The next day..

“AAWWWWOOOOOOOOOOO!” The kids–except Jack–playfully howled like wolves as they ran through the woods together. There’s no sign of worry in their gazes, only carefree joy through recklessness of risking their lives. 

“Oh culprit, we’re gonna get your ass!” Tyler shouted with a puff of his chest, his foot on the rock to get his point across, “Nobody messes with our town and gets away with it!”

“Heck yeah, baby! No bad guy allowed on our property!” Darwin chimed in, although he doesn’t really own the town that he and his friends live in. Which is silly, knowing how kids can be.

Behind them is Jack leaning against the tree, smirking at their foolishness. He pictures himself Darwin’s head on a sharpened stick, an offering to the Devil in Yellow. In his opinion, it sure is interesting for others to be THAT foolish when curious enough to look for things they shouldn’t. When his name was called, he shook his head.

“Huh?” 

Bethany rolled her eyes, “Gosh, you’re spacey! I said we have to look for clues in the woods as long as we don’t lose each other.” She said, not trying to sound rude–but raised her voice when she felt like it’s necessary.

“Sure.” Jack smiled warmly. 

One hour later, they found nothing but…. Actually, just nothing. No luck or anything.

The sun is still shining, but it is slowly going down right now, soon giving the moon its turn to be up in the skies. 

Meanwhile, Darwin and his friends have already gone home in disappointment. On the bright side, Darwin was glad to have a new friend to tag along with his adventures and Bethany, Tyler, and lastly the shyest, Harrison. On the dark side, there’s nothing to be found that could lead to whoever the culprit is. In the kitchen, his mother is cutting a piece of chicken, and his father is reading a newspaper. The newspaper has a headline: “Has the culprit, who burned the orphanage, been found?” After Darwin took off his shoes, he dashed to the dinner table to just grab the chicken wing and quickly make an attempt to go to his room. Then the attempt failed when his mother called out to her boy.

“Darwin! Just where exactly do you think you’re going?”

Darwin slowly turned around, “to… my… Room?” He said awkwardly with a smile.

“Absolutely not, young lad! You’re going to have a seat with me and your father, and then we’ll have a lovely chat.” 

For a moment there, Darwin thought that he’s in big trouble for whatever reason, letting out a nervous gulp.

“And no, that does not mean you’re gonna be grounded. You’ll spend time with family whether you like it or not!”

Darwin let out a sigh of relief when his mother said that, taking a seat to have a lovely dinner with her and his dad. For five minutes, there’s nothing but the munching of chicken wings with green peas on their plates.

“So how was your lil adventure with your friends, son?” His father asks politely, not touching his dinner as he talks to Darwin while reading a newspaper.

“It was great, dad. I made a new friend, his name is Jack, and I met him at our nearest diner.” Said Darwin.

“That’s great, son. Was he nice?”

“Yeah! He is nice. Although he hasn’t told me much about himself. All he told me was that he’s religious.”

“Huh, seems like he’s a good influence!” Said Darwin’s mother.

“Definitely. I hope we go on more adventures with him!”