“Michelle,” I mumbled as I tried to breathe properly.
She was so strong for a girl her age and stature
I needed to get words out of her and let her know I wasn't going to harm her. I needed to know why and how she was here. Maybe somehow, it will help.
“Michelle, I'm Larry.”
“You're gonna hurt me.” Her voice was so soft, I wouldn't believe, if it hadn't already happened, of course, that she was the one pinning me down, completely rendering me helpless. There was a hint of coldness to it though. But there was also a hint of fear, like she was traumatised.
“I won't, I promise. I'm…I was wandering through the woods and I got lost.” I decided to twist it a little. I just needed to make her feel less tense. “I'm a little scared too. And seeing someone else here saying they're also lost, it strangely makes me feel better. Maybe we can find our way out together?”
I held my breath, waiting.
Please say something. Please say something.
She loosened her grip on my arm and I let out the breath I was holding.
“I don't wanna find my way out.” She paused for a moment, as if thinking of letting me go and then she did eventually.
I sighed and got up, dusting myself while she stood a good distance away from me.
My forehead creased as I stared at her, suddenly remembering the statement she made.
“What do you mean you don't want to find your way out? Don't you want to go home?”
At the mention of the last word, she flinched.
"Do you want to stay here?”
She shook her head.
I huffed and ran my hands through my hair. I was getting nowhere.
“You don't want to leave and you don't want to stay?”
“I just want to find them…” she whispered so quietly, I almost didn't catch it.
I took a step closer. “Find who?”
Her eyes peered into mine in the darkness. She stood there for some time and I waited patiently, also bracing myself in case she was going to attack again.
Surprisingly, the hardness in her eyes melted away. Then she crouched and sat down on the floor close to the tree stump, close to my backpack and crossed her legs.
She stared at me and it was after a few seconds that I realised she wanted me to sit down as well.
I walked over and sat on the tree stump carefully. I sat in such a way that she was at my feet, but at the right side. It was quiet for a while, until she spoke.
“My parents.”
“Oh,” was all I could say. But then I decided she wasn't one to speak more except when prompted to do so. “Do you want to tell me what happened?”
She let out a sigh. “It was a year ago, I think. One day, when I got back from school, I didn't find any of them at home. I tried calling them but no one answered. And I tried calling my relatives but they were just saying stupid things and then I started telling them that we should go and search for them, they made them take me away...”
She was sobbing now. I tried to reach out a comforting hand but I just kept my hand to myself because I didn't want it gone.
“I'm sorry.”
YOU ARE READING
Fall in San Diego
Adventure[Editing] Haunted by the death of his family that he caused, Larry cuts himself off from the world and relapses into depression, subconsciously craving anything that would make him happy. He finds himself lost in the woods after his swirling emotion...
