After Friday, the first three days were pretty chill. We spent a lot of time together and talked about how we wished to shift to the amazing creatures in our drawings. Each day I saw her, we spent more time together talking, sometimes even entire days. But after those days, things changed, but not for the better...
I rushed downstairs super early in the morning and packed some stuff. I wrote a note on a post-it saying I was out exploring and I wouldn't be back until night. I quickly ran out the door and got on my bike. I rode to my hideout and unpacked quickly. I had brought some snacks, a flashlight, and some bandages... but most of it was snacks. I shoved most of the things into the secret hatch and some I left in my backpack. I ran outside and shifted into an eagle, then started to fly away. My backpack was gone, still of mystery of my shapeshifting, but then, out of the corner of my eye, I spotted and figure moving through the forest. I veered my sleek eagle body through the wind and headed towards the place where I saw the figure, but when I landed, it was to no avail. The figure was gone, vanished, like it was never there. This confused me, but I continued on my way, back to the tree house.
When I arrived, Hannah was there, drawing and waiting for me, as usual. I landed on the wooden floor of the tree house and shifted back, saying, "Hey Hannah, what's the plan for today?"
"I was thinking maybe, I know it might sound crazy but, just maybe, we could go explore the old barn..." She replied.
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"Wait... what. That's crazy, it's haunted. Everyone knows that." I stated.
"Just wait, it's not haunted, only a fake saying to scare people."
"But even if we did it old and on the brink of collapsing."
"We can shift, so don't worry, we'll be fine." Hannah starting heading out.
"Wait!" I said, but she was already in the air flying. I shifted myself and flew out in pursuit. Halfway there she slowed down and we admired the view. The small town we lived in went past us, some tractors gathering barreled grass, cars driving by, even the train, billowing steam behind us. As we came down to land, I spotted a figure, much like the one I thought I saw, darting into the barn. "Hey Hannah, I really don't think we should be here." I said.
"Why, are you scared?" She teased playfully.
"No, ju-"
"Then let's go." She landed on the ground and shifted back. I did the same. "It'll be fun, you'll see." She slowly sneaked into the barn and disappeared. I followed after checking no one was nearby but us. The barn was extremely dark and musty, with goop hanging from the walls. Mold was everywhere, and it was harder to breathe than outside. Hannah was studying the floor in the far back corner. I walked over to her and she signaled for me to look closer. "Look at these tracks", she said, "They come from that hay bale, it seems fresh too. I thought no one comes in here." She scooted over to the hay barrel she was talking about. "Come help me move it", she said while she was doing her best to.
"Alright", I said, walking over. I leaned against the hay bale and together we pushed it just enough to make it roll away. Underneath where the bale once stood there was a trapdoor. "Should we go in?" I asked.
She just stood like she was waiting for something to happen. "Well", she said, "We might as well while we're here... yes, I mean yes."