“Hey, Cindy.” Richard's voice echoed through the air as Cindy thought she was getting ready to snatch away her target. An element of surprise passed through her ears, as well as Hannah's as Richard's eyes opened up. Cindy's hand pulled back and she screamed, jumping back as well. After landing nearly 3 feet from where she was standing before, she saw Richard leaning up from his laying position, his hand cupped and Hannah slowly getting up from her laying position as well. They both looked at each other, and then Richard looked towards Cindy.

“What are you doing in here?” he asked, showing Cindy that she'd been completely caught. She had to think fast of an excuse that she could use in this situation. He'd completely caught her off-guard, and she didn't know what to say. It wasn't like she could just blurt out “Oh, nothing. I was just coming in here to grab Hannah and take her to do some...things to her.” or anything. The trust she'd made in everyone over the past 24 hours needed to stay with her, if she planned to be around any of them. She thought long and hard, but she didn't have a whole lot of time to do so. “W-Waking you up!” she blurted out.

Waking them up? That was the best she could think of? Unfortunately, on such short notice, yes. All she could think about was the task she had been trying to do before, and that was the first thing that popped into her head. “Umm...it's been awhile since we all separated and I though, um...we could all spend some time together. You know, like...take a hike or something! So, I came in here...to wake you guys up. You know...if that's cool with you?” Hannah and Richard were both looking at Cindy with strange looks on their faces. The pauses in her speech obviously meant that things weren't all peachy and smooth. Hannah didn't want to say anything to Cindy, but Richard did.

“So...you wanted all four of us to spend some time together?” he asked, trying to see through for what she was really wanting to do. “Yeah! Of course, honey. We are, after all, on vacation. We should spend some time, as friends. We can't spend our entire time here, sleeping!” She had a good point with what she said. Even Hannah had spoken to Richard about wanting to hang out and not be incredibly serious on their vacation. “Well, alright...” he started, looking around on Cindy's body. “So...where's Nick? If we're all going to be spending time together, should he not be here as well?”

The sting of guilt shot deeply into Cindy's being. Now she was caught, and she knew she was. How could they possibly all have time to spend together if Nick wasn't even with them? Hannah finally spoke up, bringing more light on this situation and pushing further on Cindy. “Did you leave him in another room, alone?!” Now they were both pushing guilt on her, and she hated it. Her left hand went behind her back as her fingers coiled into a fist. She held it for a second, but then took control, and let it go. 'Easy, Cindy' she thought to herself. 'Don't lose it. Not now. You can get through this. You just have to talk your way through it. Just calm down. Take a deep breath, and think.'

She thought quick and found something to say, though she hoped it didn't lead to yet another question or another case of guilt for her. “Oh! Well, he's still sleeping. I didn't want to wake him up prematurely, so I set him on a pillow in the living room while I came in here to get you! You know, so he could get as much sleep as he could. I wouldn't want to wake him sooner than he'd have to, ya know?” Hannah and Richard looked at each other again, confused at Cindy's logic. She had left Nick, alone, in another room, just to wake them up and then regather everyone to go and do something together? She made little sense, but they shrugged at one another.

“Alright, Cindy. We'll get up and go...take a hike, if that's what you want.” Richard's words came out strangely. He still wasn't sure Cindy was telling the truth about what she was doing, especially with her hand so close to his, the one that held Hannah. Still, he didn't want to doubt her too much. The last thing he wanted to do was to bring out suspicions in Hannah and make her any more scared of Cindy than she already was. He picked himself up further and set Hannah on the night stand, where she'd slept the night before. As Hannah came out, she looked up at Richard and tilted her head.

“I'll get dressed in here, Cindy. You go and wait for Nick to get up. Once he's up, and you get some pants and shoes on, we'll go on this little hike of yours. Also, you'll need some thread for our trip. I think I saw some in one of the drawers in the kitchen. Get that while you're out, near the living room. Hannah looked even more confused now. Thread? What would they need that for on a hike? Was he planning on tying them around trees to mark where they were going or something? She had no idea, but she only looked to Cindy to see what kind of reaction it would get out of her.

Cindy was both glad and disappointed at how the situation went. It was unfortunate that Richard had been awake, thus throwing her original plan out the window. She also didn't like receiving orders from him about what was going to happen next. On the bright side, though, he hadn't asked her about reaching for Hannah, if he'd even seen her doing it. Her true intentions towards her might have still been a secret worth keeping, for now. She would have plenty of time to 'bond' with Hannah later on. For now, though, she nodded towards him and walked away.

“I'll be back when little Nick awakens! You'd better be ready by then!” Cindy walked out the door and shut it behind her. Her footsteps started getting more and more faint as she got further away. In the room, Hannah looked up at Richard and asked him about what just happened. “What was that about?” He looked down at her and crossed his arms, digging into a bag, by the bed. “I dunno, Hannah. But, I guess we're going on a hike today...”