A Wander In The Woods (Skire Monthly Event)

From morning until the afternoon, Shelled Autos was packed with people needing repairs and adding modifications to their vehicles; most being returning customers. The shop had everything to make customers cozy, satisfied, and coming back, that was all thanks to the owners, Vette and Baker, who worked hard to make their passions into a dream job.

On that day, they made plans to go to a motorcycle rally which meant closing the shop around 2PM; not a big deal since Saturdays were usually shorter for them. There was one last customer Vette lent her service to. A loose muffler on an older sedan, but it wasn't an issue she couldn't fix within an hour and she went to the lounge area with keys in her hand.

Vette was a Nautipod with a slender humanoid form, orange armor that shined like metal, circular markings that can glow, thick tentacles that resembled tubes, and fins on both sides of her head that acted like animal ears. Though, she only stood at five feet tall, a little detail that made her look easy to boss around.

With a big friendly grin on her face, Vette approached the lone man watching TV to hand him the keys to his sedan.

"Sir, your car is ready!"

She chirped.

Her last customer, a man who was a foot taller than her, looked at the keys in her hand then his gaze went to her eyes. He didn't take the keys nor got out of his keys when he began asking her something,

"Did you check the tires?"

"Uh...Not yet, but I'll get to it!"

Vette replied without losing her upbeat tone. She went back to the garage despite the tires not being a concern until now. Another twenty minutes went by, yet the man still wasn't happy when she tried to give him the keys.

"Did you change the oil?"

It was clear he was one of those customers who would make her go through so many hurdles by giving her tasks they could do at home. Unfortunately, Vette stood by the auto shop's motto; "we're not satisfied until you are" and never denied customers her help. She would keep doing things if nobody stopped her.

Thankfully, she did have someone just for that. Baker was another Nautipod with a build and size that intimidated many people the moment he came into view and used that appearance to make unreasonable customers settle for what they got. He got annoyed with the requests from the one customer

"Sir, she did everything you asked for since 11AM. It's a little passed 2PM and we need to close for the day, I'm gonna have to ask you to leave,"

Baker spoke in a calm voice, he didn't need to make the man flee for the moment, yet still got a look of disappointment from the person. Baker didn't let that faze him and continued to convince the customer they had to close the shop early which got him nowhere.

"I didn't come here to be thrown out when my car needs servicing. It has to be reliable for my trip tomorrow, so go back there and-"

Baker suddenly slammed both hands down on the coffee table with a loud snort, the loud noise spooked the customer enough to silence him, then the glare ensured he kept his mouth shut.

"My wife and I are not your servants, Sir. If you haven't put it on our form, that's on you when it breaks down."

That was enough to get the customer out of the shop faster than Baker could straighten his back. They could hear the car drive off, making Vette sigh. While she wanted to please the customer, she was happy her husband came to the rescue.

"Honey...When are you going to learn to say "no"?" Baker asked as he straightened his leather jacket.

"You can't keep letting people walk over you like this, especially when they don't follow instructions."

"I know, I know…" She sheepishly replied as she began to close up shop. "But denying someone help feels wrong to me; what if I could've brightened their day or prevented a horrible accident?"

He shook his head from hearing her reasoning. Even though he loved her to death, that aspect of her was worrisome.

"Pumpkin, there will be situations where a line needs to be drawn. You wouldn't aid a criminal in getting way, or provide a chance for a monster to eat someone. Not everyone needs assistance because you won't know who'll be that criminal or monster."

Vette thought about that during the closing; he had a good point, although it would be hard to break such a habit, especially when she had it for so long.

She turned off most of the equipment and the lights, Baker cleaned up and organized things. Lastly, they took out their motorcycle and locked the garages and doors, almost riding off without the things they needed for the rally. Their club told them to pack up as if they were going on a camping trip, which was a weird thing to do, but they didn't question it. It was a good thing Vette paid attention because she noticed the lack of bags right away, and opened the garage before she got on their vehicle.

"You forgot the camping stuff, Donut," She stated with a giggle, hurrying in to grab their stuff. He sighed and facepalmed; how could he be that forgetful? He knew there were a lot of things on his mind, but it shouldn't be affecting his memory, and he was glad when Vette came back so they could get on with the trip. They really needed to unwind after the busy week. It took an hour to reach the group of bikers, and another two hours to go to several cabins in a forest. It wasn't their usual spot, and the couple were informed the club rented cabins since they wanted to try new things. Now it made sense why they were told to bring camping gear. Vette didn't think anything of it. Baker, on the other hand, didn't like that it was in such an isolated area. Sure, they could be as loud as they want and party like there was no tomorrow, yet something felt weird about the forest.

He stayed seated on his steel horse to contemplate as the orange Nautipod hopped off to greet everyone and go to one of the cabins.

"C'mon, Donut!" She exclaimed from the porch, waving both hands while bouncing like a kid in a toy shop.

"Let's check it out and get comfortable!"

Baker groaned, hesitant of going through with it despite his wife's enthusiasm. Didn't she think the area had a strange vibe? Nonetheless, he had to endure it. He got off their motorcycle to enter the cabin with her. The interior was nicely decorated to give it that warm and cozy feeling. There was a fireplace, a long couch facing it, a coffee table in between, some paintings on the wall, a kitchen, and an upstairs with a single large bedroom. Vette loved the aesthetic, going to every part of the cabin to look at the neat decorations before laying on the couch with the biggest smile she had that day.

"Enjoying the rally already?" Baker asked. He couldn't help but faintly smile at his wife's carefree and bubbly attitude.

"I always do! I get to spend time with you as we do the things we love, and the fact it's in a forest means we can do soooo much more without disturbing anyone!"

"Well, don't get too comfortable, Pumpkin. We're not going to be here for the night," He replied as he unpacked their things, including two containers holding meals he prepared for them earlier.

"Awww. Why not?" Vette whined, now slumping over on the back of the couch to watch him. "We don't get to be out in nature like this very often and this place is gorgeous! Imagine what it would look like at night.... We can stay long enough to see that, can't we?"

"I bet it would be beautiful, but no. This place seems off, so it's better if we left early this time."

She pouted, but couldn't blame him for being so guarded while in an unfamiliar area, so she nodded and silently observed him unpacking.

After setting stuff up and eating their meal, they went out of the cabin to join the other bikers to party, socialize, and enjoy whatever they could in the forest until 8PM. The fun they had did wear them out, though, so the couple agreed to rest a little before leaving at 10PM; that way, they would get enough rest to ride back home.

The two returned to their cabin, then laid on the bed with Baker holding Vette tightly to him, and she hugged him as best as she could. She easily drifted off to sleep, yet Baker stayed awake. He couldn't shake off a sudden creepy feeling as his eyes darted around to make sure things were normal. Thirty minutes later when he finally closed his eyes, he felt Vette tap on his chest plating, prompting him to open his eyes.

"Yes?" He asked softly, assuming she wanted more water. Instead of requesting to be released, she said a sentence he didn't like the sound of.

"I heard a voice...and there's a light coming from the forest."