What's Out There?

Chapter 17

"So, I believe you promised to tell me how you're alive. Right?" I ask as I smile.
We had walked throughout the entire setup, and we were now heading to what he called "a secret spot" that only he knew about. He had shown me where my house was, the school, and everything else that I needed to know.
"I'll tell you at the spot. We are almost there, and we have to be back before sundown or your dad will kill me," he said emphasizing the word kill.
"No, he wouldn't," I said confidently, but when I looked at his face, which was blank except for his eyes, which showed all of his nerves with just one glance, I wasn't so sure.
We walked the rest of the way in silence until he announced, "We're here."
"What's here?" I ask. All there was was a few trees scattered in an empty field.
He started to walk to one of the trees, the biggest of them.
"You coming or what?" he asked as he started to climb the tree, but I hadn't moved.
"Yeah," I said with a smile as I started for the tree. Once he got on a sturdy branch he tried to give me a hand, but almost fell off. "It's okay. I've climbed so many trees, I can handle it without help," I say as I quickly climbed to the top, while Clay was only one or two branches below. I could tell he was struggling to impress me.
Every time when we were younger and he would start something, he would finish it. I didn't think about it until now, but I think he might have been trying to impress me, at least once he knew what and how to do things.
"Need some help," I giggled and then handed him my hand which he took. Before I knew it, we were up in the tree together.
"So," I started.
"Yeah," he said, "About the night I went missing, I'm sorry I left without an explanation."
"It's okay," I said. I remembered that night like it was yesterday, only it was about ten years ago.

{~}

It was a cold night, and Clay, Patricia, Luke, and I were all camping out in Patricia's backyard. I was having trouble sleeping because we were all just sleeping on the ground in sleeping bags, and I was definitely not used to that. But I still tried to go to sleep. I was almost asleep when I heard the sound of a sleeping bag zipper being opened. By the time I sat up and Clay was running off, following a man towards the woods.
"Clay," I said and he stopped cold.
"Sarah, you don't understand," Clay said.
"Why are you going to the woods? We are not supposed to go in the woods," I replied.
He looked sad, like he didn't want to. "I'm sorry, but I have to. I won't be alone; my dad is going with me."
"Please don't go," I said. I was crying now, and the tears were clouding my vision.
"I'm so sorry, Sarah. I have to," the moment after he said that he ran into the woods, which we were forbidden.
I wanted to go after him, to go with him, but I heard a voice that stopped me. It came from the village behind me.
"Sarah, don't go," It was my dad.
"He left," I said barely over a whisper, but Dad heard me. I crumpled to the ground as the tears overwhelmed me. And my father ran over to me, picked me up, and carried me back to my sleeping bag. But I was out before he got there.

{~}

"Sarah, are you okay? You're looking kinda pale," Clay asked with worry in his eyes. He was right. Thinking about that night always made me lightheaded, and I guess being injured didn't help.
"I don't feel that great," I try to say, but it came out so quiet I think all he heard was mumbles. A moment after my vision became fuzzy and warped with my dizziness. I tried to stay sitting up straight, but my body started to fall off of the branch we were sitting on. Right before I started to slip off all the way, Clay grabbed my back.
"Woah, you're not okay. Let's bring you back," Clay said. He grabs me around the waist and tries to climb down.
"You can't carry me down," I say, "I can climb down quickly."
I go down to the branch lower than him, but I got down on the wrong side, the side with no low branches. "I have to jump," I say and then quickly jump before he can say anything.
"Don't jump from that high, Sarah," Clay said. I should have listened, but it was to late. I tried to land on my feet, and I landed on my right foot, the injured one. I screamed on the impact. After my foot hit the ground, I crumpled up in a ball, like a piece of paper. My vision started clouding with black spots, and soon I would be out cold.
But I hung on long enough to hear Clay say,"Sarah, are you okay? Oh my god, Sarah; why did you do this? Why didn't you listen?"
I tried to reply, but my body was already asleep. Right before I passed out, I felt his arms slide underneath me to pick me up like a baby, just like my dad had that night.