REUNITED WE STAND
by Sarah

.script by Mirelle.

|story visited times|

Chapter
|01| |02| |03| |04| |05| |06| |07|

Chapter One: “When strange things happen”

“I brought you some cake. Aren’t you enjoying yourself?” asked, but again he got no response.
“Are you feeling ok…AHEY?!!!” he cried out, as he tripped over a loose stone.

“I think I’d better ask you that question” Seeing him rubbing his sore bum made smile.
Click.

realised that he had just been caught on camera. “Hey, you,”

“Ha-ha, priceless I tell you. You must see the look on your face,” said between fits of laughter.

“So, that’s the way you treat an old friend,” snatched the camera from her hands.

“Aaahh,” shrieked as she felt rubbing what was left of the cake all over her face.
Click He smirked.

“Now, that’s what I call a piece of cake”...

“You two haven’t changed one bit,” said , as she came down the steps of ‘Summerhill College’.

It was the reunion of 2008, exactly 10 years after the 7 friends graduated. They had promised to meet up twice a week, but it hadn’t lasted long, because that same year ‘Westlife’ had been launched. and had moved to London to start their own shop together about a year later, and as a result they had all grown apart.

“Seems like the party’s outside, mates,” said, gesturing the lads to follow him.

“Ha-ha, he got you big time,” handed a tissue.

“Oh, wait!”

“What?” jumped, startled by ’s cry.

“I think I can still see a piece of skin right there!”

“Very Fun-NY!” reached for ’s face, but of course she ducked away, causing the cream to mess up ’s make-up instead. Suddenly it became very quiet. stared at in horror knowing how much effort she had put into it.

After a short, uncomfortable silence the tension could be cut with a knife; then finally yelled, “Fine, sista. If you want war you’ll get war!”
jumped behind in time so that he got the full blast.

“Uh!” he gasped, as the egg punch dripped of his hair and nose. That was the final straw; the guys teamed up and as for the girls?! They just cursed themselves for wearing high heels!

~~~

“Gosh, it’s still here” looked up to see their tree house just like they had left it.

“Yep, It sure is,” confirmed.

“What are you girls waiting for?! Come on, let's go up and take a look!” climbed his way up and was soon followed by the others, including , who hadn’t been to ‘Summerhill College’, but had been invited to come along anyway as he was one of their best friends.

“Hey, buddy, are you ok?” asked when she saw looking upset. He ignored her and also made his way up the tree house, leaving a worried and confused behind on a small bench next to ‘the Lough Gill’.

~~~

“Ha-chu,” sneezed when the dust reached his nose. It came off a small tin object, which had been hidden in the tree house for nearly 15 years now.

laughed, when she realised what was holding, “Oh, my god! I totally forgot about that thing!”. It was ‘The Box of Secrets’ (Yes, you’re right it’s a lame name, but hey, they were only 12 years old when they invented it)

“Wicked! I love secrets,” was wide awake now.

“You guys better not have written anything nasty about me” said. She took out a piece of paper and started reading it out loud: “I bought a jacket today; he was really happy with it, especially after his had mysteriously disappeared. Guess I’d better not tell him what happened to it.
- .” (Nov 10th 1992)

“So it was you after all,” said amused. “That means you owe me ,!”
“What do you mean?” asked, confused.

”We had a bet remember?! I said it was who took the jacket and you thought it was …
Okay, listen up everyone; tomorrow we’re going out for a drink, and it’s ’s treat!” said, causing ’s enthusiasm to fade away.

“That ain’t fair!” she pouted.

“Right, so what did happen to my jacket” wanted to know.

“Uhm, why don’t we go out for that drink right now,” coughed and looked at the others to confirm his request. The only response he got came from though, who crossed her arms and raised her eyebrow. “Fine,” he gave in, “I borrowed it when I…”

“Hey, what’s this?” drew the attention from by lifting an odd object.

“Don’t know exactly. and I dug it up on a camping trip years ago,” said, remembering that day clearly. “Let me take a look.” She tried to grab the small, silverish-looking sceptre, but , who was holding it by now, tightened his grip around it, not wanting to let it go. tried to hide that she had got fed up with him, “What is your problem? I just want to have a look at it.” She gripped it with her two hands and pulled harder.

“Aaah!!!” and yelled, as they found themselves smacked against the wall each holding a half of the sceptre.

sighed and rubbed her sore head, “Way to go, !” Just as was about to continue the fight, ’s eyes caught something on the floor.

“Hey, would you look at this!”

“What is it?” wanted to know.

“I don’t know,” shrugged, “it must have fallen out of the sceptre.”

“Well, don’t just stand there…open it!”
moved closer, as opened the small, old, brownish, manuscript.

cracked up laughing, “Ha-ha, you gotta be kidding me! Is that really what I think it is?!”

“Yep, it sure is!” stared at it flabbergasted, “It’s a treasure map.”
~~~
“Well, I think we should do it,” declared.

“What?! We can’t just go - god I can’t believe I’m saying this - ‘treasure hunting’,” rolled her eyes and took an other sip of her cocktail.

“That’s right, . Some of us actually do have a life,” shot him an other look. He stuck out his tongue in response.

“Oh, come on!How many times do you think you’re gonna get the opportunity to do this?!Besides it’ll be a nice trip,I mean the map says ‘Australia’!” The girls looked at as if to say he had completely lost it.

“You tell him ,” pleaded, but she got no response. “?!” she repeated.

“Well, even if this treasure doesn’t exist, I think it’ll be fun. Very adventurous” tried to convince the ladies.

“Yeah! And it’ll be a great opportunity for us to catch up on things and re-get to know each other,” quickly added.

“Absolutely, count me in!” agreed “So how about you, lovely ladies?!”

“Yeah, I’m all up for it!” cheered.

“!” rolled her eyes, “Do I have to remind you that we actually run a shop?"

“Oh, come on,” argued, “we haven’t had a break for nearly 5 years now. We deserve a little vacation. Besides you just said you’re not going; so you run the shop and ask Ashley to take my place for a while.”

“What! You hopping along with the kangaroos while I have to run the shop on my own, yeah right! Like that’s going to happen. If you’re going on vacation then… wait a minute. Very clever, reverse psychology!” shook her head.

grinned, “Well, is it working?”

“Fine, I’ll go” tried to hide that she was secretly pleased about going. She had always had a sense of adventure!

“Okay, count me in as well, sisters. Someone has to watch your backs, right?!” winked.

“Fine, ya’ll have a good time,” turned her back to leave.

“You thinking what I’m thinking?” grinned… “Group Hug!!!”

And so they were to begin their journey to the other side of the world …

Chapter Two: “Australia… Here We Come!”

“Are you sure this is the right place?” turned and turned the map squeezing her eyes now and then to find anything that could resemble with what she saw on the map. “Guys, I really don’t think this is it,” she finally stated.

“Uhum,” coughed and tapped her on the shoulder. turned around to see what he wanted, but what she saw made her jaw drop wide open… it was a gigantic, bronze door, with drawings upon it, in a typical enormous Australian rock, lying in the middle of nowhere.

couldn’t believe her eyes; couldn’t believe that she had missed it! “When did that get here?”

“The rock?! About several 1000 years ago,” answered her mockingly and then continued fascinated “as for the door, I have no idea”.

“Would you look at this,” pointed at the small inscription on the door saying:

“To enter what once was,
Follow the trail of gold”

“Oooh, I sure like the sound of that” cheered.
“Wait there’s more,” rubbed away some dust and continued:

“You’ll be led the way by a compass,
Towards places frightening and cold”

’s eyes widened and her smile crooked.
“Don’t you just hate those cheap rhymes?!” was still grumpy about been dragged down here.

“…through places exciting and wet
but hang on and you’ll be eventually shown”

“Eureka!” yelled “The sun used to be a very important aspect of people’s live and worshipping. It still is because for the Aboriginals it’s represents life, it leads them the way or, as it says here, it’s their ‘trail’. So the sun is actually as precious for them as gold is for us,” finished at the same time that finished the rhyme:

“The most precious thing one can get:
yes, you’ll discover the great unknown”

click
They all turned to face , who looked guilty as charged, “Oops”

shot her a look that could kill, “What did you do now?”

“I touched the sun,” hesitatingly pointed at the little sun that was drawn upon a stone, near the door.

“Maybe we should get out of … HEEEREE!!!,” yelled, as the floor beneath their feet opened up…

“Wow, that was some ride, wasn’t it?! Let's do that again,” cheered once they had stopped sliding through dark, dusty tunnels covered with webs and eventually ending up in a small room with no way out...

squeaked, “Could you get off me?!” She had been the ‘lucky’ one to break ’s fall.

“Hey, you guys. Where are you? I can’t see a thing,” said reaching out to hopefully find someone.
“Can someone follow the sound of my voice and give me their hand” tried again.

“Yeah, I got you” said.

At that moment had found and lit up torches, revealing the room in all its glory …They looked around themselves in total awe until suddenly ’s scream broke the silence.

“What’s wrong, sweety?” asked concerned when he saw rubbing her head fiercely. “Spider!,” she screamed and jumped on ’s back.

As there were 4 girls present, and decided to wisely keep their mouth shut, rolling their eyes instead, but put their thoughts into action by saying: “We nearly crashed to dead… twice! We’re in a room with no way out, a skeleton looking at us and a spider scares you?!” sighed and mashed the miniscule creature, “Women”

pulled a face and let go of ; then straightened her clothes in an attempt to maintain some dignity.

“What are we looking for exactly?,” asked, trying to draw the attention away from her.

beat to it by saying: “You’ll be led the way by a compass.” This made everyone raise an eyebrow. “What?” shrugged her shoulders.

“Cheap rhymes, huh?!” laughed.

“Will this one do?” asked. “Sorry Mate” He said with an Australian accent and took the little old box from around the skeleton’s neck.

shook her head pitiful, “Poor fellow must have spend his time trying to find a way out until he finally dehydrated.”

“Jee, if you ever win a pageant it’s gonna be: ‘Miss Sunshine’” said mockingly.

swallowed hard and her face became pale, “I don’t want to end up like him.”

“We’re not gonna die. I promise you that” hugged and turned around whispering “Not yet, I hope.”

was already pushing every stone in the wall that the compass pointed out, but none of them budged. “Oh, come on!!!” sighed and kicked the wall. The others just laughed as they saw him getting redder each minute and it only got worst as the guys find it oh so funny to tease him.

, and took the skeleton and were about to scare when suddenly asked worriedly, “Guys, did you hear that?”

“Nope, I don’t hear a thing. Stop being so paranoia,” said and sat down.

“There it is again!” said desperately trying to convince them.

“She’s right. I heard it too this time. It’s a bit of a ribbing sound” stated.
He hardly had finished his sentence when a lot of dust and sand came down, followed by the ceiling, which was descending a bit more every second. Soon they were all pushing stones like mad men, but with no luck.

“This bloody thing doesn’t even work; It points towards the West!” yelled frustrated and threw it against the opposite wall.

Click
“What is it this time?” everyone looked to see pull another apologetic face.

bit her lip. “When smacked the compass against the wall, out came a weird-shaped diamond. It looked a bit like an eight or something like that. I found a stone in which it seemed to fit so I decided to give it a try.”

They were all sitting on their knees as the ceiling was getting extremely close now.
“So what does this mean?,” asked anxiously.

“Places frightening and cold” recalled the line before she found herself slide into another hole on her back; head first.

After what seemed like a bumpy bobsleigh ride in Disneyland they ended up in a funnel-shaped rock. They spun round and round until they finally reached the small opening and fell into very cold water.

“What are you looking for?” asked.

“I don’t see and , do you?” asked worried.

cracked up laughing “ha-ha. I do” she stuck her finger up in the air and soon cracked up laughing too as they saw a pair of legs moving around wildly.

Somehow, had gotten stuck in the hole and he was now kicking hard to free himself.
“Are you enjoying yourself?” he asked sarcastically.

“Bwa, that’s all right” grinned evilly while she poked and tickled him over and over again…
“Auch, that’s mean”

opened up his mouth so she could have her finger back “So now that I finally have got your attention, how about you give me a hand”

“Okay, okay hold your horses. I’ll see what the problem is. Don’t you go anywhere”, she smiled and moved to ’s other side.

“ha-ha, very funny. Give the lady an award” he said, getting a bit annoyed.

