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The dry leaves crunched and crackled with every step. Ranboo was deep in the forest, in the middle of autumn, with his camera casually hanging around his neck. The sky above him was bathed in a shallow orange and with his smartphone, he followed the little red line on the screen. He had been looking forward to this day all month, picking out a perfect Lost Place with his friends. He was long gone from the typical forest path, fighting his way through the dense and partially bare bushes.
The strong air of autumn tore at his sweater and he frowned as the cold hit him unprepared. Ranboo would not let the cold ruin this night. Exuberantly, he jumped into the air, causing his camera to swing along. With the flat of his hand, he struck one of the branches whose discolored leaves were thus knocked off and whirled to the ground.
"I'm coming, you demons!" whooped Ranboo as the leaves billowed around him, partially settling in his hair.
He sped up his walk through the forest. Not because of discomfort or cold, but because of excitement. It took him a while to reach the villa, but he would be the first one there. The house they found on the Internet was about 120 years old and looked more like a huge mansion. It was nearly untouched, just a few people have been here before. Ranboo had to control himself not to rush inside the mansion alone when he saw it in the distance. He could already tell that his friends hadn't arrived yet and he had to wait for a while.
Suddenly he could see a silhouette among the trees. He froze when he could sense the figure was staring at him. It was already too dark to see anything.
Maybe it is just a deer, surprised that a human is here? When the silhouette disappeared between the trees, Ranboo dared to move on. He felt the nervousness slowly flowing through his body and at the same moment, a grin crept onto his face. This was exactly what he was looking forward to.
He ran through the woods until he reached the closed forest path connected to the property. Huge thick trees surrounded the villa. Their bare branches looked like open hands clawing at the sky. The driveway leading to the metal gate was neatly kept, the rest of the property rather not. While there was not a single shriveled leaf on the driveway, countless piles of colorful leaves gathered all around the fence. Panting, he took a swirl and soaked up the surroundings around him.
The scent of leaves, the cold breezes that danced around him, and the trees that danced in the wind. Suddenly the shutters of the mansion began to rattle. Startled, Ranboo winced, the urge going closer to the mansion got bigger by the second.
"I might as well start walking slowly toward the mansion," he said quietly to himself. Without hiding his curiosity, he wandered up the driveway and stopped in front of the fence gate.
It was a black and large lattice gate, above each lattice end decorated a large golden lace. But the golden paint was already faded and flaking over the fence was stretched loose wire, which was already partly broken and hanging down loosely. Every time the wind swept over the property you could hear how the wire swung against the metal. Again, the shutters began to rattle and cautiously Ranboo tried to get a better look as he pressed his head against the bars.
The small flashlight in his hand clicked and shone into the garden. The front garden was just as overgrown. Huge thorny vines made their way up the wall of the house, fancy stone statues had long since been overgrown by moss and other creepers.
"That's so cool.", ranboo whispered and decided to wipe out his camera to record a few calm sceneries till the others were there. Just as the camera turned on and he pointed it at the quiet wooded area behind him, he again recognized a figure flitting through the trees beside him. This time it was a human, he was one hundred percent sure.
"Wilbur? Is that you?", he called out. His voice, which he desperately tried to stay calm, trembled slightly. Again, he heard the rustling of bushes, but this time behind him. With the adrenaline flowing through his body, he whirled around.
~~~
In the front yard stood a person smaller than him. When the eyes of the two met, they simultaneously froze in their position. It seemed to Ranboo as if they were trapped in two different worlds, the fence the only thing that separated their worlds, but at the same time the fence connected them and he felt the urge to break the barrier.
Carefully he put his fingers on the metal in front of him, the cold settled on his fingers, and immediately, the boy ran away on the other side.
"Hey! Wait for me!", he yelled and already made his way over the fence. His hands slid over the rough metal, but with the advantage of his height, he was able to swing over the fence quite easily. As he swung down the other side, his sweater caught briefly on one of the old wires.
He sucked in a sharp breath as a large tear went through his sweater and he felt his flesh being torn open and a warm liquid running down his body. The person, who was visibly frightened that Ranboo had made it over the fence, sped up and ran toward the main entrance.
