Mysterious adventures in the shadow of trees

Chapter 7: Missed Call

-Sofia-

I felt like my leg wasn't completely stuck on the floor.

I moved it slightly.

There it is. Something rectangular...roughly the same size as my hand. Could it be?

When I slowly used my minimal arm strength to push myself off the ground, twigs snapped in half beneath me, almost hitting me in the eye.

"You guys should be thankful I'm not wearing any eyeliner right now because otherwise, you guys can see the tears and pain I'm in," I spoke foolishly to the twigs who couldn't hear me.

Know-it-all: Alright, enough talking. What do you want to do: explore this area or get home as quickly as possible? I'm confused.

Me: Well, now that you've mentioned those two choices, I'm confused, too.

To be frank, I wanted to do both.

The other part of my right leg yelped, signaling my mind to jump out of its train of thought. I reached my right hand to the area, and my eyes began to feel as if they were on fire. My vision became blurry.

Please, I need my eyes!

I reluctantly let my eyelids fall like the water in the Niagara Falls, hoping the end result would be as if nothing ever happened.

I breathed in. I breathed out. In. Out.

Please. I know I've ruined my eyes by going on TikTok all day, every day, but this can't be the end! And why now? I'm alone! No one can help me!

I breathed in and out again.

Mom. Dad. If this is what you wanted for me, you win.

I opened my eyes as slowly as if I wanted to keep sleeping in the long, dark night even with the glaring sun seeping in through the curtains I forgot to close all the way. My blurriness turned into clearness, calming down my nerves. I was okay.

I wished I had recorded this moment.

Continuing on what I was planning on doing — before I was rudely interrupted — I reached into my right pocket on the side of my pants, where the pain thrived, and I felt a hard, rectangular item.

It was my phone.

It was my phone!

I didn't know what time it was, but it wasn't too cold at night. It was still pitch black.

Know-it-all: Check your phone for the time.

I forgot I had my phone with me the entire time, which was a first. I turned it on to see it was three in the morning!

Oh no, is this place haunted?

I kept on distracting myself! How could I ever move forward in a state like this?

I scrolled through my notification center and saw twenty missed calls from my mom and fifteen from my dad!

Huh, odd. Thomas and Scarlett didn't call. Not even once. Do they really not care about me? I thought we all had decent relationships with each other.

I got sidetracked again.

How can I stop this?

I sometimes wished I could have a "do not disturb" button for my mind to silence it, but just like how I couldn't control much of which train to which destination my thoughts would go or how I couldn't control if I was getting side-tracked again, I probably wouldn't know the button existed — if it did — when I needed to turn it on or off depending on the situation.

I knew I needed help, but I didn't have anyone by my side.

As if it wasn't obvious already, I tried to call my mom, but it went straight to voicemail.

I'm sure she didn't block me.

I tried calling my dad.

Same response.

If they called me so many times over the span of the last day, it wouldn't make sense for them to block me. Both of them.

I didn't call my siblings because they never called me.

If they didn't put forth an effort to find me, why should I feel obliged to do it?

I shut off my phone and sighed.

I wanted to call my family, but I couldn't.

DING

My eyes brightened.

I swiftly grabbed my phone from the tree trunk I rested it on and turned it on. I received a text message from my mom: Are you safe? Where are you?

I began typing: I'm in the woods we were at for the family picnic. I came here for dad's wallet. I'm lost.

I pressed send.

I received another notification: Message failed to send.