~~~

“Hey, where are they?” couldn’t find the others anywhere.

and turned around when they heard shout. She was waving madly at them and grinned widely. They were both completely shocked and gasped not cuz of the ‘mad’ -scene, they sure were used to that, but she was standing on a very big, old ship. So old, it was a wonder that it still hadn’t sunk yet.

She signed them to come and yelled excited, “Come on. The others are already inside!”

“And lads, did ya find something valuable or useful?” wanted to know ‘Ah!!!’ He got startled by , who appeared out of a pile of old papers, answering him with: “Not yet. Only a lot of old books”

Everyone jumped around frightened when they heard the sudden noise. and had dropped a heavy chest on the floor. Fright turned into excitement as they tried to opened it, but no matter how hard they tried: kicking, dropping, hitting the chest wouldn’t open.

“Maybe this will do the trick” showed them an old gun that she had found in a drawer “Here you go ….Oops” covered her mouth.

“You okay, ?” She asked doubtfully, feeling really awful and worried.

“Of course I’m not okay. You just shot me in the arse!” He yelled furiously.

“Let me take a look” gave the girls a wink and a cheeky smile appeared on her face.
’s eyes widened. “What? Here?... No way!” He said, walking in the other room.

~~~

“The big baby was crying over nothing. His mobile took most of the shot so it’s only a small cut”

fumed, “It could have been way worst. Give me that!” He snatched the gun out of ’s hands and went to the trunk.

…. “Clothes?!!!!” they all yelled in unison. nearly ducked in the chest to find something else, but there wasn’t.

fell on her knees and sighed. “This can’t be it. We can’t have risked our lives for this.” She tried to steady her voice.

“I sure can use some dry clothes,” tried to lighten up the tensed sphere a bit.

Some of them laughed, some of them cried; some were still deciding what they were going to do, but no matter what they’d do it wouldn’t change the fact that they’d have to leave the cave empty-handed…
Eventually they did leave very disappointed and dressed like smelly, old pirates who’re returning home after a defeat.

Chapter Three: “Never give up”

slammed the hood and kicked the wheel fiercely. “Stupid rental car!” fumed.
“The engine is overheated. We’ll need water to fix this”

looked around her and saw nothing but sand and rocks as they were still in the dessert.
“Right! Piece of cake.” she said, humming the tune of ‘Mission Impossible’

sighed “So, all we need is a miracle.”

“Or we could just walk. I think I see a village over there. ” pointed towards the cloud of smoke that rose above some dark figures in the distance.

As the ‘Brady Bunch’ walked for some time things became more visible and the dark objects, that had seen earlier, turned out to be trees… lots of trees!
~~~

sat down on a stone, “Oh, come on! There’s gotta be water somewhere in this gigantic forest.”

“Shush, did you hear that?” said nervously.
Before she could say anything else a dozen weird, little men appeared armed with spears and bows & arrows. Their bodies were painted in all kinds of colours and their lower body was covered with some kind of shell on which they had attached several dried leafs.

nudged , “Do you think those are human ones?” Her eyes were set on the necklaces around their neck, which seemed to be made out of teeth.

turned to face , “So wise guy… a village, huh?!” She rose her right eyebrow “Do you think we’ll be in time for diner?!”