"Wait!", Ranboo yelled, getting up from the dirty ground and making his way through the overgrown garden. He had no idea who this person was anymore. Maybe his friends had dressed up and were playing a trick on him? Or could it perhaps be a ghost? While his pulse sped up, and his breath created little clouds in the air, he ran up the stone steps, some of which had cracks and gaps. Small pebbles rolled down the stairs, swirled up by the two.
The person in front of him stumbled on the last steps, and almost in slow motion, Ranboo saw the green hood of his hoodie slip off his head, revealing thick, fluffy brown hair, and his feet slide off the step. With a scream, the person fell into his arms, and they both tumbled down the large stone steps. Ranboo fainted as his head hit the cold earth floor and the stars in the sky danced mockingly before his eyes.
~~~
Ranboo awoke with a groan, the sky was filled with stars, a clear and big full moon shone towards him. What time was it?
"Oh no.", he yelled and sat up from the ground. But before he could pull out his smartphone to contact Tommy or Wilbur, a movement next to him distracted him.
Leaning against the wall of the house was the boy they had fallen down the stairs through. Ranboo straightened his body and leaned toward the boy, who was hiding his face in his hoodie hood.
"Hey?", carefully, Ranboo shook slightly on his arm. To his surprise, the boy was awake and as slowly as he could, he removed his hood from his head. Uncertain eyes flashed between the brown hair.
"Are you all right? Are you hurt?" asked Ranboo, ignoring his own injuries. The brunette shook his head, his fingers fidgeting. The boy wore a large dark green hoodie with a few patches in various shades of green, his black jeans naturally torn and a little dirty from the dirt in the garden.
"Well...", Ranboo backed away from the boy a little, unsure of what to do.
After a while of silence, he decided to take his cell phone out of his front pants pocket. It was alive, which he noticed with a relieved sigh. But there was no reception and no new messages from his friends. 1:23 a.m. showed the time on his cell phone.
"I wonder if they've left already," Ranboo whispered, not noticing the boy sneaking up behind him and peering curiously at the display.
Ranboo winced when he noticed the boy behind him and for a moment the two looked at each other in silence.
"What's your name?" asked Ranboo finally, standing up and patting the dirt off his pants.
"My name is Tubbo," he said, looking up at him. He was much shorter than Ranboo, which wasn't really hard, but he seemed older.
"Cool. My name is Ranboo," Ranboo said, but it ended in a hiss, when the wound on his side, burned.
Tubbo was instantly on alert, now being presented the big cut in Ranboo's sweater.
"You're hurt!" he exclaimed and rummaged around in his Hoodie pocket. Triumphantly, he held up a metal box with band-aids and a small bottle of antiseptic. Ranboo was unsure about letting this boy who looked like he lived in the middle of the forest touch his wounds, but finally, with a sigh, he sat down on the stone steps and held up his sweater.
Goosebumps formed on his free torso as the wind swept across the property, now much stronger, but Tubbo, who was cleaning his wound, didn't seem to mind.
"Why are you here?" asked Ranboo, and Tubbo froze in his movement for a moment. Before answering, his eyes shifted around uncertainly for a moment. The antiseptic on his skin burned unpleasantly.
"I was going to build tree houses with my friends...and then I got lost," he grinned sheepishly.
"I was supposed to meet my friends here, but either they didn't show up at all or they disappeared again," he told the smaller one, who listened with interest.
"What are you looking for in such a deserted place?" asked Tubbo. Ranboo faltered at this strange question, but when he looked into the boy's face, he stared at the mansion with furrowed brows.
"I'm looking for ghosts," Ranboo replied, pointing to his camera, which had survived the fall with a few scratches and still hung around his neck.
The boy jumped up, clapping his hands together.
"Ghosts?" he yelled, "You guys are crazy."
Ranboo had to start laughing through the boy's shocked reaction, and he admitted that even though he was weird, he was also kind of cute. In a weird way, of course.
Yes, unfortunately, it will not happen, Ranboo thought, but once again his gaze fell on Tubbo. He was still standing on the stone stairs, his gaze now directed to the stars in the sky and a grin adorned his face. Through the moonlight that illuminated his face, Ranboo recognized slight scratches and dirt marks on the other's face.
"Do you want to go ghost hunting with me?" he blurted out, almost unable to believe it himself. He had just offered an almost complete stranger to enter an abandoned, probably in danger of collapsing building with him. At worst, the boy would try to kill him, he didn't even have the reception to call for help. But now it was already too late. Tubbo's eyes had widened, his lips slightly pursed.
