Ultimate Note: You Are Worthy

Desperation

Wu Xie

Before midday, the weather had worsen and a constant rain begin to fall, as the sky darken. Wu Xie had called Pangzi, but perhaps the reception wasn't that good in the bad weather, because he had no response, so he waited for the rain to stop and the sky to clear up again, but he had no luck.

The rain keep falling way past late afternoon, making him unable to reach Xiaoge and Pangzi under the stormy weather, then it pretty much continue to drizzle all the way to nightfall, and he still could not reach them. Of course, that only make him worry, and he keeps pacing right and left inside his room, as anxiety filled his heart.

What if something happen? What if the lake had overflowed? What about the mudslides that Uncle Gui keep mentioning? What if they were in troubles and that was the reason he could not reach them?

"Ah, damn it! Why things like this keep happening to me?" Wu Xie asked himself and paced some more.

He just needed for the rain to stop for long enough for him to go back. He didn't care if they will not agree to have him back, because sick or not, he was not going to stay there as if nothing happen. He needed to make sure they were fine, and there was no power in the world that will stop him from for going there again.

Unable to rest well during the night, as his worry increased ten times, Wu Xie was up quite early in the morning. By then, the rain had stopped completely, although it was still cloudy, as soon as Mr. Gui showed up from his room, he talks to him to see if they can go back earlier than anticipated as he had lost complete contact to them since yesterday, but to his surprise, Mr. Gui had been reluctant to go into the mountains when it rained.

The old man had said that when it rains so copiously like yesterday, there were high chances of mudslides and that it was too risky to go up in a bad weather. The mountains around the town still had dense clouds surrounding them, and it was possible that heavy rain was still falling there, as the nearby river had swollen to double its normal size, although it was still safe to cross it.

Of course, the refusal only make him more desperate, because now he was sure that something bad had happened to Xiaoge and Pangzi. There was simply nothing else that could make them lose contact for an entire day, more so when Xiaoge will know that he will worry if no one pick up the phone and the proof of that was the last time they talked, he actually did pick up Pangzi's phone himself, which he had left it inside his tent to go fishing, when Xiaoge will not answer it for anyone else.

In his desperation, he tries asking the other hunters from the town, but no matter how much he offers or begged, no one was willing to go into the mountains while it was raining. He had no idea of how frequent a mudslide could happen in such short amount of time, but yesterday raining was really heavy and must hunters feared it could have caused some lose parts of the forest flora to give in and block the road.

So, with so many rejections, his patience was running low, while his fear grew more and more. He was willing to go alone into the mountains if he had too, but he could not remember all the way there, because not everything was easily distinguish like a well travel road, most of the time they walked between trees with just a small walking trail that could be easily miss if not careful paying attention. He could get lost there and be of no help when they need it the most... but if there was really no other way, he was willing to take the risk, whatever it takes for him to reach Xiaoge and Pangzi and keep his sanity intact.

He tried again and again, but with no better luck, so at the end, he packed what was more needed into  his bag and decided to give it a shot. He had been in worse situations before and live to tell the tale, and he believed that somehow, he will find Xiaoge sooner or later. Their fate worked for them that way, separating them for a while, then bringing them back together out of the sudden. It had gone like that for years, and he prayed for it to not change when he need it the most.