Lycoris Radiata

Three | 𝓣𝓱𝓻𝓮𝓮

Drenched in sweat, she looked far worse than she had appeared before her mother, forcing her to shower. She was wet, smelly, and so sore from lugging this illegally heavy bassinet and the child inside was happily babbling away about their night as she suffered with the task of getting them around some people. At this point a voice in the back of her head was demanding she give up, drop the baby and then her body onto the ground for a well deserve nap, but the rational part of her head didn't want anything like that to happen. They could get eaten; she was surprised she hadn't stumbled upon a wild animal yet, but she was hesitant to push her luck by daring to take a break. There was after all something in these woods that keep bugs and other animals alike quieter than a mouse. She heard nothing, felt nothing, and felt like whatever she was doing was just a figment of her imagination for she had not once stumbled across a cricket or a grasshopper that would meet an unfortunate demise underneath her muddy boot. Nothing, and that could only mean one thing...something was out here, and its presence was well known to the point of animals knowing to avoid the area.

She tugged harder, pulling the bassinet with all her strengths as she gasped with every breath and blinked away droplets of sweat that rolled in waves down her forehead. For the baby, this was for the baby. If not for her than for them, she might be ready to throw her life away, but this child wasn't old enough to decide that for themselves yet. They weren't done, they were still incredibly happy and curious about life even when they were removed from a comforting home and into the scary woods to die alone. For the baby! Every breath she took was worth it, every mouthful of air was well received with desperation, and ever coo from that innocent child lit a stronger fire within her to keep going and get them out this horrid mess.

"Going to get you checked out! I promised it didn't I?" A concerned smile was present on her face as she glanced at the smiling child, giggles responding to her words as if to reassure her that they believed she was going to do what was best for them. They trusted her to do what she promised, or at least that's what she hoped she was getting from the child. She was fine with thinking of whatever would help her ego, but she just wanted to hear something positive. The giggles did it for her, but words would be nice sometimes.

"Almost there." A lie she tells herself with every ten tugs of the basket. Every time she reminds herself it gives her motivation to keep going, but it was slowly dying out as it took longer and longer to see some type of manufactured light. She was getting tired. Very tired. "Almost!" A wheeze later and she fell, the basket dropping onto the ground and her face planting itself into the wet moss of a tree right below her. It felt nice, real cool against her skin, and she welcomed it with open arms despite how disgusting it was to just bury her face in some random patches of moss on the forest floor. "I need a break." A nap, a good rest, something that wasn't dragging that didn't involve dragging that basket around. They were in the middle of nowhere and if she had to keep carrying that thing, she was scared that there was no way that they would make it out of these woods alive.

"I'm sorry." She grimaced, feeling pathetic even trying to talk with the young child. There was no possibility of her getting them both out of here and the thing that she was trying to avoid was looking so much more appealing the more she laid on the ground and thought hard on if she wanted to go through with this or not. She could take the child out of the basket. Take just the child and leave everything here to rot. It didn't matter, for she was positive that the child would be supplied to the hospital, but these were the last things they had left of their horrible parents. It didn't sit right with her leaving this amazingly woven basket they were in behind either, none of it did. "What are we to do." She was exhausted though, and her little drink was starting to wear off and make her a bit sleepy. She was on a time limit and falling asleep in these conditions wasn't going to end well for her.