"What?", the boy asked.
"I asked if you wanted to go with me into the abandoned mansion," the taller boy repeated. Tubbo nodded and even though he insisted several times as they climbed the stairs that he didn't like scary things, he followed Ranboo anyway. He realized that the boy still needed some company and it certainly wouldn't hurt Ranboo to make new contacts. Even if the origin was a bit odd.
~~~
All in all, Ranboo could say that this boy was the light in person. To lighten up the scary mood he would think about a story, matching the room they were in. If it got too scary for him, like in the basement, he would carefully hide behind Ranboo, his hand always clinging to the fabric of his hoodie. Ranboo would not have thought that he hardly missed his friends while he explored the house with Tubbo.
"Look!" the boy said, snapping Ranboo out of his thoughts. They were both just inside the penultimate basement room, and Ranboo had been doggedly trying to open one of the locked cabinets while squatting on the dusty floor. Ranboo turned to Tubbo, who was standing in the doorway, a large hunting rifle in his hand, which he carefully dusted with his other hand. With his eyes wide open, Ranboo tried to avoid the possible range of the gun.
"Could you please put that away?" he shrieked. Even though Tubbo didn't understand why Ranboo was so nervous about holding a gun, he put it next to the wooden dresser under which it had been found. Ranboo looked around the room. The room was almost empty except for a few large cabinets, whose drawers and doors were locked, and the gun under the dresser.
"How I would love to know what might be in there," he mumbled, letting his gaze wander along the walls.
Well, anyway, let's move on. Ranboo pushed himself off the floor and turned in a circle in the middle of the room to make sure he hadn't missed anything.
"Let's see what's in the last room," he announced and left the room before Tubbo.
The flashlight in his hands bravely lit the way ahead for the two boys. The door was made of stone, with admirable patterns decorating it from top to bottom. The doorknob was also whimsical, with a red stone glittering in the center of the round knob.
"I have a feeling no one has ever been here before..." whispered Ranboo, briefly doubting whether it had been a good idea to enter this house.
The boy behind him ruffled his brown hair, staring at the door with a completely unreadable expression, and before Ranboo turned the knob, Tubboo's hand laid over his.
"I have a feeling we shouldn't go in there," the voice was so serious and so completely devoid of any kind of joy that Ranboo first doubted whether the person standing next to him was the one who had walked through the house with him just before.
"Why?", Ranboo didn't move, just looked at the boy in confusion. The coolness of the cellar and the eerie atmosphere created by the situation made his skin tingle. Goosebumps spread all over his skin, like little shivers.
"I just," Tubbo paused, took a step back, "Feel free to go in alone, but I'll pass.", and with that, a smile crept back on the boy's face as if nothing had ever happened.
Confused, Ranboo nodded and opened the door, the hairs on the back of his neck stood up. The room in front of him was empty.
With a disappointed huff, he slumped his shoulders and then looked alternately around the room and back at Tubbo, who looked down at the floor, uncomfortably playing with the fabric of the sweater on his sleeves.
This is strange, Ranboo thought, and just as he closed the door, he could have sworn he saw the shadow of a person against the wall. Smaller than Ranboo and with two significant horns.
For a brief moment, he paused in front of the closed door, one hand pressed firmly against it, waiting for the door to open from the inside. The silence and darkness suddenly acted like a heavy sheet on his shoulders, robbing him of his breath. But when nothing happened, Ranboo took a deep breath and exhaled, turning to Tubbo, who looked at the taller one unknowingly, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.
"Is everything all right?" he asked. Ranboo nodded, clasping Tubbo's wrist.
"Let's better get going. I don't like the basement after all.", in brisk steps and Tubbo stumbling behind, they made their way back upstairs.
~~~
The wooden floor of the second floor creaked dangerously under the feet of the two boys. Carefully Ranboo crossed the hallway and entered a big bedroom on the first floor, with each step he paused and tested how much weight he could lay on the floor.
"I hope it doesn't collapse," he said almost to himself. Tubbo, copying each footstep of his newfound friend, made an approving noise.
The two stopped in the middle of the room, the wind howling as it blew past the broken wooden windows. In response, Tubbo wrapped his arms tighter around his torso.
