ENTRY # 02

Aria's circle of friends had a hidden place that was dear to them. A place that they discovered together, renovated together and made a home together.

So, when Aria said she would be going to their usual spot, all her friends immediately knew what she was talking about. Somewhere deep in the forests of the small town of Forbidden Vale, on one of their adventures together when they were young, Austin happened to stumble upon a slightly dilapidated and abandoned cabin. Of course, they were hesitant at first because someone may be living there unknowingly, or maybe someone already owned the property.

However, after visiting the cabin for a few days, they observed carefully and found out that there was no one ever coming nor there were any signs that indicated it was someone's. The place was quite old but the wooden walls were still sturdy but covered with vines. The porch was dirty and the stairs slightly rotten, and the insides of the place were enough to tell them that someone hadn't visited the cabin for decades. And now they call it 'The Cabin in the Woods'.

It was typical, but they were twelve-year-olds at the time. And they were most certainly not pertaining to a certain horror movie.

The cabin in the woods was literally a small cabin in the woods. An old two-floored cabin with white-painted windows, a brick chimney, and the usual leaf-covered porch and stairs. They had attempted a do-over several times with the painting—the funniest version was when Austin accidentally bumped a tin container with white paint all over the freshly red roof. Teagan tried to salvage it by drawing circles using the dumped paint and ended up with the cabin looking like a poison mushroom.

Before migrating to the small town of Forbidden Vale–a nature-surrounded place located somewhere in Northern Ireland that was well-known for fantastic sights, mountains, forests, seas above cliffs, and freaky, unexplainable weather and occurrences, Aria used to spend her early childhood moving from place to place. Her father was a well-known scientist and archeologist, so his work took him everywhere. Aria's parents, who divorced when she was young, had an agreement that when she turned twelve years old, Aria would be staying with her mother in Forbidden Vale. So her childhood before twelve was all planes, dirt, and mysterious artifacts. Not that she minded getting dirt underneath her fingernails.

Maybe the fact that Aria had a weird habit of experimenting and making things explode had to do with her father. Or maybe she was just born that way.

After tapping her boots against the bottom stair, Aria lifted her stuff, climbed the last four steps, and fished her copy of the key from her pocket. With a click, the door creaked open, revealing the darkness inside.

Early mornings in Forbidden Vale meant slightly darkened skies and woods covered with mist and clouds. That meant the outside was slightly freezing cold and may look like the sun was about to go down. Therefore, after opening the bags filled with snacks and the things she bought just beside the entrance, Aria flicked the lights open outside before entering the cabin and immediately closed the door behind her to block the cold wind.

She stretched her limbs, crossed to the room to look for firewood supplies that they used to store, gathered some, and headed straight to the fireplace—where she dropped the firewood and set it to flames.

Her body shuddered pleasantly at the warmth that enveloped the room. It would still take two or three more hours for the sun and warmth to pass by. In the meantime, Aria decided she would pass the time by reading the stories she had yet to finish.

As she flipped the pages of her book, Aria prepared hot water, coffee beans, and creamer, with some mugs for her and the others.

While she was waiting for the hot water, Aria heard a shuffling noise from behind the door. Thinking it was one of her friends, she immediately went to open it. But when she did, there was no one outside.

Clutching the jacket closer to her body, Aria went out to see where the sound was coming from. But there was no one out there and she was all alone.

"That's weird." She muttered and began walking back.

Then, she heard whispers and sounds of branches rustling as if someone had passed by. Turning back, she saw nothing yet again.

Feeling creeped out, Aria began walking back to the house, all while being vigilant of her surroundings. She was all calm and composed at first, that is until her back collided with something hard and freezing cold.

"Ahhh!"

"Argghhh!!"

It was a voice she knew too well. "What the heck, Liv! What on earth are you doing here?! Shouldn't you be having your violin lessons at this time?!"

Her younger sister, Livia, clad in thick clothes and was using her violin case as some kind of shield. Her cheeks and nose were pink, and her breath misted from the cold. "Haven't you heard the news? Classes were canceled today."

"What news?"

"What, you didn't know? There was some kind of freaky thing happening again in Forbidden Vale. I thought by now we would all be used to it, but I guess the occurrence this time is much weirder than usual."

Aria sighed, "Right, I figured that's what was happening. The temperature dropped much lower around these parts, it's almost as if it's winter. And I have this feeling that something is about to happen."

Aria shivered, then gestured to her little sister inside, "Get in, it's freezing out here."

"Don't mind if I do."

It was a little later when the rest of the group arrived. Both Teagan and Carter arrived all panicked and agitated and breathed a sigh of relief when they saw there was no disturbance in the backyard. The weather was too cold to do anything outside, so the group hung out inside to keep themselves warm.

While they enjoyed the comfortable warmth of the fireplace, the five gathered together on the carpeted ground to play dungeons and dragons. With Aria seated at the head as the game master, the rest played the adventure seriously as if it was happening in real life. After some heated debates and an almost deadly encounter with a fireplace poker, the group reached an agreement and decided to play a spin-off of the famous Game of Thrones series.

"While the faithful deals with the Tyrell siblings, Queen Cersei watched with amusement while her hand swirled the blood-red wine. Her malicious scheme to blow up the establishment was afoot, all it takes is for her to make the signal. But then you enter her quarters, you begin to perform a magic chant, then the Mountain came out of the shadows of the ceiling. He loads his crossbow with an arrow coated with poison and fires it towards your direction continuously."

"Not good," Carter exclaimed, eyebrows furrowed and the gears of his mind working.

Aria rolls a set of dice, "Everyone takes 26 points damage."

Teagan let out a growl of irritation, she flicked her mini avatar on the makeshift board down. "Tsk, I'm dead."

"I bind her wounds." Liv started her attempt to save Teagan, "I begin mouth-to-mouth resuscitation."

Austin peeked at Liv's sheet and removed Liv's avatar piece, "You're dead too, Targaryen."

"Oh, man."

Aria gestured at the two remaining survivors, Carter and Austin, "Your turn. What will you do?"

Carter, who was playing Jon Snow, proclaimed, "I swing with my long Valerian sword..."

"At what?" Aria asked, gesturing with her hands. "It is a luxurious castle. That means high ceilings and towers and what not. The Mountain must be at least ten feet above you."

"Throw something!" Teagan exclaimed, "Don't you have an arrow or a dagger of some sort?!"

An idea clicked. "The dwarf!" Liv exclaimed, pointing towards Austin who was playing Tyrion Lannister.

"Say what now?" Austin said, dumbfounded.

"She's right! I throw Tyrion up to the chandelier; I have 20 strength!" Carter exclaimed.

Aria turned to Austin, "Does Tyrion allow himself to be thrown?"

Austin ponders, but time is running out, so he says, "Fine, do as he says."

"Jon Snow throws Tyrion to the chandelier, "Aria began. She took the set of dice and rolled it, "He sticks the landing!" Everyone cheered. "What will Tyrion do next?"

"I swing the fancy Valerian dagger towards the Mountain and stabbed him from behind by surprise." Austin took the dice and rolled. The result showed he successfully killed the enemy.

"But wait," Aria exclaimed, "Unfortunately, as the battle happened, Queen Cersei took the opportunity and immediately threw the signal. Her lackeys worked fast and discreetly; the next thing you know, the establishment goes BOOM!"

It happened very quickly, and the group was caught very off guard. But as Aria mentioned the word, a sudden quake emerged out of nowhere and shook the whole area down.