swallowed hard. “I think WE are diner!” She squeaked as one of them sniffled her neck.
After they got “acquainted” with one and other, they were brought to a small village, which was ironically enough next to a giant waterfall.
~~~

“Well, would you look at all the luxury?” said not wanting to let go. She was still fed up with ’s ignorant behaviour towards her the last few days “Oh, look over there they even got a bubble bath prepared for us,” she continued sarcastically, pointing at the huge, boiling kettle that stood in the middle of the little village…

The villagers didn’t seem to be interested in the strangers though and just continued their daily tasks, throwing more vegetables into the boiling water and stirring it from time to time.

“And how is this my fault?! I didn’t ask for it, ya know” said annoyed.

“Oh, really. If I remember correctly you’re the one who said we should go treasure hunting” she snapped.

“And if I can remember correctly you’re the one who got us into the ‘Chamber of Death’.”

“I’m also the one who got us out of it! ” she tried to defend herself.

“Only because I had smashed the compass”

“Oh, you’re impossible, ! Why don’t you just tell me what your real problem is, huh?!”

“You’re my problem!” said annoyed, but deep down he felt hurt and powerless as he could feel back the pain of an old wound that she had left there years ago; a wound that wouldn’t heal.

shook his head disapprovingly, “Come on you guys. Do you really want to spend your last minutes arguing?”

“’s right, you know. Well except about the last minute-thing. I’m sure we can escape, but we’ll have to work together” said, trying to think of a brilliant plan.

“Now would be a good time to come up with a plan.” said when one of the village girls, who had been cutting vegetables earlier, was now making her way towards him with her hands behind her back. His eyes widened and his mouth dropped. She was really near now, slowly bringing her hands from her back…

“No, Don’t do it please. I don’t want to die yet” begged. He was now sitting on his knees with his arms covering his face. After a minute still nothing had happened so he decided to look up again. When he did, he saw the girl smiling down at him. She got on her knees and put a necklace around his neck to welcome this good-looking stranger into her village.

put her hands underneath her chin, blinking her eyes mockingly. “My hero” She still hadn’t forgotten about the spider-scene in the cave.

After they had all gotten a necklace they were taken to a hut, separately of course.
“What do you think is gonna happen now?” wondered out loud.

“You’re going to get a make-over” grinned evilly and turned to find two question tags appear in ’s eyes “They’re gonna give ya an outfit that matches that necklace of yours,” turned her back on him and happily followed the other girls into a hut, leaving a rather shocked behind.

“She’s kidding, right?! Please, say she is kidding. There’s no way I’ll wear nothing but a shell to cover everything,” panicked and turned pale.

“As if you’ve got that much to cover,” sniggered.

“Oh, please don’t kill me. I’m too young to die” imitated , making and laugh.
With that the lads entered the “male” hut.
…

The girls were sitting on a log around the campfire clapping along with the rhythm of the music, now and taking a bite of the food that was passing them. They were actually pretty happy with their outfits, which consisted out of an uneven light-brown, leather skirt and top. Their faces were nicely done with colours and all of this was topped off with an exotic flower in their hair, like most of the girls had in the village.

“And what do you think of my outfit?” whispered in ’s ear happily that he got to wear a bit more then just a shell and dried leafs. Apparently that was the outfit only the hunters wore when seeking food.

He looked good, but there was no way would admit that to him so she just did what he already had been doing to her from the beginning of the trip; she ignored him.

ran to the others. He was very excited and couldn’t wait to share this news … “Guys! Look what I’ve found,” He opened up his hands. “It was hidden in my pirate hat” he continued proudly.

“What is it?” wanted to know as he touched the odd-shaped metal piece.

“Doesn’t matter, it’s broken” yawned uninterested as his attention was drawn by one of the village girls, who wanted him to dance along the campfire with her.

“So, then it’s completely worthless?” sighed, hoping they’d prove her wrong. She could really use the money right now.

“Not necessarily. Maybe there are more parts hidden in the other hats…I’ll go and check.” stood up.

“And that’s where you girls underestimate me.” flashed them a gorgeous, victory-kind-off smile as he proudly showed them the other pieces.

“A leaf?” wondered. “Why would anyone go through so much trouble to hide that?”

“Correction. It’s a maple leaf.” stated. “Could that mean…?” she trailed off doubtfully, but soon her last doubts were swapped away as she saw the map that was cut into the back of the object.

Tomorrow they’d continue their journey, but for now they were happy to spend the rest of the evening eating, dancing, and mostly drinking. They had no idea what is was, (which was maybe for the better ) but it sure tasted good.

Chapter Four: “Next stop? … Canada!”

"Please follow me. Skiing is allowed from 10am till 9.30 pm. You can have dinner over there in that building from 7pm till 11pm and breakfast’s from…,” the receptionist continued, walking down a small path. “Here’s your key,” he said as they had arrived at a cosy, wooden lodge. It was surrounded by mountains, trees and lots of snow. “Enjoy your evening.” he finished, walking back to the reception as soon as he had gotten his fee.

“So, what do you guys think? Is anyone up for skiing?” asked.

“I can’t ski. Besides night’s already starting to fall” said, trying to get out of this one as her bum was still sore from her bumpy slide in the cave.

“You can take a sleigh to slide down the hill,” tried again, grabbing by the arm. “Or you can make a snowman.” Washing away the last doubts she pouted her lips and blinked her eyes, knowing that the sad puppy dog look would make it impossible for to say no.

~~~

and connected with their inner child. They were already busy making the second part of their snowman’s body. A bit further and sat down on a log. After shooting him in the arse, they seemed to have gotten closer to each other. They were in the middle of, what seemed to be a very serious conversation. They weren’t the only ones having a serious talk though. and had teamed up. So had and as the 4 of them went up the hill with their rental skies.

“, do you know what’s bothering ? He’s completely ignoring me.” sighed helplessly.

was already afraid that this was coming. “He's probably just a bit exhausted by all the travelling and adventures. You know how grumpy he gets when he doesn’t get enough sleep.” laughed, hoping she would leave it with this. He had known something was up with . His expression had changed when he had mentioned was coming to the reunion. had told him everything that night and made promise not to tell anyone…

wasn’t giving up though,“It’s obvious you know more . I understand you’re not allowed to discuss it, but could you just help me in the right direction. Would he be happier if I’d go back home?” ’s breath caught for a moment.

“No, . I don’t think it would make him any happier if you’d leave. I think you two need a serious talk,” made clear that this was the last thing he’d say about this subject.

~~~

“Hey, mate. What’s up?” asked .

“I was thinking maybe I should have picked that sleigh after all,” swallowed hard as he looked down the hill.

“As if that would impress ” tried as he saw pull ‘an-I’m-busted-face’ he knew he hadn’t been imagining it. “So, I’m right. You like her, huh?” Feeling like Sherlock Holmes, who had solved an other brain cracking mystery, he smiled proudly.

sighed. “Yeah, I’ve liked her since 9th grade”

“Darn. Why didn’t I see it? Maybe this Sherlock needs to retire.!” thought and then said, “Wow that long?! Why haven’t you ever told her how you feel about her?” knew had trouble expression his feelings, but come on, 15 years is ridiculous.

“She was going through a difficult faze in her life with her mum dying of cancer and her grades slipping and stuff. So I thought it would be better to push my feelings aside for a while and just be there for her as a good friend, you know.” He could feel the pain again that he felt back that night when he did nearly tell her “I once kind of told her. I said I really like her; That she means the world to mean, but she thought I meant it friendly. I tried to explain, but then she said that she appreciated me being there for her, helping her through a difficult time. I tried once more, but she put her finger on my lip to stop me from talking and then hugged me, saying I was her best friend and she wouldn’t know what to do if she’d lose me. That’s when I lost all my courage to tell her. After that I didn’t get an other chance because she started dating ,” putted on his ski glasses.

“I’m sorry for you, mate, but you know from what I’ve heard, she’s single at the moment, so why don’t you tell her now?” tried to encourage his friend.

“Yeah, I might do that tonight” considered the option. “It’s not like I’ve got anything to lose. When we’re back home she’ll go back to London and I’ll never see her again” Not wanting to discuss it any further started the long way down. He wasn’t afraid anymore of the height, all fear and reason had left his mind. He couldn’t care less about falling and hurting his bum…again. He had more things to worry about. Tonight was the night he’d finally tell her how he feels, but maybe he should have paid more attention to his descent after all …

“!” , and yelled in harmony, drawing the other’s attention.

As had finally reached him she kneeled down next to him. “Are you okay,” she asked worried.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Only a sour bum and a serious damaged ego,” smiled at her.

Relieved to see he was doing fine, she played along, “So nothing serious then.”

“Hey, you” he rubbed some snow in her face, but then quickly added, “Pfew, that sure was one big pinecone,” as he realised he was staring at her a bit too long. “How did it get there anyway? There’s no tree anywhere near that spot,” didn’t get it until he saw a cheeky trying to sneak away. “? You wouldn’t happen to know how it got there, would you?”

“It was an accident honestly. It was really big and didn’t fit into our snowman so I threw it away, but I didn’t know it was gonna make you fall,” bit her lip apologetically, “I’m really sorry . Forgive me?”

“Ah!,” she screamed as a giant snowball had just hit her, making the others laugh. “You think that’s funny? Watch this,” she said throwing one to . The snow fight had begun, breaking them into 2 teams: , , and as team one and , , and formed the other team.

15 minutes later they were all exhausted and laid upon the battlefield except for ; he was standing next to a giant tree. Two minutes ago it had still been an ordinary tree, not different from all of the other ones there, but as it was completely bald now it certainly stood out from the rest of them. had hidden behind that tree during the snow fight to escape from the snowball-inferno, how stupid can you be right? had seen it and nudged and to let them in on her “cunning plan”. They knew what she meant right away and not wasting an other second, they threw a huge snowball against the top of that tree, causing all the snow to fall down and cover from head to toe. So, mostly for his sake they all head back to the lodge.

~~~

“Oh, it’s perfect!” looked around the lodge and finally decided to drop down in front of the fireplace to warm up a bit. “The only thing that’s missing is a hot chocolate” licked her lips.

A naughty grin appeared on ’s face, “Yeah, and a good-looking stripper”

“I’ll get you girls some hot chocolate.” left on his mission and was soon accompanied by .

“That’s one thing taken care off… as for a handsome stripper,” grinned as he put on a ‘Full Monty’-song. Working his masculine charms on the girls, he swayed and stripped down on the beat of the music or should I say ‘they stripped down’ because wasn’t going to let get all the female attention.

“She really likes ya, you know” informed about the chat he had with earlier today.

“I’m not to sure about that, but I’ll soon find out. I’m gonna tell her how I feel.”

“That’s the spirit” encouraged his friend, as they were on their way back to the lodge.

nearly dropped the hot chocolate when he opened the door and saw the girls, including , pretty much glued to a half naked and , while singing loudly “You can leave your hat on!”

“He did it again,” sighed and headed towards the ladies. “Here’s your hot chocolate” said coldly, handing her drink “not that you’ll be needing it” He left before she could say anything.

“What’s that about?” frowned puzzled.

“Dunno, guess he has bumped his head during that ski fall,” pretended not to care, but inside she could feel her heart crumble.

The tension was rising; they could all feel it.
tried to change the subject, “How about we pop in a DVD?”

“Right, I’ll get the ice cream,” was already on her way to get everyone a box.