"Are you cold?" asked Ranboo, looking down at the brown-haired man. The latter shook his head stubbornly, and even though it could be seen that he was freezing, Ranboo said nothing more about it. Even if he was cold, Ranboo could not help, because he himself had only a sweater with him, which he wore.
"This looks like a...children's room?" said Ranboo after looking around for a while. There were small scribbles on the walls, the small wooden bed had collapsed and only two legs were left standing, the surfaces dusty. What surprised Ranboo was that this was the only room that was completely devastated. Drawers were pulled out, wood splinters and boards were scattered on the floor as if someone had smashed furniture apart in a rage.
Tubbo remained silent until he suddenly gasped in shock.
"What?" shrieked Ranboo excitedly. But instead of an incredibly creepy and eerie discovery, hanging from the slope of the room's roof was an abandoned bees' nest. At the sight of the nest, Ranboo made a disappointed huff, which caused Tubbo to gasp in shock at the disrespect he showed toward bees.
"How dare you! I love bees and they used to live here," Tubbo continued to talk excitedly about bees and why it was so cool that he had found an abandoned nest. Ranboo listened, even though it was difficult because his attention kept slipping back to his surroundings.
What the hell happened here, he thought. With a queasy gut feeling and a now chipper and happy Tubbo, the boys continued.
It was hard to continue because, in fact, some parts of the upper floor had already collapsed, pieces were missing from the floor and you could look down into the living room.
"That's where I just found the damaged stuffed animal," Tubbo said and looked through the hole in the ground, standing very close to the edge.
"Are you crazy? Don't go that close.", carefully Ranboo grabbed the boy and protectively kept him away from any more holes in the ground.
The wind outside didn't stop pulling at the old house and the longer they stayed here, the more the streamer had the feeling that the wind was threatening to knock the house over. Partly he lived the thrill, the adrenaline rush he felt here but he was also aware that this was not a horror movie or a scary story. This was a real scenario and if anything happened to him, no one would be able to find him any time soon.
Sighing, he glanced at the display of his camera, its screen rushing with a thousand black and white dots.
"Useless thing." he hissed between clenched teeth and let it slip from his hands again. With a flourish, it fell back around his neck, bobbing around to match his movements. At least, he still had Tubbo by his side, and should anything happen here, he at least had to protect him. He had only known the boy for a few hours but he seemed so happy and less lost and scared than he had encountered him at the beginning. Maybe they had both just been waiting for the moment to run around together in an old abandoned house.
Suddenly, the smaller one in front of him stopped abruptly. The wood squeaked under him, as startled as Ranboo who almost ran into him, lost in thought.
"I lied to you." the boy in front of him mumbled.
"Excuse me, what did you say?", Ranboo asked not understanding him by his volume, the boy turned to him. The Brunett looked at the brittle wooden floor, his fingers fiddling as Ranboo in front of him waiting for an answer.
"I lied to you," he repeated louder.
"Oh. What did you lie to me about?" said Ranboo, coming closer. The ground creaked beneath them.
"I don't really have any friends, you know. I was all alone," Tubboo said, looking up at the taller man. Ranboo looked around the room, scratching the back of his neck with one hand, and when his gaze fell on the brown-haired one again, he said:
"Well, not anymore. We're friends, aren't we?" That made Tubbo smile. It was so honest, so radiant. Ranboo felt himself getting addicted to that smile. After a while, the blissful silence of the smiling was disturbed by scratching and crashing downstairs.
"Wanna hunt ghosts now?", Ranboo asked handing a hand in front of the smaller boy. With a bit of worry in his eyes, he put his hand in Ranboo's and nodded.
"Only if you promise to protect me from the ghosts, bossman," he said, while the two of them made their way through the abandoned house. For a long time, life was breathed back into the dark house. So the two boys made their way through the old rooms, Tubbo hiding behind Ranboo at every sound unknown to him, while Ranboo told him again and again that ghosts could not harm him. The bickering was heard in the whole house.
Ranboo just entered the old living room where Tubbo had looked around earlier, but to his surprise, he didn't meet the smaller one.
"What the-" he spun around, "Tubbo? "
Nervousness spread through his body, he walked around the confines of the living room, past an old counter. There was a fireplace with smashed picture frames and in front of it was an old green velvet sofa. The fabric was tattered on one side, probably birds had taken a fancy to it to build their nests. Then suddenly there was a thump behind the couch.
