If You Tell Me To Stay

Chapter 51

"Stupid," Sanem muttered to herself and then grunted in a failed attempt to sit up. "Stupid, stupid, stupid."

She finally managed to get into a sitting position and gave herself a once-over, sighing in relief when she found that no bones were sticking out. She had sustained enough injuries throughout her childhood to know that the pain in her ankle, although excruciating, meant it was not broken. She pulled her leg out from under the ATV that had tumbled down the rather steep hillside with her, and as she tugged it free she thanked whatever angel was watching over her that her leg was still attached. Amputating a limb, although inevitably making Can feel guilty, was not worth permanent disfigurement. She stood and wobbled a bit as she tried not to put too much weight onto her bad ankle. All things considered, she knew she was fortunate. Stupid, but fortunate. She also knew it was a long shot but she tried and failed to flip the ATV right side up. It didn't even budge an inch.

I guess I'm on foot from here.

She looked up to the cliff again, and quickly ruled out being able to climb back up there given her injury. She let out an exasperated huff, her breath coming out in a thick puff of steam. She would simply hobble her way along the cliff face until it leveled out and she could find her tire tracks to retrace her steps. She knew she had to go back the way she came, as much as that annoyed her. The resort, in all truth, probably was closer than the cabin by this point. But she knew that on the way back, she would find Can. There was no doubt in her mind that he would have followed her. And with the sun setting, the temperature dropping, and her ankle throbbing, Can was her best chance of not being stuck out here all night. Might as well get it over with and confront his smug face. The thought of a warm fire was almost enough to dispel the unpleasant feeling of having to endure a holier-than-thou lecture from Can over her failed escape attempt.

She was breathing hard, as not only was the terrain difficult to walk on, but the elevation was not helping her stamina. She huffed and puffed, putting one foot in front of the other. Despite the cold, she was sweating profusely from the exertion.

Just keep moving.

She repeated that mantra to herself over and over, until she tripped over a rock and fell forward. Fortunately, her reflexes took over and she was able to put her hands out to break her fall and not smack her face into the frozen ground. She stood, swiped her palms together to shake loose any pine needles that had become stuck in her gloves, and looked around. She still hadn't found the tire tracks. She had been walking for a while, following along the bottom of the cliff, but the land never seemed to level off enough for her to clamber up. Of course, it seemed obvious now that the cliff face would not follow the path she had taken on the ATV and it had probably veered in the wrong direction, putting her even further away from the cabin.

Admittedly, she had been more preoccupied with just getting one foot in front of the other to really pay attention to the direction she was walking. She looked behind her at her footprints in the thin layer of snow that were becoming fainter as the flurries kept falling, covering up her trail back to the ATV.

In any other instance, she would panic over this. She was probably going the wrong way, and the way back was quickly becoming an impractical option. She was lost. But instead of panicking, she just felt even more frustrated.

"Screw it," she muttered to herself and then yelled at the top of her lungs, "Can?!" She waited a moment and then cried out even louder, taking a deep breath first to give her more volume to hopefully travel up and over the cliff to Can's ear, "CAN?!"

Still nothing.

If he had been following her tire tracks, and she was sure he had, he would have come across the crash site and hopefully would have seen her footprints leading back this way. She turned and faced the way she had just come from, "CAN!!!!"