4. Chapter 4

Chapter four

Trees. Trees everywhere, and a glittering lake with a beautiful castle.

"Come home" A voice whispered,

"Come home"

H aven woke with a start, slightly panicked but not surprised. For the past year or so she had been having these odd sorts of dreams. They started right after her father died but had picked up in frequency over the last year. Originally, there was a car going over a cliff which had to be about her fathers death. Eventually they developed into these weird, all too real feeling, dreams of a place she had never been. It was beautiful, sometimes she saw a sprawling castle, other times she was sitting by a shimmering lake with clear beautiful water .

The only consistent thing was the voice telling her to ‘come home'. It was present even in the ones about her fathers death.

Haven looked around her cabin to assure herself she had not woken her cabin mates. Thankfully, they were both sleeping soundly. Sighing, Haven laid her head back down, hoping to get at least a little more rest before breakfast.

Haven had no guesses as to what was happening in her mind. She hadn't wanted to tell anyone, instead, hoping that whatever it was would sort itself out eventually. With her dreams increasing in both intensity and quantity, she supposed that maybe it was time to admit something was wrong.

After this trip was over, she told herself, she'd tell her mom what was happening and give the therapist's office a call to schedule an appointment. All she had to do was get through this weekend.

A rustling sound pulled Haven from the light sleep she had fallen back into after being woken by her dreams. Turning her head slightly, she could see Chelsea pulling clothes out of her bag.

"Hey, sorry I didn't mean to wake you" She whispered

"It's no problem I usually wake early" Haven lied. She almost never woke early, enjoying being up all hours of the night whenever she could. Chelsea nodded,

"I'm just gonna hop in the shower"

Haven nodded as a response. She sat up in her bed and stretched her arms, yawning as she slid from under the thin blanket. She quickly changed into the simple black leggings and old T-shirt she would be wearing for the hike beginning directly after breakfast. It wasn't long before Sydney was up, Chelsea was out of the shower and the girls were ready to head to breakfast.

Breakfast had been wonderful with plates of eggs presumably laid by the small chicken flock they had seen on the tour yesterday, lots of toast and cups of orange juice. After everyone finished eating, the students gathered in front of the main house to wait for their trail leaders to appear. While they were waiting, Mr Chaplin began informing the students about a slight change of plans,

"Attention students, last night we made the decision to go in two separate groups to cut down the size of the group on the trail. While we wait for our guides to appear I will read off the names of the students in group one, which will be escorted by myself along with our two trail guides" He paused, pulled a small paper from his pocket and began reading,

"Chase, Roman, Sydney, Chelsea, Haven, Sarah" Mr Chaplin announced, he rattled off a few more names Haven didn't recognize before he put the paper back in his pocket. Ms McElderoy began speaking,

"Those of you that were just called will stay here, the rest are free to do as they please, overseen by me for the approximate two hours it should take to complete the hike"

About half of the students accompanied by Ms McElderoy walked off. Some in the direction of the cabins and others back to where everyone had had breakfast.

"Perfect timing" Mr Chaplin stated as the two owners and trail guides walked out of the main house to where the remainder of the students were standing. Haven was glad to be with her friends, she didn't know any of the other people in her group except in passing.

"For this hike I," Mr Sharp pointed to himself, "Will be in the front guiding the hike accompanied by your teacher. Rodney," Mr Sharp pointed to the other owner, "Will be following in the back of the group to make sure we don't lose anyone. Now if all of you will please follow me" He began walking toward the main trailhead that had been pointed out yesterday.

"About halfway through the hike we will stop at a lookout point for a small break, to catch our breaths and get some water" He held up a small bag Haven hadn't noticed he was carrying.

"This bag contains all of the water bottles we could ever need so don't worry, I will be doing all the heavy lifting"

***

They were about thirty minutes into their hike when Sydney looped her arm through Havens. At first, A moment hadn't gone by that someone wasn't saying something. Then about 15 minutes ago the first snake had been spotted and quickly it became a competition to see who could spot the most wildlife. Mr Rodney had pointed out that you were more likely to see something if you were quiet and since then the group hadn't made much sound except for a few of the boys that had been pushing each other around. They had quickly been shushed by the other students, earning a laugh from both trail guides.

Sydney leaned over and with a nod of her head toward Roman, she whispered,

"There really is something about him"

Haven smirked a little and heard Chelsea snicker. Smirks and snickers aside, Sydney was kind of right. There was something about Roman that seemed to draw people in, he had an air about him Haven had never noticed before this trip. Maybe that was why Sydney seemed a little infatuated, maybe she was feeling the same thing. It helped that he was hot, very tall and clearly muscular with hair cropped close to his dark brown skin and light brown eyes that seemed to say,

"I know something you don't"

Overall, he seemed rather mischievous from the little that Haven had been around him. There was also this thing about him Haven couldn't quite place, it radiated off him. If she didn't know any better, she would say that he had some sort of magical power and it filled the air around him. If only something like that could be true, maybe then magic really would exist and Haven could find out what actually happened to her dad.

The group continued hiking in silence eventually spotting three Blue Jays, another snake and possibly a deer a girl named Sarah swears she saw. The jury was still out on that one. By the time the students reached their break spot the silence had switched from being about not scaring off the wildlife to the fact that everyone had at least one part of their body that was hurting and were all tired.

Silence was quickly replaced with small gasps once everyone paused long enough to look around and take in the scenery.

They found themselves standing in a large clearing adorned with the same log benches from where they ate their meals. Only now, the benches overlooked the edge of a cliff. Right at the edge there was a very old wooden rail that stopped anyone from going too far over the edge, possibly to try to get a better look at the small waterfall off in the distance.

"Be careful, that railing hasn't been replaced in years" Mr Sharp told the group as he handed out water bottles. Haven took one and walked quickly over to the edge where most of the students had gathered. Upon closer inspection, the edge of the cliff didn't drop straight down but was more like a steep hill. It was filled with tall pine trees and some very thorny looking bushes.

Haven sucked in a breath, something about this place felt so different. There was an electric zing in the air that she had felt ever since stepping off the bus. She also noticed that being around a fairly large group of people didn't tire her like it normally did. Haven had no idea what, exactly, she was feeling but it felt as if the woods were calling to her, pulling her in.

For some strange reason, whatever Haven was feeling reminded her of the dreams she had been having.

"We will break here for fifteen minutes before continuing on. The trail leads to a rather impressive view of that waterfall" Mr Sharp pointed as he spoke.

Both Rodney and Mr Sharp went and sat down on some logs. Haven couldn't seem to pull herself away from the point right at the edge of the clearing. Even after almost all the other students had sat down, she was still glued to the railing. Roman was the only student still standing there with her. His eyes were glassy and he had this homesick sort of look on his face.

At the risk of sounding insane Haven leaned over and quietly said to him,

"Can you feel it too?" His eyes met hers and he nodded.

Within the blink of an eye, it was like a dam had broken. Suddenly the ground under her feet was gone. Haven was standing on nothing. No, she wasn't even standing, now she was tumbling, rolling, falling down over the edge of the cliff. Someone was screaming, Haven couldn't tell if it was herself or someone else.