Pointing the flashlight in the direction of the rumble, he saw tubbo, covered by a white dusty sheet. With a high-pitched howl and arms outstretched, he staggered toward Ranboo. The boy with the flashlight blinked in surprise, thinking of a good reaction. Then, it came to him. With a grin on his face, he turned off the flashlight, which caused tubbo to shriek.
"Why did you put the light out?", the smaller asked getting no response. Ranboo took a wide berth around Tubbo and slipped through the room as quietly as possible. The brown-haired boy flinched at every creak of the floor, trying to follow the sounds, and just before he tore the sheet off his head again, two arms were wrapped around his body.
Ranboo made a triumphant noise while lifting Tubbo into the air. Tubbo was not very happy. Still, under the sheet, he screamed and flailed his legs.
"Let go of me! Ranboo! Please!" he yelled and was let go a moment later. Undaunted, he took off the sheet and looked at Ranboo with a pout. The taller one was still laughing at Tubbo's reaction and only stopped when he was kicked lightly on the splinted leg.
"Don't do that again or I'll wipe out your entire bloodline, understand?" hissed Tubbo and Ranboo nodded, still wiping away tears from laughing.
~~~
Again, he had lost Tubbo in this big house. Ranboo had been engrossed in an old bookshelf that contained many bizarre books. Armed with an old ballpoint pen and a notepad he had stolen from one of the study rooms upstairs, he noted the titles of the books.
"Eternal Life...Introduction to Necromancy...," Ranboo paused, chuckling to himself, " What a stupid collection."
When he had made most of his notes, he did not notice that Tubbo had noiselessly left to wander through the corridors. They had gone back to the ground floor to prepare to leave the house, but for some reason, Tubbo knew he would not leave this house ever again. The laughter from the basement only confirmed this statement. His footsteps, which almost silently brushed the floor, came closer and closer to the entrance to the cellar. The laughter also grew louder and the memories it evoked. As if on command, his hand slid to the cold doorknob, pausing there, trembling, not daring to open the door.
"I don't want to. I-" a warm hand on his shoulder snapped him out of his thoughts.
Tubbo whirled around only to look at Ranboo's worried eyes.
"Is everything all right? You were suddenly gone and didn't respond to my shouts at all?" the taller one asked him, getting only a puzzled look from the other in response. Tubbo was shocked. That voice and everything else that wanted to take him to the basement before abruptly stopped. And all he had needed was Ranboo's hand on his shoulder. Tubbo's gaze softened when he realized that this wasn't just Ranboo.
This was his friend. Flooded with relief, he hugged the taller boy and before he knew it, he began to cry. Irritated at first, Ranboo stiffened, but at the same time sank to his knees with the crying boy so that he could claw into his sweater while crying. Ranboo returned the hug, holding Tubbo as long as he needed.
Also exhausted from the day, he leaned against the wall with him, looking at the heavy cellar door that was only a few steps away. While he wondered what had upset Tubbo so much, he also wondered why his friends had abandoned him so quickly. He didn't even notice how his eyes fell closed and he sank into a dreamless sleep next to the boy in the green sweater. Tubbo sniffled a few more times until he fell asleep too, exhausted from crying and lulled by the warmth of his friend
~~~
The chirping of birds echoed through the air. The pleasant smell of wet earth and a distant cellar smell awakened Ranboo. A rattling and crashing near him made him fully realize where he was. When he opened his eyes, the sun was beginning to rise slowly, but that wasn't his biggest problem, because Tubbo, who had fallen asleep beside him earlier, was gone.
Immediately Ranboo was up, his back had stiffened during the night and cracked uncomfortably when he stood up. Desperately he looked around the hallway and when he spotted the open cellar door, he ran down the stairs without hesitation.
Tubbo did not respond to his shouts that echoed throughout the basement. At the end of the hallway, the last cellar door stood ajar. Light shone through the door into the dark hallway. The streamer's whole body stiffened. The image of the silhouette with the goat man had imprinted itself in his mind.
Even though everything in his body refused, he ran down the corridor, worried about Tubbo, and rushed into the empty room. In fact, there he met his friend, whose hands he held protectively in front of his body. He hid from Ranboo, desperately trying to avoid him and hide his face with his hood.