“How about you stay out of it this time. It’s between me and , .” stood in front of her now. “It ain’t my head that’s hurting . It’s my heart. It’s been shattered…once more.” He mumbled the last bit.

was still processing what he had said. She was confused did he actually just confess he liked her or was it someone else that broke it. Makes sense; He was really eager to go on this trip. Maybe he tried to get away from things. “. I’m sorry. I didn’t know,” she blurted out, not really knowing what to say next. She didn’t have to say anything either because she could hear the door slam shut, clearly marking the end of their discussion.

Chapter Five: “Things happen for a reason”

“I don’t know, but I’ve been told… we’re gonna fight a chest with gold.” sung, enjoying herself.

“Good one” cheered. Now it was her turn to sing. She closed her jacket, “I don’t know, but I’ve been told Canada is mighty co-co-cold.” She stuttered.

“How cold?” chipped in.

“Ice cold!” answered.

“Your turn, ,” poked him in the side.

“I’m not in the mood for this, my back’s killing me.” whined.

“I don’t know, but I’ve been told, is getting really old.” sung amused.

“How old?” chirped playfully.

“28” dryly said “And for your information it ain’t all those years that got to me, but an enormous pinecone.”

pretended not to have heard the last remark, but the colour on her cheeks gave away that she had.

“Okay, I’ve got one after all,” said, changing his mind as he wanted to get even with .
“I don’t know, but I’ve been told. ’s shop will be sold!”

laughed. “You wish, . Right ?!” ’s smile faded after seeing ’s face turn pale.

“?!” got a little light-headed.

“. I’m sor…” didn’t get much further than that cuz interrupted her.

“All right everyone relax. Get on the ground, don’t look him in the eyes and be quiet” said as if it was the most natural thing in the world. (Well, maybe in Canada it is, but it certainly isn’t in Ireland)

“There’s a 7-foot bear coming towards us and you want us to relax?!” started to hyperventilate. She didn’t know whether it was from being confronted with a big, wild bear or being confronted with her stupidity and having to tell the truth.

“Yeah. And besides how do you know it’s a male bear?” wanted to know. “What? I don’t see anything, do you?!” she defended herself as she got a you’re-completely-mad-look from the others.

“Not that I think ’s sane and intelligent or anything, but I think she’s right this time. I can see the bear’s cup hiding behind that bush over there.” pointed, but regretted it right away as he could see the overprotective mother bear approaching him.

They all closed their eyes, hoping they would wake up soon from this nightmare, but hearing the bear roar again they realised this was reality. could feel and smell the bear’s breath; it made him shiver. The mother bear roared once more before lowering her paw to prepare her and her cup a nice Irish snack… They all screamed and lead flat upon the ground, face down, as they heard an other horrid sound not too far away from them. “Pang-pang!” The bear fell down just in front of ’s nose, roaring one last time before closing its eyes.

The footsteps got closer. “That’s gonna make one lovely rug” They heard someone laugh.

’s mother instinct took over. “You jerks! You just killed the moth…mhh mhh” ’s mouth got covered by ’s hand.

“Big mouth you got there for a person who was about to get sliced. You should be grateful. We just saved your pitiful life.” one of the hunters said. “Would be a pity to let such a beauties go to waist,” the other hunter winked at the girls and licked his teeth.

“Let me, ” tried to get out of his grip to go and rearrange the arrogant men’s face.

“Oh, but we are very grateful. Thanks a lot sir.” shook the man’s hand “If there’s anything that we can do for you guys let us know” politely said.

“Yes, thanks indeed mates. Come on you guys let’s move on.” moved his head to say we better go.

“All right. Enjoy your walk and watch out for the pads along the ravine cuz they can be very slippery at this time of the year” The hunter recharged his gun and smiled evilly.

“Okay, we will. Thanks and good luck with the hunting.” said his goodbye.

“What did you do that for?! They were total jerks. They diserve to be beaten up.” fumed.

“Don’t know if you noticed, but they had guns, ” replied coldly.

“So?! They were only with two and we’re eight people” If only eyes could kill then they would have been dead along with cuz didn’t like the way he was taking things. “That cup doesn’t have anyone to look after him anymore”

“Well, if we had said there was one they would have killed it right there and then. At least now it still has a chance to survive. Besides even though they won’t win an award for being the most friendliest guys on the planet they did save our lives!” responded.

decided to leave it with this. She knew was right, but it just wasn’t fair. After that everyone kept low a bit and continued to look for the place that was marked with an ‘X’ on the map.

~~~
“How about a sassy game … ‘truth or dare’?” tried to break the silence as no one had said anything since the bear-incident. Seeing pour out his drink onto the ground, pulled a face, but said nothing as he didn’t want the arguments to start all over again. He had enough of those after last night.

“Sorry, I needed a bottle” said apologetically.

“Aren’t we a bit old for that?” asked. It sounded more like a statement than a question though.

“Oh, come on. Like the good old days. We used to do this all the time, remember?”

“But that’s the thing, ! We can’t go back in time like nothing has happened. It’s not 1998 anymore. We’ve all changed, we’ve all moved on.” tried to make sense. It sounded harsh, but they knew she was right. They had all grown to be a different person. They didn’t know each other anymore and it clearly showed as all they ever seemed to do was annoy each other. regretted saying those words. She knew she was taking her anger out on even though she only tried to lighten things up, “but maybe just today we can give it a try and pretend” hugged tight “I’m sorry” she apologised.

“So, …What was all that about our shop being sold? was just playing, right?!” swallowed.

didn’t dare to look her friend in the eyes…“Actually… uhm…… I kind of… lost our money” drew circles on the ground with her foot.

“You did what?” yelled, hoping Ashton would jump from behind a tree saying you got punk*d.

“They said those stocks were a goldmine. Last time I didn’t listen to them and those stocks went up big time so I decided not to make that same mistake again” tried to explain.

“It wasn’t your money, ! You could have at least had the decency to discuss it with me” breathed heavily “What are we gonna do now? If we don’t get the money back by the end of the month, we’ll have to close our shop”

“What are you doing?” panicked.

“What does it look like?! I’m going back to London to get our money back. We can’t wait any longer.” took her stuff and left.

“You can’t leave. How about we’re all in this together?” asked.

“That was before I knew you got us broke” looked at her as if the word ‘stupid’ was written on her forehead.

“You can’t go on your own. It’s too dangerous around here. I’ll go with you.” got up from the log.
hugged him and gave him a peck on his cheek. After getting out of his embrace she put her hands on his shoulders “It’s okay . I’ll be fine. Don’t worry.” With that turned her back and left them behind her, closing an other chapter in her life.

sighed, “Maybe we should just all go back home. This has been a mistake right from the beginning”

“No, it isn’t. It just might be the best thing that has ever happened to me.” said “What can you do back home? We’re already 28 and this could be the last adventurous, crazy thing we’ll ever do!”

“I agree with ,” stood up, ”besides we’ve come already so far and we can’t have risked our lives over nothing. We’ve got to finish what we’ve started.”

“Well, I think we’ve risked our lives one time too many…” didn’t get to finish her sentence as she got interrupted by a loud, horrid scream coming from a bit further on. They all ran as fast as they could.

“Oh my god, ?!!” they yelled when they saw what had happened.

“Are you okay, sweety?” tried not to sound to desperately and panicky for her sake.
“I’m going over there!”

had tried to cross a very old, wooden-constructed bridge, but the years and the rain had caused it to become very rotten and unsteady. So somewhere half-through one of the wooden boards had cracked underneath her weight and now she was hanging above a ravine.

“, that’s way too dangerous. The bridge is rotten and won’t be able to hold both your weight. We have to find something to pull her up”

“Then it might already be too late. I’m going” left.
laid his hand upon ’s shoulder to stop him.

turned to look at his mate. “ I have to. It’s my fault that she ran away,” gathered all his courage and got on the rickety bridge…“Come on a few more steps, ” he said to himself. He could hear the bridge making all this weird cracking noises.

The others just looked desperately. There was nothing that they could do to help them.
“I can’t take it anymore,” said, covering her eyes.

“Be careful, ,” said.

“Wish you would have taken your own advice before getting on this bridge. What were you thinking?!”

“This is nor the place nor the time to argue, ,” she said, trying to pull herself up, but failed as the boards were to slippery. “Ah”

“!” sighed, relieved to see she was still dangling on the underside of the bridge.

decided there couldn’t be a better time to confess her feelings for him. She couldn’t die without him knowing how she feels, “ if I do fall I just want you to know that I L”

didn’t like where this conversation was leading to at all, “Don’t worry I’ll sing you a song at your funeral… flying without wings is it?” He could see her pull a weird, shocked face and for a slight moment he forgot what was going on around them. He even managed to show her that smile to make sure she’d know he was just messing with her. This was how it used to be between them constantly teasing each other, sarcasm in nearly every sentence and either of them would end up making a funny face.

“Don’t worry, . There’s no way I’d ever let you fall. You just hang on, I’m almost there,” exhaled deeply…

“I can’t, .” looked up at him one last time.

“No!!!” yelled as he saw her hands slipping from the board. He jumped towards her “Got ya”

After an other small struggle he managed to pull her up and closed her in his arms tightly.
gave him a big kiss on the cheek “Thanks for saving me, ” she said, hugging him back.
“You’re very welcome,” he caressed her cheek. They were completely lost in the moment, forgetting everything around them, even the cracking sound underneath their feet. “, you’ve …”

“Hey, you guys. Don’t know about you, but maybe you could do that soppy stuff here on solid ground,” said, bringing them back to the hard reality.

“Right,” grit her teeth as she still hadn’t been able to free her heart from that nagging feeling.
may have saved her life right now, but she had never felt so trapped before.

The creaking sound intensified every second. Pieces from the bridge came down every now and then. had hardly finished his sentence when the ropes, which held the bridge together, snapped, smacking and against the rocks. The intensity of the hit was to great for them to hold on, but luckily somehow ’s foot got stuck. She was now dangling upside down with ’s hand locked in hers.

looked him in the eyes and smiled broadly, “I guess this makes us even.”

“What are you up to, missy?!” knew that look on her face and he didn’t like it whatsoever. It meant she was up to something and right he was…

“I’m sorry, , but it can’t hold both of us,” pulled a sad, apologetic face.

“…? Okay, I’m sorry for all those things I said to you yesterday, I didn’t mean them. I’ll make it up to you I promise just please don’t let go…,” ’s stomach twisted. The thought of dying made him sick.

Tears formed in her eyes. “I’m sorry, …I’m sorry” said her goodbye and then let go of him.

screamed as he fell in the endless depth “Ah!!! … Oeh!” He ended up saying as he had already reached the ground, way sooner then expected. He looked around him astonished. He was actually sitting on solid ground, but the poor fellow was shaking like mad from the shock.

laughed as she joined him on the rock. When she was hanging upside down, holding on to ’s hands tightly, she had first told herself not to look down the ravine, but then did it anyway. And at that moment she saw the out sticking rock 8 feet beneath and started thinking about what to do.
She did feel a little bit awful; What she had done, just now was really mean, but then again he had done some nasty things too when they were younger. He once gave her a paper bag and said that her cat was in there, making her belief he had accidentally driven over it when parking on her driveway. Remembering those times, she also recalled the things he said yesterday evening. This had been all she needed to pull the prank on him.

“Oh, come on, , smile. Did you really think I’d drop ya without having a good reason?! You silly boy.”

“Honestly? You did sound pretty convincing to me.” This statement made him get a playful punch from , like he hadn’t suffered enough yet. In spite of him still trembling a little, he flashed her a smile.

As he was about to return her punch he heard yell: “You two okay down there?”

“Barely,” mumbled.

smiled at the sight of him. It felt good to have the old back, “Yeah, we’re fine, !”

“Absolutely! It’s bloody perfect down here mate. Just like being on the balcony of a 5-star hotel… I mean the weather’s great…the view is amazing from here out, not to mention the wonderful company I’m in. It’s always nice to have a psycho-killer around ya when standing next to the abyss,” answered sarcastically.

saw pull an apologetic face as that wasn’t what he meant. “Don’t mind him. He’s grumpy because he fell and hurt his toosh AGAIN,” gave a wink. She loves to annoy him.
“Say can you guys find something to pull us up with?” returned serious.

