Last Episode: They stopped right there, and marveled at the sight in front of them. It was a trail, lined with these golden flowers, leading up a hill into a patch of sunlight.
"Let's go see what's up there," Lily said with determination.
Susanna and Emmeline exchanged an uneasy glance.
"I don't know about this, Lily," Susanna said, "It might be dangerous."
"And we don't know what's up there!" Emmeline cried out nervously.
"Which is exactly why we should go," Lily said with a grin, "Come on."
Lily ran up the path ahead, and Susanna and Emmeline followed reluctantly at her tail. The narrow undisturbed pathway seemed to wind on forever, uphill the entire way. This irritatingly gorgeous trail made the girls feel that they may have been scaling the Empire State Building this entire time. Even if the path was long, no matter how frustrating it may be, one could not deny the sheer beauty of it. It was lined with the mysterious golden flowers, which would somehow multiply with every step they took. Strangely though, the further up they got, the more the sun seemed to shine and the less animals there seemed to be. The squirrels started to disappear and the sweet singing of the birds slowly faded. The girls had been walking now for two hours and were getting nowhere. Emmeline and Susanna's already small supply of hope and excitement for the adventure started to deteriorate.
All of a sudden the tedium was broken as a large buck came sprinting the other way down the trail. It looked as if he were running away from something terrible. In his frantic haste, he plowed over Emmeline and brushed Susanna and then left as quickly as he came, taking no heed to the girls or anything else in his way. Emmeline fell to the ground screaming and her face contorted into a sick mask of pain.
"Em!" Susanna and Lily cried worriedly, rushing to help their friend.
"I think my arm is broken," Emmeline cried.
"Let's get her back to the park!" Susanna said frantically.
"No, no! That would take too long," Lily said, with a double edge to her words, "We'll get help faster if we keep going. I think we're almost there."
Emmeline was screaming and Susanna was brushing the hair out of her face.
"You'd better be right about this Lily," Susanna said solemnly, with a threat in her tone.
Lily and Susanne helped Emmeline up and kept following the trail. After another half hour of trudging uphill, the trees seemed to clear and the sun was shining brighter than before. Every which way they looked was a myriad of golden flowers. It was absolutely beautiful, but there was an eerie sense of danger about the place. Regardless, the girls kept going.
"I think I see something up ahead," Emmeline said after another 5 minutes of walking.
"Me too!" Lily cried excitedly.
The girls went ahead and came to an old and splintered wooden gate that stood at about 8 feet tall. On it hung a white rusted metal sign with the message "DO NOT ENTER" etched into it in a faded black. Lily started walking around, poking at the locks, looking for a way in. Emmeline and Susanna were lumped onto the grass like oatmeal in a pot, tired and defeated. Lily kept searching for an entrance, and came across a small wooden box hidden behind some bushes.
"Hey, look what I found," she said in awe.
Lily shook the box and heard a little clinking noise. She tried to open it, but to her dismay, it was locked.
"We've got to find a way to open it." she said.
"Lily!" Susanna got up frustrated, "Whatever is behind that gate, whatever is in that box, obviously wasn't meant for us to see, and we need to get help for Emmeline, NOW! Let's just go back home while we're behind." She said in frustration.
"Anna," Lily said, using her nickname to soften her up, "We've come all this way. We can't head back now, there's so much to uncover!"
Susanna violently snatched the box out of Lily's hand, "LILY! You're INSANE! There's nothing to uncover! This is a hopeless cause, and we can't just sit here trying to unlock someone else's stuff all day!" she said in a rage. Susanna threw the box, in blind fury, at the wooden gate. It bounced off with a crack and then fell to the ground. As it tumbled into grass, a small silver key bounced out.
"Yes! Anna you're the best!" Lily exclaimed.
She stood in front of the gate, holding the key up to the light, with Emmeline and Susanna on either side of her. Lily put the key into the lock and slowly turned it, all the girls were anxious to see what was on the other side. The gate opened, but as the girls went to step inside, the sun's brightness and heat seemed to intensify times ten. It felt as if they had just been thrown into an open flame. The girls were blinded by the sun's rays and collapsed to the ground screaming.
*To be continued*