The gentle rays of the sun in the room made it bright, but Tubbo avoided the sun, hiding in the darkest shadows. Ranboo did not understand what Tubbo was trying to hide from him, and crouching down, he slowly approached him. He now stood between the shadows and the sun's rays, unsure whether to approach him further or linger in the sun. His eyes widened as he recognized the condition of his friend now at a closer distance and through the increasing brightness.
"You-", Ranboo stuttered, holding his hand in front of his mouth. Not from disgust but shock, because Tubbo in front of him looked just like a corpse. He had grayish skin, which in the meantime had been eaten away by plants that had formed on him and fed on the minerals of his body. They snaked elegantly along his arms, small sprouts had formed among his hair between small goat-like horns. His eyes were no longer as shiny as they had been the night before. They were dull and pale as if Tubbo were looking at him through a dirty window.
"Yes, I know. I'm dead," he smiled tiredly, leaning against the wall. Only when he had said it, small tears formed in Ranboo's eyes.
"How...", Ranboo asked and Tubbo laughed awkwardly. Carefully, he approached Ranboo, avoiding any contact with the sunlight.
"I just remembered it earlier," he said, looking up at the bare ceiling, "My father and I used to live here."
He reached out his hand to Ranboo, who immediately returned the movement, but instead of Ranboo's hand in his, Tubboo's hand slipped through his body. The smaller boy made a surprised noise in response, frowning, "This is not good,"
"What?", Ranboo's voice turned panicky. This was not at all how he had imagined Halloween to be.
"I'm apparently disappearing, which has never actually happened before.", Tubbo looked down at his body, which was beginning to glisten in the shadows.
"But why?", Ranboo was almost hysterical. He didn't want to lose Tubbo as quickly as he had met him.
"I didn't lie to you when I said I didn't have any friends, you know that right?", the sudden question irritated Ranboo for a moment
"Of course I know that but we're friends now, remember?", Ranboo stood in the shadows to Tubbo, who kept distancing himself from him. Ranboo tried to grab the last shreds of Tubbo that would remain to him.
But Tubbo didn't even try to stay with him, he just moved further away from him, while his body lost color and transparency. The brown hair shimmered as tubbo raised his head to look directly at Ranboo. Tears shone in his emotionless eyes and smiled with cracked lips. Despite the colorlessness that immediately spread throughout his body and the brown hair that immediately turned gray, Tubbo shone like the night before. When Ranboo still thought he had made friends with a stranger who lived in the forest.
"Maybe that's the problem," Tubbo said, and a tremor went through his body. With his strength dwindling, he could no longer keep on his feet, his hands have been out of sight for some time. Silently he fell to his knees and Ranboo rushed after him, trying to reach for him with his hands. But every attempt failed. He stopped only when Tubbo laughingly shook his head. But he did not feel like laughing. Feeling like he was going to throw up, he wrapped his arms around his own body and fixed his gaze on the dark stone floor of the basement.
"Ranboo please look at me," Tubbo pleaded. Ranboo did not respond.
"Look at me.", again he did not respond.
"I don't have much time left. Please!", this time it worked. With tears running down his dirty cheeks, he looked at his dead friend.
"I did find ghosts," Ranboo said after some time of silence.
"Actually, only one," Tubbo replied, and at first Ranboo wanted to agree, but once again the silhouette of the goat-man popped up in front of his eyes. So he didn't answer it, just got a weak smile out of himself, which the ghost in front of him returned.
"Thank you.", the ghost finally said and in a last friendly gesture, he spread his arms, which had already almost completely dissolved. Immediately Ranboo tumbled forward, trying his best to hug the transparent ghost. The moment his friend's ghost disappeared completely in his arms, tears made their way to the floor.
"I'm going to miss you, Tubbo," Ranboo gasped, feeling like he couldn't breathe, so badly did his throat hurt.
~~~
Years later, a tall figure wandered through the woods. A small, furry companion at his side, with an old bee plush sewn together. He sniffed every tree they encountered.
"Please, calm down, Michael," Ranboo said to his dog as he began to pull on the leash. The little dog seemed way too excited about his daily walk.
In a strange way, every time Ranboo walked through the forest, even if it was a completely new place, he never felt alone. The tall trees, the wind rustling through his hair felt like an old friend accompanying him and walking by his side, the sounds of the birds, trees, and wind represented laughter and bickering. Every turn, fallen tree, or large rock that lay in the way reflected his friend's old and wild character.