~~~

“Is that a rope?” asked gobsmacked.

“Uhu. I wanted to eat something and saw that the bag (which had been given to them by the receptionist) didn’t only contain our lunches, but also a survival kit and other stuff like that.” handed him the rope.

didn’t get it, “How can you eat at a time like this? Our friends nearly died out there!”

“I can’t help it. I always eat when I’m nervous.Besides it was only after I knew that they were perfectly safe,” was offended and turned her back on him, taking another bite of the milky chocolate.

“Women. I’ll never understand them” rolled his eyes and went to attach the rope around a steady tree.

“What are you doing?” asked puzzled.

“I’m moving the rope a bit to the side so we can use the bridge, or what’s left of it anyway, as a kind of staircase.” proudly said because she had been the one to think of it.

“Yeah, I guess that could work,” put on his innocent face, trying not to show he was enjoying this, “or we could just take the real stairs right there at the back of the gap.”

’s face showed a quizzed look. “What?...How?” Her jaw dropped wide open. “This is really weird.”

“Yup, It sure is! How bigger and more obvious things get, the less you notice them.” smiled, even after the push he got.

“No, you goof! This staircase in the middle of nowhere. Why would it be here?” wondered.

“Don’t look at me, how should I know? Maybe it’s made for tourists to sightsee. Like I told ya before, the view is great from here.”

“Right, never mind.” responded while shaking her head in disagreement.

“What? Suppose you know a better possibility?” He asked her as they made their way up.

shrugged, “Can’t be hard to top that one. Let's see… How about they made it for people who want to delta-fly?! It would be the perfect spot to jump off. With this height you’d be staying up in the air for ages. And…”

“…and the descent is rather unique?! You can pick it out yourself. Choose for the regular jump and you smack dead against one of those rocks over there. Or you can go for the special delta-flying offer, for which you slightly have to pay more, but then again you get to see a bit more of the beautiful landscape and choose to either land in ‘Bearland’ ,ending up to be their dinner or you can choose to land in that river, where those bears will mistake you for a fish and eat you nonetheless. Mhh, wonder what I’ll pick?” finished her sentence mockingly.

finally gave up. “Can’t even have one decent conversation with, can ya ?!”

stared down into the black whole to try and make out the faces of the people down there. “Do you think it’s them?” she wanted to know.

could hear two black figures argue about some bear’s dinner, “It’s them all right!”

raised her eyebrow, “Wow! And then you say I’m the one with the mood swings, but how did you get in hardly 10 minutes from: you’re my hero I love you to you’re a moron; leave me alone?!”

“He refuses to use more than two brain cells at once.” sighed.

“Luckily for you that he doesn’t then. I mean a sane person wouldn’t go on a rotten bridge to come to your rescue, would he?!” winked.

“Jeezz, thanx mate. You sure know how to make someone feel better about himself.” patted on his back harshly.

“No, you’re right, .” saw looking surprised at her, “Thanks for being insane and save my life.” She smiled as she saw his reaction and before he could respond she jumped in his arms squeezing all the air out of him. smiled at her reaction and hugged her back intensely, while unnoticed rubbing his cheek against the side of her head.

Chapter Six: “When Doves Cry”

"Look guys. That statue over there is also carved on here” studied the map. “Come on, let's have a look” They made their way down the hill and after some time they finally arrived at a huge, black gate. It was decorated with in the middle two little angels and round them there were clouds, all painted in gold; but even this lovely piece of art couldn’t take away the demolished and bewildered impression you got when looking around ya. Ivy and all kind of leaves covered the walls and gate, but then again cemeteries aren’t suppose to give you a happy, relaxed feeling, are they?

“Guess these people haven’t been visited for quite some time” removed some leaves to have a better look… “Ahh!!!” They all screamed as a guy appeared at the gate. He looked like he just came out of one of those graves. (he could easily audition for the part of Gollum in the film “Lord of the Rings”. They wouldn’t even have to use that much make-up.)

“That’s because these people are put here to be forgotten” He answered them with an evil grin.

felt a shiver go up her spine, “May we look around here, sir?”

“Of course, my child. I’m sure they won’t mind. Except for that one maybe. ‘B. Yeast’. You just never know when he decides to rise, huh. Get it? Yeast-rise?! Mwah ha-ha…” The guy stayed in his laughter, coughing like mad.

got down on her knees and got some grass. “Here draw a straw” She showed them the 8 straws inside her hand.

“Okay, so I’ve got the shortest one. What does that mean?” looked puzzled.

“It means that you have to help the man and you better do it fast cuz he’s turning purple already.” gave him a little push in the back. “Go on, .”

“What? Me?...Help him… right now? I’m mentally not prepared for this.” ’s smile crooked.

“Well, you can also wait just a little bit longer if you like. That way you can put those smooth lips of yours in action by giving him mouth to mouth… mwah ha-ha” imitated the creepy guy’s laugh and smirked as she saw him walk, while trying hard not to show his disgust. He didn’t waist an other second after hearing that last comment, took a deep breath, held it and went to help the dirty, smelly, repulsive “man”.

“Wow! That was close” The weird little man said.

“You can say that” rubbed his chin and lips relieved because of the way things had turned out.

“Don’t forget, unless you want to spend the night here, I’ll be locking things up around 7pm. That still gives you 2 hours, should be enough?!” The creepy man informed them. The others eyes widened by the thought of having to spend the night here and nodded in agreement. “Right, I’ll leave you to it now. Would love to give you the grand tour, but I’m busy digging a grave. I’m sure you’ll ‘keep body and soul together’ get it?! Mhaw ha-ha… cough cough”

“Pff, graveyard humour.” shivered “Where’s ?”

“He left as soon as he heard the creepy guy started coughing again. Guess he was scared he had to reanimate him after all.” laughed.

Passing several headstones read out loud “ L. Wallace- lawyer. Poor guy died when he was only 22 years old. Wonder how.”

“We’ll never know” said and then read an other one.

