Book 8} The Forbidden Game
Chapter 70
Hide-And-Seek
かく れんぼ

~

"We'll let you three talk,"
Oliver said.

"Thanks,"
Lucas smiled.

~

{ Lucas? He's alive? Is that really him? }

I decided to speak up.
"Are you from Glory Bell? Er, have you come from BO6-32?
Do you know someone-"

"I recognize your clothes. So you're from BO6-32 too?"
He asked.

"Then you are..."
I muttered.

"I knew it. Because that's what I wanted to know the most. But I was scared to ask. It's been 13 years already. Is he alive?"
Lucas asked.

I smiled and nodded.
He grit his teeth, then bowed his head to hide the tears that could come.
"Oh my gosh. Thank goodness. Thank goodness,"
His voice wavered.

~

"Sorry for getting all emotional there,"
Lucas said.
Emma and I were sitting in front of a table.

"It's okay,"
I smiled.

"I'm glad you're alive. I want to go tell him. He'll be so happy!
He thought you were dead, that all his friends were dead,"
I said softly.

"I was the only one who survived. Even I thought I was done back then,"
He said, starting to tell us what happened after Yuugo ran off.

"It was someone I didn't know. I'd never even seen her before.
She said that she'd been hiding the whole time. So the monsters wouldn't find her. That she'd been playing hide-and-seek the whole time at a place they would never find her,"
Lucas continues.

"And it was true. We were never discovered.
She hid me. Helped me.
I think the poachers assumed that I'd run away with him."
I listened intently.

"I've been using this windmill as a base, hiding for 13 years.
I became someone... who didn't exist. The only ones who know I'm alive are you, Adam, and the nine kids,"
Lucas finished.

Emma was silent, but then she asked,
"What happened to the girl that saved you?"

"She died. Maybe about five years after she saved me. She got sick.
It's been 8 years since then. I often thought of escaping here alone.
I was injured and without a pen. But I thought I could take the chance and return to the shelter to tell him I was okay.
But those memories would resurface every time,"
he muttered.

I looked at him sadly.

"The grief over my friends who were killed by the poachers.
The screams of the other kids as they ran away in confusion.
The fear that girl felt.
I want to destroy this hunting ground! I'll never forgive these poachers!"
he declared.
I nodded, smiling.

"So I gathered the kids who felt the same way. Taught them skills.
Gave them information.
Helped them prepare.
Plus, I couldn't leave here. I needed to destroy this place. For when I call him back..."
Emma and I looked surprised.

"I found it. It was here at AO8-63. The reason Mr. Minerva invited us.
The place where she hid me... in the beginning was it,"
He said, standing up and pressing a place in the wall.

My eyes widened in awe as the wall moved and a stairway appeared.
"There's a secret passageway. It connects this windmill to the forest.
There's a door beyond it. A door that's locked,"
He explained.

Emma and I both gasped.
Emma sat up.
"Could it be-"

"Yeah. The key to open it is that pen you have.
It took 13 years... I can't believe this opportunity has come at last. I can finally find out what's on the other side of that door."
he said,

"Let's go. I'll take you... to Mr. Minerva's door. To what he really intends for us."

~

More Characters

Gillian
Age: 15
Her patches are all handmade. 
She makes them by taking apart the clowns in Goldy Pond

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Nigel
16
He's good at machinery and gadgets
He's in charge of supplied weapons.
Sensitive to the  cold.
His hat is unwashed.

~

Violet
13
Sharp-witted, she acts as the scout for the team.
Speaks in a masculine way.

~

Pepe
16
Head Chef.
Sensitive to the heat. He's relatively new to Goldy Pond.

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Theo
12
On his own since losing his siblings.
Newcomer to Goldy Pond.

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Adam
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5.8.2020
Word Count: 707