Peter's eyes flew open. He shot up in his bed, turning his head to look at his clock. 8:30 AM. Today was the day. His heart pounding with excitement, he jumped out of bed and quickly got dressed. He'd been looking forward to this day all week, and now the time had finally come: he was going hiking.
....Okay, it may not seem THAT exciting, but he'd been looking forward to this for quite a while now. His job had been super busy lately, not to mention boring as hell, and it felt like forever since he had been able to do anything like this by himself. Except he wasn't by himself... and that was the best part. This wasn't just a hike; it was a date. A date with a girl he'd just met not too long ago. He still chuckled, remembering just how the two of them had met. It'd certainly been an odd coincidence, that's for sure.
It'd been a pretty normal evening. He'd arrived home, eaten dinner, and was just about to go out for an evening walk. He'd been doing that a lot lately, since it was a great way for him to wind down after a long day at work. The fresh air, the calm atmosphere, the exercise... everything about it was perfect for him, especially given how much he enjoyed spending time outside. There was just something so liberating about getting away from everything, just walking and spending time by himself.
That walk wasn't supposed to be any different... but he had only gotten a few feet away from his house before he noticed something... some kind or rustling coming from the woods lining the road. It sounded like something big... was it a bear? He didn't think there were any bears living nearby, but he kept his guard up, just in case. But it wasn't a bear... instead, a young, thin woman with dark hair came stumbling through the woods, nearly falling over when she reached the sidewalk.
Noticing that she was breathing heavily, Peter bent down to help her. "You okay?" he asked, noticing a deep cut on her leg. "What happened? Why were you in there?"
"I'm... fine," she said between breaths. "I'm just... really tired."
"Here, I'll help you up," said Peter, grabbing her hand. He quickly helped her to her feet, noticing that she was still shaky. "Hey, are you sure you're okay? Do you need me to walk with you?"
The girl shook her head, pulling her hand away. "I'll... I'll be fine," she said. "Oh, my name's Kate, by the way."
"Peter," said Peter. He looked out into the woods. "So... what were you doing in there, anyway?"
"I was looking for something," said Kate. "I'd... rather not talk about what it was, though." She shook her head. "Anyway, I should probably get back to my house. It's not too far from here."
"Hey, do you want me to come with you?" asked Peter. "You know, just to make sure you can still get there by yourself. You do look pretty exhausted."
"Well..." Kate thought for a moment, then nodded. "Okay. I could probably use some company, anyway."
All that had happened almost a month ago. Since then, Peter and Kate had paid each other more visits, and their friendship had developed into a bit of a romantic relationship. Peter would always tell Kate about his life... about how boring and difficult his job was, how he lived for the evening walks he always took, how he loved being outdoors because of how calm it made him feel. And Kate would always smile and agree, saying that she felt the same way. But whenever Peter asked about Kate's life, she always seemed to get rather... uncomfortable. She clearly didn't like talking about herself or her past, since she would constantly dodge his questions and replace them with her own questions about him. But their bond remained strong. And now that they were going to be spending the entire day together, maybe Peter could finally get her to open up about herself. After all, she couldn't possibly spend the entire day dodging his questions, right?