“Well, I know how this one died…” nudged his mates and pointed at the headstone saying ‘M. Hawk’ “- not enough air” he said, making the other lads laugh. The girls just made a face and sighed “Guys”.

“Yeah, and this one?! Looks like Mr. Fiddle went out of tune” said, laughing even harder, but also his comment wasn’t appreciated by the girls. One of the girls said “Guys are so insensitive”, which the others just confirmed with “Uhu!”.

“Fine, we know when we’re not appreciated. Ain’t that right, ? Come on!” With that and went to join before the girls could start their women versus men talk.

“N. Conner-businessman, 30 years old” read.

“He sure went in the hole on his last deal, get it?!” laughed dryly, making the others roll their eyes. He pulled a face, “No?” Not showing any emotions, the girls responded by shaking their head. “Right!” he coughed and quickly joined the guys.

“And then there were 4” said.

“What are we looking for exactly?” climbed up the stairs and went round the statue, studying it carefully. It was one of those typical, American judges you see in old films. He was wearing a silly outfit, especially the socks and the gigantic wig he had on were utterly ridiculous. In his one hand he held a book and in the other a gavel. “Nope, not a thing up here.” said.

“It’s a ghost of a chance, but maybe it’s underneath it then,” tugged the tin plate, which was attached to identify the guy with the wig, but it didn’t budge one bit.

yelled as he saw the whole thing unfold before his eyes, “!” A bird flew closely by the statue, giving the fright of his life and making him lose his balance. In a fraction of time he reached out for something to steady himself again and finally he grabbed the judge’s arm. Holding on to it, it slowly started to move, lowering the gavel till it touched the book. Relieved to feel his toes touch some ground, he let go, nearly stepping into the bucket next to him.

“Didn’t know they washed the statues around here like that” thought as he saw the sponge and dirty water.

“Nearly kicked the bucket there, huh?!” said.

“Okay, you guys gotta stop the graveyard humour. That wasn’t even close to being funny.” was saying, but before she could finish her sentence they were startled again by a mysterious, creaking sound.

They went to see what it was and finally gasped in amazement to see the back of the statue being opened. It revealed a small entrance with a spiral staircase, which would lead them to a hidden tomb deep, deep, deep below the surface.

“Jeezz, is this ever coming to an end?” wondered out loud.

“I’m sure we’re almost there,” reassured her.

“Easy for you to say. You’ve got the lamp. I can’t see a bloody thing”

“You afraid in the dark then?” teased.

“Yeah, got many skeletons in your closet?” thought of an other idiom.

“No, I’m not. And yes, I suppose we all have our dark secrets, but there’s no way I’m telling you mine.”

“You want the lamp? Here you go, take it” handed her the lamp.

“Ah!!!” breathed heavily and rapidly when she saw an ugly gargoyle staring back at her “That’s okay, You keep it. You’re doing a great job” gave it back, making grin.

~~~

“Why are you stopping?” asked.

“I bumped into something.” touched the object that was blocking his way. As they all finally stood around the object with the lamps and torches they saw what is was, not that they couldn’t have guessed it. “It’s a sarcophagus” they gasped at the beauty of it.

“Here lies Fred Pishir,” read the plate. “Shall we open it?” She asked, already pushing the top stone.

“No, wait. What if it’s cursed?” slid his hand over the inscriptions.

rolled her eyes, “ this ain’t Egypt! Besides curses don’t exist, it’s merely superstition. People made those stories up to keep others away from their belongings.”

“What if he’s right, . I don’t want to die yet!” clinched on to ’s arm.

“Well, then they don’t have to drag us far, do they; we’re already at a graveyard. Come to think of it your gravestone would really fit in here on this cemetery. I’m sure that creepy guy can come up with a nice text like:”

Here lies the Atheist
All dressed up
And no place to go.

started to laugh hysterically, but soon stopped as she saw the look the others were giving her.
“Sorry. Listen , we won’t die…”

“She’s just whistling past the graveyard” bud in.

“Rrrright. I’m a little scared too. We all are sometimes, but listen you’re one of my best friends and…”

“She ain’t making no bones about it” got an other eye-killing-look, but he found it amusing.

ignored him and repeated “You’re one of my best friends and I would never let anything bad happen to you! Not to any of you”

“You mean that? Even after what I did?” faced the ground, with tears starting to form her eyes.

“Shut up, ” put her finger on his lips to make sure he would and then finished her sentence “Of course, that’s what friends are for. They support each other no matter what. We’ve know each other since we were 3. I ain’t gonna lose our friendship over something so stupid like money. You mean the world to me. You all do. And now that I’m being soppy and honest I’ll just say it: I love you guys and I’ve missed you like crazy after moving to London, even you, ’” winked playfully and then went over to give a bear hug, but the others soon joined them.

“You’ve got an other one, haven’t ya?” saw ’s expression.

“I was doubting between we’re dead meat or dead man walking” smiled until he got the others all over him, tickling and rubbing his head.

“Okay, let’s do it. Let’s open this thing!” started to shove the stone aside.

stood aside and rose his fist to encourage them “That’s the spirit. You go girl; Knock ‘em dead”

“We’re all in this together, . Come on help us push or we gonna switch you with the guy that’s in it”, dragged him along with her.

covered her mouth, “Disgusting!” She tried hard not to throw up all over the place.

“Look, he's holding something” took the little box. “It looks like some kind of puzzle”

Click

“!!!” The others yelled as they saw the door, the only way out, close behind them.
“Oops, she did it again” mumbled.

“What’s that sound?” heard something. He didn’t have to wait long to get the answer to his question because water started to come down the top corners of the room like a gigantic waterfall, filling the room quickly.

panicked, “What do we do now? It’s really rising fast!”

“Look there are writings on the wall” gestured the others to come and take a look.

“Don’t know what it has to look like” sighed “all I see is some kind of waterfall, come clouds and I think this should look like thunder & lightning.”

“Could be the Niagara Waterfalls and …mhh, the local weathercast?!” tried to be helpful.

“Yes, yes, yes. You two are geniuses.” said, nearly yelled, excited.

“We are?” and asked in unison.

“Yes, it’s a native legend that tells of the beautiful maid Lelawala”

“Well, of course!!! …Who is she? And how do you know all that?” asked, not believing her ears.

“I’ve always been interest in Canada and I once did an essay on the topic long time ago.” It was coming back to her now “Lelawala was betrothed by her father to someone she despised so rather than marry, she chose to sacrifice herself to her true love He-No. She paddled her canoe into the swift current of the Niagara River and was swept over the brink. He-No caught her as she plummeted, and together their spirits are said to live forever in the his sanctuary behind the Falls.”

covered his mouth and coughed, “Nerd”

“Whatever! Just remember that this nerd here is gonna save your sorry arse,” said, hoping she wasn’t just bluffing.

still didn’t get it, “What has the story got to do with this?”

“He-No was the God of Thunder” pushed the thunder-icon.

Click

“You know. I actually promised myself I’d kill you when I’d hear that awful click sound again, but as we’re gonna die now anyway I might as well let nature do it’s thing” spit some water in ’s face.

played along, “Or we could do it, no one will find out and we can die happily.”

“Yes, wouldn’t want to spend the rest of our lives wandering around this cemetery because we weren’t able to find piece” bud in, trying to keep his head above the water.

“So, what’s it gonna be? How do you want to die ?” narrowed his eyes and went over to her.

swallowed “How about peacefully in my sleep when I’m 99?... Listen you guys. I do am so so sorry about dragging all of you into this mess,” teardrops stared to trickle down her cheeks.

“It isn’t your fault, . I said we should go on this trip” enclosed her in his arms once more.

“, whatever happens. I want you to know that you…”

“What’s happening?!” said, alarming the others.

They all held each others hand tightly when a blue light spread across the room. The light reflected as it had reached the mirror on the right wall. Eventually after reflecting on several mirrors, going from right to left, it shone on the medallion that hung around the enormous statue’s neck. Wearing nothing but a bearskin the creature looked half man-half god. Its eyes began to glow and eventually its tummy opened up, sucking the 8 friends into a tunnel.

“How about that… even more water” yelled as also he had reached the end of the tunnel, falling into a wide and wild river.

“And I thought we were saved as soon as that door opened when it actually only opened because we were drowning too fast? They want us to go slow. Can things get any worst?” spit some water out, trying hard to keep her head above the water.

“Uhm, we could fall down that waterfall over there” ’s eyes widened.

They tried to hold on to something, but the current was way to strong for them to hold on. “!!!” He was the first one to fall down the waterfall.

~~~

“Where’s ?!” noticed.

spotted her floating and drifting towards the reed. He ran as fast as he could and dragged her out of the water. The other girls kneeled down next to the body and sobbed when showed no sign of life. shook her friend fiercely, not wanting to let her go, “… please wake up!”

sat down next to and tried to comfort her, “, I’m sorry… she’s gone”

“Uh, huh” suddenly started coughing out all the water that had entered her lungs. “You wish, ,” she tried to give him a playful punch, but couldn’t. She was really weak, but even if she would have had the strength to do so, the 6 arms around her made it impossible for her to move.

