We trundled through the woods for miles. I was starting to get worried. We were following the white, light rope trail. They got even more as we went on like several were tied from trunk to trunk, some high, some low. We had to use our hands to break through them as we walked on.
“Where and what the fuck does this even lead to?” Tanya asked. She was walking behind me. We had all been silent for a long time.
Peter, who was in front of me, shook his head and his hair shook slightly as he did.
“No fucking idea,” he murmured. “I don't think we have come to this part of the forest before.”
“Me neither,” Michelle replied. “And that's saying something.”
I chuckled.
“What do you think? Would the spider web thingy eventually stop and lead us to the next clue?”
“We'd go on for a few more minutes. If the web thingy hasn't stopped then we'd have to go back. I mean, even if we start going back now, it'll be dark by the time we're back at the tent.”
I sighed and forced myself to push my legs forward. My calves and thighs ached terribly. Just as I was thinking I just couldn't be more uncomfortable, my stomach rumbled.
“Ugh!” I groaned.
They all laughed at me.
“I wonder where I find the energy to even go on,” Peter said.
“Right?” I exclaimed. “We're all supposed to be like on the floor by now.”
“I feel that maybe when you're trying to survive some kind of stored energy comes out from nowhere,” Tanya reasoned.
“What?” I said with a short laugh. “Like it's stored in this reservoir in our bodies and it never gets used up no matter what until like…it senses, this person's gonna drop dead right now I'd I don't do something.”
She laughed lightly. “Yeah, something like that.”
“Yeah, that's just simple biology,” Peter said, swiping his arm to break off the thin ropes in front of him. “Your excess sugar, which is stored as body fat would turn back to the excess sugar for energy. So basically, you're gonna be getting thinner.”
“Yeah okay Mr Nerd!” Tanya said with a laugh.
“Oh shut up.”
“Peter never ceases to be the ultimate nerd,” I said and Peter stopped to turn around and hit me. But I ducked before he could get me.
He let out a chuckle and shook his head before turning back around and walking off.
“We're just teasing Peter,” I had to tell him.
“Yeah, yeah. I'm used to the label anyway so,” he said with a shrug.
“Omg he was the biggest nerd in school!” Tanya said and I could practically feel the eye roll. A smile tugged on my lips.
“But…he was my cuz so I couldn't be embarrassed of him.”
“Hey!” Peter yelled and threw his hand up in the air. We burst into laughter. “I'm seriously standing right here!”
We were laughing so hard at this point that we had to stop. I leaned on a tree to support myself and the others had to on the floor.
Somehow, we all decided to stay there for while before we moved on once more. If we found nothing we'd start on our way back.
My back was to a tree and I was busy picking off dirt from under my nails when someone shifted and planted themselves beside me. I turned my head around and my heart jumped when I saw Tanya staring at me with a goofy smile.
I have her one back involuntarily then looked away.
“You have pretty eyes,” she whispered low enough for only me to hear and I chuckled softly, my cheeks burning. I couldn't still look at her.
“Uhh…have you seen yours?” I asked anyway and she burst into laughter. “Like, there's something I want to introduce you to, it's called a mirror.”
She laughed so hard that Peter and Michelle gave us glances. The smirk Peter gave me annoyed me so much that I got up and suggested that we resume exploring the path.
But as I i got up and was about to speak, we heard the rustle of bushes very close by.
“What was that?” Peter asked and got up in a flash.
I gripped the handle of my backpack tight as my heart thumped rapidly in my chest.
The sound came again. Next thing something burst through the trees and then we took off. We didn't-or at least I didn't- check to see what the heck the thing was.
We sped through the trees, with Peter in front of us, swiftly cutting through the threads.
“What the fuck is after us?!” he screamed as he ran.
“I don't know and I don't want to know!” Tanya yelled.
I could hear the pounding of footsteps behind me. What am I saying…I could hear the sound of footsteps all around us.
“Someone should check! We can't keep running forever!” Peter reasoned.
Still no one dared to look. We just ran. I had a feeling that it was a person. But I really couldn't look back although I really wanted to.
We ran and ran and still the spider web thingy wasn't stopping. Although I noticed that it was getting thinner and thinner as we moved. At this point I couldn't even feel my legs anymore and my lungs burned.
I was hit with a sudden realisation. The exact same way I was feeling the day I ran away from my foster home was the exact same way I was feeling now. Physically. Not emotionally. Then I was feeling free, as I've said many times, but at that point I felt scared, exhausted, tired. Tired of running, tired of my depression, tired of living in confusion and uncertainty, tired of holding back the possibility of Tanya and I, tired of everything.
And then I saw it. It wasn't that high up but it was definitely taller than all of us. Five lines. I was damn sure they were made with the same material as the spider web thingy. They were arranged in rows, just like a musical scale. The clue. It guides you as you move. Like the melody of a piece of music.
They were tied to two different trees. And in the middle of the two trees, under the scale was…
I stopped in the middle the way. I felt the others run past me and the gust of wind that accompanied them. I turned around. In half a second I saw something fly past and then it was gone. I was fucking sure that was a person.
I should go, follow the others. But something urged me to say for a bit. Something told me to follow the thing that passed. The thing that was chasing us but for some reason stopped when we got to this place.
Then I heard the voices.
“THEY GOT OUT BEFORE TIME RAN OUT!”
“THEY WON! THAT'S CRAZY! NO HAS EVER-”
“LARRY!”
I snapped out of my daze. I saw the others staring at me. Their eyes wide and glittering with excitement.
They ran and dragged me out through the two trees and left me to see.
I saw two cars speed past us, honking as they did. It was late evening. A huge gust of wind swept past us and I stood there, staring dumfounded as the air billowed through my clothes and ruffled my hair. I took in a deep breath of the fresh air.
I saw the glow of the street lamps. I looked up at the dark blue sky.
“We're out of the fucking forest,” Peter murmured through his exhaustion.
We all laughed like maniacs and dropped to floor. I didn't want to stay in the forest, I realized then. I wanted a reason to live. I wanted happiness. The tears felt warm as they rolled down my cheeks. They were happy tears, I promise.
YOU ARE READING
Fall in San Diego
Aventura[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...
