she shoved a tiny mirror and mascara out of her bag and applied.
"You want some?" She said glancing towards me.
"Sure!" Zach beemed and snatched it from her hand and started brushing it over my long and thick eyelashes.
"You're so pretty baby" He gave me the same compliment he did everyday.
"Get a room you two!" Bella shouted and we all broke into a laugh.
The whole journey was spent laughing till we finally reached the bus stop.
We rushed out of the truck and after horribly long ten minutes the bus finally arrived.
We hoped in a bus full of passengers, the only empty space was at the back.
We took our seats and after some moments Zach was asleep on my shoulder, I laid my head on his.
When I woke up it was dark outside and the bus was almost empty except for a few other passengers. My friends were chomping on my snacks.
"Eat baby" Zach pushed a whole cookie in my mouth. I was left with no choice but to chomp savagely.
"Next stops ours!" Simon cheered.
"Urgh finally" Claire sighed.
The bus came to an abrupt halt and we got outside.
The darkness of the place gave me chills.
"Now what?" Ellie asked desperate.
"Now we walk on foot for the next mile."
"Huh Simon you're spook village is making me sick already" Claire rolled her eyes.
"Can't we get a cab or something " Bella asked irritated.
It's been 10 minutes since we started walking. The road went straight for the first 5 minutes and then we took a turn which led is straight to woods that only worsened the creeps.
We were surrounded by woods from all four sides, I wondered if Simon knows where he's taking us.
Last week he popped out of the blue suggesting we should go for trip to some unearthly town. He bragged about how out of earth the place looks and the residents claim that they are accompanied by ghosts.
"There, that's where the east and west woods are parted by a river, we'll have to row with the river for two miles."Simon explained.
We glanced forward, to where Simon was pointing, the forest did seem less dense. We kept walking and within minutes the forest actually had ended and we reached an embankment.
"Ok so tonight we're gonna camp here!" He said.
"What!" We exclaimed altogether.
Simon looked taken aback.
"I tried to crack a joke" he muttered. Then shrugged.
He checked his wrist watch then continued "The boat should arrive in a while"
" Are you sure" I raised a brow.
"Yes I booked a boat for us online" he exclaimed.
"Boats can be booked online" Zach said and right at the moment Claire pointed at someone which in the twilight appeared to be a rowing boat.
"Isn't it obvious?" Simon smirked.
The boat came to an abrupt halt and the person to whom it belonged seemed to be in his early fifties with a grin on his face.
"Hop in kids!" He said trying to be as nice as possible.
We sat in the boat and continued our so called journey which now seemed more like a voyage.