“Come on, give the girl some air” said. “How are you feeling?”

’s body was shaking and her teeth clenched, “Soaked to the bone and very cold”

“Yeah, we all are,” he rubbed her arms to warm her up a bit “It’s already getting dark so I think it’s best that we find a shelter for the night and look for some civilisation in the morning.”

~~~

"They all sat closely together on logs around a cosy campfire, which was finally beginning to give some warmth. It had only taken them 30 minutes and 4 different kind of techniques to get it burning.

“I wish it was warm” rubbed her hands.

wringed out his sweater, “I wish I had some dry clothes”

“I wish I had marshmallows” sighed, making the others raise an eyebrow “What? I’m hungry and what better to eat around a campfire than some delicious marshmallows on a stick?!”

“That could be arranged” said, showing them the bag pack. “I found the bag stuck in reed. Don’t know why the receptionist stuck them in the bag. He must have expected us to get lost in the woods or something like that. Whatever the reason is; I love him!” sighed “They’re wet though.”

Hearing his stomach growl for only the 99th time that day said, “I’d eat anything right now.”

~~~

They laughed as the guys had finished another story about the so many Westlife adventure, except for , who had been really quiet since the accident.

“Are you okay, sweety?” rubbed her back.

turned and turned the wooden box around in her hands. “Can’t open it. There’s an inscription on the back, but I don’t understand it. It’s written in some weird, old kind of language.”

“Let me see…This words are written in Gaelic” concluded.

“Gaelic? I don’t get it. What’s the box doing here in Canada then?” wondered.

“Maybe that Fred-guy in the coffin was Irish, or at least had Irish roots” tried to be helpful.

“Could be. During the famine in Ireland, lots of people immigrated to America and Canada” looked at the object intrigued. “What do you think the line means?”

“It’s not a line, just random words,” he continued to study the box carefully and then started puzzling with the words, shoving them to and fro until they formed a sentence, “Dhachaidh e far nach an chridhe’a. It’s Gaelic for …”

“Home is where the heart is” said.
As if on cue the box popped open, revealing them its beauty. It was a big, dazzling crystal.

“Look, there’s a figure carved inside the crystal. It looks familiar. I think I’ve seen it before?!” tried to remember where she knew it from.

smiled, “Of course it looks familiar. We’ve been there a long time ago when we had that beach party at my uncle’s cabin. I could ask to rent it again, then we can take our time to solve the next clue”

sighed deeply, “Guys, I’ve been giving this a thought. I think it’s better if we just drop this hunting-thing. I mean, we nearly lost today and I don’t know what I would do if anything happened to any of you.”

The other’s jaw dropped wide open, even though it did make sense. “Oh, come on. I know it has all crossed your mind before. I’m just the first one to say it out loud,” eventually added when no one spoke. And so, about two bags of marshmallows and few arguments later, they gave in and went to “bed”

“The blanket’s dry,” said. They had discovered it in their survival kit and made a mental note to give the receptionist a big, wet kiss. Well, the girls would anyways as for the guys they’d just give him a big fee and thank you gift.

saw ’s expression. “Oh, boy. This is the part where you tell me we need to lie closely together to share, isn’t it?!”

“That and for body warmth of course. Nothing can tip that,” stretched himself and yawned.
made a face and sighed, knowing there wouldn’t be another option.

“Promise, I’ll keep all of my clothes on” smiled cheekily.

“You better!” gave him a punch. “So, where’s the blanket?”

“Over there” pointed.

was already fast asleep underneath the small blanket. Feeling shiver, woke up. He took of his jacket and laid it upon her; then wrapped his arms around her. Once he saw her smile, he laid down again and drifted in a deep, peaceful sleep.

“You know there’s no beating when it comes to sleeping,” laughed.
The others joined the two and not even 10 minutes later they were all sound asleep.

Chapter Seven: “Every cloud has its silver lining”

"Shh, the girls are still asleep,” closed the bedroom door.
signalled the other lads to follow him through the backdoor into the ‘getaway’ car.

On the plane back to Ireland they had decided to go to the cabin off ’s uncle for old time's sake. And just like 10 years ago they partied until dawn. The girls had danced and laughed, not knowing that the guys had decided to sneak out early in the morning and look for the treasure on their own.

“Déjà vu!” said when he had to walk on a small rickety bridge to get to the other side of the cliffs.

smiled, “This is it: Carrick-a-Rede.” Just looking at the cave brought up a lot of memories. “Remember when we…” he stopped his sentence so he could listen attentively to his surroundings.

“I can’t believe we’re actually doing this even after we explicitly promised we wouldn’t” The guys heard the familiar voices getting closer and a big grin showed on their faces when they saw the girls appear from around the corner, looking completely shocked when they noticed the guys standing at the entrance of the cave.

grinned, “You girls too, huh?”

nodded, “Let's do this before wakes up and discovers we’re gone.” She walked into the cave.

“Say, how do you put this light on? Can’t see a bloody thing!” said. “Ouch”

wanted to know how he was doing and went over to him, “You okay, ?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just bumped me toe against this pole… Got it!” cheered as he got his light to work. “Take a look at this guys” On top of the pole stood a metal globe.

read the little plate underneath it, “1492? That goes back to when Christopher Columbus proved that the world ain’t flat. So, then this must be the world’s 1st round globe” proudly said, but in stead of getting an applause he got weird looks shot at him. “What? So I paid attention during history class. Jeezz”

“I think all that time with is starting to rub off on you,” teased him.
He ignored the comments he got and continued to study the object. “Oh, look this is ancient-Ireland” pointed to one of the little weird-looking spots in the sea, but as he put his finger on the ‘island’ they heard that familiar sound again…

Click

The globe slowly opened up.
“Now what?” wondered as there was nothing inside of it.

“You’ll be needing this” said, startling them all. She took the crystal, that they had found in the wooden box, out of her bag. started to laugh hysterically, “You call yourself treasure hunters?! My god, you look ridiculous!” They looked like miners with that equipment and those little lights attached on their forehead.

Hoping she wouldn’t be too crossed with them for breaking their promise and leaving without her asked surprised to see her, “? What are you doing…”

“I know you like to think that you’re good in sneaking out, but even someone with a major sleeping-disorder, who took a sleeping thee, some sleeping pills, got eardrops in and wears a sleeping mask would still have not been able to sleep through all those noises you guys made… a bumping and falling sound?”

’s face showed a thoughtful expression, “Yeah, I guess that was me bumping against . He came from around the corner unexpectedly, making me fall on the ground.”

smiled “That was still okay though, but the breaking sound nearly gave me a heart attack”

swallowed “Yeah, that was me, I’m afraid. I didn’t see the vase on time”

“Oh, man! You broke my uncle’s vase?! He bought it on his trip to Africa” sighed.

“Sorry, mate.” said apologetically and then gave a you-really-had-to-mention-that-look.

She smiled broadly. She knew it had been him as she had heard him curse after breaking it. “Anyway so when I went to the living room I saw the crystal and I thought you might be needing it. Besides we’re all in this together, remember?!” smiled again. “So, I see that you’ve taken the nerd-part on you. Honestly, I’m glad that you did you make a far better nerd than me” She gave him the crystal “Go ahead Sherlock.”

“I agree with the I’m better than you part, but I’m not a nerd” stuck the crystal in the metal globe and closed it again waiting for something to happen, but nothing did.

“Take a look at the continents, ” pointed.

“They're not on the right place…” realised and turned the upper part of the globe till everything matched.

click
smiled, “You’ve gotta admit. I’m pretty good at these things. When you open something we fall down, nearly drown, …” He went on as he got into the tunnel that was now fully lighted and led them towards an old mineshaft.

“Well, since you’re so good at these things. Start pumping” smiled innocently and sat down on the little, old mine cart. It had a stick in the middle, which you had to move up and down to get the cart going. They were followed by a second one, which had , , and on it. They didn’t have to pump to long though. The cart started going faster and faster as the railway went down.

“How do you stop it?!” screamed. She didn’t like the creaking sound one bit. It was an very old construction and not even close to being good kept in repair.

pulled a handle, “I think I found it!” She smiled proudly and victoriously at the others when the cart started to slow down bit by bit.

“That’s great hun, really, but what about them?” pointed behind them. The other cart was gaining upon them quickly and didn’t show any sign of slowing down let alone stopping.

Even , who loves roller coasters, started slightly panicking and yelled “PULL…YOUR…HANDLE!!!” She tried to make things clear by making extreme signs.

“Pump for your lives!” moved the iron stick up and down and the cart slowly started to move again. In meanwhile the others had found their ‘breaks’, but all this wasn’t enough to prevent it from happening. There just wasn’t enough time, but they did manage to go from a fatal crash to a harsh bump.

“Phew, that was close” sighed relieved.

was shaking, “You can say that!” She tried to calm down, but didn’t get time for that because the wooden construction couldn’t bear the weight any longer and went down, taking everything along with it. “Ahh!!!....Ahh!!” They all stared at , who was now breathing in deeply and then continued: “Ahh!!!...Ahh!!” They just fell 10 feet, but luckily the water had broken their fall.

“Uhum, ?!” coughed to get ’s attention and laughed, “You can stop screaming now; we’ve already reached the ground like 10 seconds ago.”

“Right, I knew that” said embarrassed and made her way out of the water. It wasn’t easy to find the sides though because only the parts near the railway had been lighted. was the 1st one to make it onto dry land. For some reason his headlight still worked.

“Hey, you guys. Over here! I’ve found some torches.” took one of the wall, lit it and handed it over to ; then got one for himself.

“Oh, there’s another one!” They heard say enthusiastic, but herself was nowhere to be found.

“?” yelled, but got no response.

Also gave it a try, “?!”

Just as was about to yell they heard her answer “Yeah. I’m here on the other side of the wall.”
“How did you get there?” asked, while trying to find a switch or button somewhere.

She yelled back, “I don’t know. I just tried to grab the torch on the wall. Wait I’ll do it again”
’s eyes had caught something shimmering in the sand. It looked like a key or something so completely lost in the moment he bent forward to pick it up. By the time it became clear to him that the others were telling him to watch out, it was to late…

Click

The wall spun around and hit him on the rear, making the others crack up laughing. narrowed his eyes and made a face to warn them, but this just made it even more amusing.

“Sorry, ” apologised and then smiled. “But hey, I did warn you this time. Here, let me help you out of the water” gave him a hand, but as tried to take it she suddenly drew it back. “Wait a minute. You’re just gonna pull me in the water, aren’t ya?!” turned around and went to stand against the wall, where she waited for the others to join her so they could spin once more.
finally reached the wall after entertaining the others by slipping and ending back into the water for another 3 times. had to laugh so hard that she nearly peed her pants. Tears were streaming down her cheeks. She wiped them away and pulled the torch one last time.

“Cool! A secret tunnel. I wonder where it’ll lead us” said excited.

gasped; her face was wet again. This time not from laughter, but because had spit water on it. He smirked and then marched satisfied, “Well, there’s only one way to find that out. Come on, let's go”
~~~

“Say . Have you really got that many secrets then?” asked innocently.

“What do you mean?” played dumb.

smiled playfully, “Back in the tomb you said that we’ve all got our dirty little secrets.”

“Yes, I think we all do, don’t you?”

“I guess so. Do you really have that many secrets where I don’t know about.”

’s smile faded, “Well, there’s definitely one I’ve never told you about.”

“Which is...?”

“If I can recall correctly myself I also said in the tomb that I wasn’t going to tell ya.”

gave it one last try, “Oh, come on. As if it matters. After this you’ll go back to London and we’ll never see each other again.” finally gave in.

“…I’ve liked you since that day we went camping together” ’s cheek flushed a bit, but luckily the light of the torches wasn’t enough to reveal how she felt right now.

was taken back, “You do?” He didn’t know whether he’d have to feel relieved, shocked or something else, “But then why did you date ?”

“I tried to make you jealous, but ended up pushing you even further away.” sighed.

was about to say something back, but he bumped into something.

“What’s wrong?” saw the expression on ’s face.

“We’ve travelled half the world when it was right here under our noses all along.” couldn’t believe her eyes when she saw the small pillar standing there in the middle of the room. It was completely set with little, shiny diamonds in all kinds of colours and the pillar was wrapped in a red & gold coloured cloth. On top of it was a glass ball surrounded by half a dozen small buttons.

“Now what?” asked while pushing every little button and then sighed, “This thing doesn’t work”

“Let me see” stepped forward to take a closer look, “I recognize those symbols.”

“We’ve seen them throughout our trip,” let her hands go over the glass ball. “I see, I see… an ugly man” She smiled as she saw the ball deform ’s head.

“Hey, who’re you calling ugly?” Making her squirm, rubbed her head playfully with his knuckles.

“Yeah, that’s the one from in the cave in Australia. The little diamond that had come out of the compass had an 8-form” said.

“So, then maybe we have to push them in the right order of our trip” said.

“Okay, 1st we had the 8-form in the cave” said.

“No, 1st we had a sun-icon. pushed it when you were reading that cheesy poem, remember?” recalled.

“How can ya forget. That’s when we fell down and ended on our behind for the very first time” rubbed his sore bum. “I think I’ve hurt my behind more during this week than I did in my whole life.”

smiled. “So, 1st the sun” she pushed the button, which had a little sun carved in it.

“Then we had the 8-symbol” pushed the next button. “Mhh, what did we have then?”

“The maple leaf that was carved on the back of that map.” said, pushing the following icon.

“Then we had the thunder-icon, not? Down in the tomb,” pushed the 4th button. “That’s it, not?”

“Yes, I can’t remember any other ones” said.

“Then why isn’t anything happening?” sighed disappointed.

raised his shoulder, “I don’t know.”

tried to be of any help, “Maybe we have to push this button too. It says ‘Cairdeas’, which is the Irish word, if I’m correct, for ‘friendship.’”

“But of course!!! It makes all sense now. You’re a genius .” said.

’s eyes widened, not only because she had called him a genius, but also cuz she had just pecked him on the cheek, awakening the little butterflies in his tummy after 10 years.

“Remember the guy in the coffin? His name was ‘Fred Pishir’ alias ‘Friendship’ and the little diamond in the cave didn’t just have a weird 8-shape it was the symbol of eternity ‘?’. So, let's see, what we have now?! Friendship…” pushed the orange little button, which said ‘Cairdeas’ and as she did the little orange light inside the crystal ball lit up, filling the room with a orange kind of shade.

“And the leaf, sun and thunder stand for through all seasons?” guessed.

“Or stands the test of time…” said pushing the autumn-icon; the maple leaf and suddenly the room was filled with an other colour, a green shade this time.
“It’s for better, for worse…” pushed the yellow sun-button and then the blue one with the thunder on it, lighting up the room with their matching colours. “…it breaches distances” This one was the 5th button. It was pink and had a globe on it.

“And it lasts beyond a lifetime…” winked at and pushed the final 6th button, which was purple and carried the mysterious, yet well-know ?-symbol.

The room was now filled with all kinds of colours and after hearing the unmistakable click-sound letters appeared up in the air, showing them the last part of the poem followed by the sentence: “You’ve found the most precious thing one can have in life” They all gasped.
“But how?” and said in harmony, as the ball was now projecting memories of their adventures together; going from opening the sceptre up in the tree house to discovering the boat down in the cave. It showed them their moments of laughter and few moments of tears, but most of all it showed them the falling down parts, which was mainly ! (No, no just kidding!) Most of all it showed them how close they’ve had become again during this trip and how much fun they’ve had going on it.

After the projector had shown them the last memory of them sharing a group hug, letters appeared again and a voice could be heard saying loudly:

“A faithful friend is a strong defence and he that finds one has found a treasure"

“That’s true. You can’t lose a friend. I’ve never forgotten about you guys” said.

“Me neither. If a friendship is capable of ending, it’s cuz it never existed” sighed as she saw what was happening…

and ’s eyes were locked. “God I’ve missed you,” moved closer towards him and felt the electricity run through her body when she rubbed her nose against his. immediately responded. He cupped her face and gently stroked her cheeks with his thumb, “Me too” he said before he brushed his lips ever so softly against hers, sending another shiver down her spine; one that would never go away.

“Okay, people that’s a rap!” The producer yelled. Everyone of the crew started clapping, while the last notes of Westlife’s new song “Reunited we stand” could be heard on the background.

Epilogue of the videoclip

“So, there’s no treasure?!” looked down and sighed.

They all gave her a big hug, “Who needs a treasure when you’ve got friends like us?”

“That’s true! Friends are the most important ingredient in the recipe of life” answered back.
They all looked at her and started laughing.

“Man, that’s deep… really deep” laughed.

“Yeah, didn’t know you were the philosophical type?!” put his arm around her and they left the cave.

nudged , “I’ve got one too. A good friend is hard to find, hard to lose and impossible to forget. I’ve never forgotten about you,” cheekily smiled down at her and winked.

smiled back, and then it hit her. She finally understood what the line on the box meant ‘home is where the hearts is’, she mumbled.

“What?”

“I'm moving back to Ireland, .” said enthusiastic as she knew that would be the best decision she’d ever made.

“You are? What about your shop? I’ll help you get it back,” said surprised.

“I know you would and I really appreciate that , but that’s what I’ve learned on this trip. Money might make you wealthy, but friends make you rich.” She smiled up at him, but than punched him as she didn’t get a response “Hey, you don’t seem to be happy about me returning.”

“No, no of course I’m happy about that. I was just wondering where this key is for.” He said, taking it out of his pocket and showing it to her.

“Don’t break that pretty head of yours on it” took the key out of his hand and threw it down the cliffs. “The only key that matters is the one to our heart. And you definitely have the one to mine; you’ve always have.”

Back in the cave….

Click

The pillar opened up showing the chest to which that key fits.
- What’s in it?
No one will ever known, but then again, does it really matter?

The End