Lost

Chapter 8: "Tough Stuff"

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Asim's feet felt heavy and stiff as he forced one foot in front of the other. His heart sank with each step that he took. Ever since he found out about Salma's accident, it had became difficult to manage his emotions.

At day break, the students were told to pack only the essentials with them; things like a thick garment, a flashlight, or an umbrella, anything that they could use and was not too heavy to carry. Ten minutes later, they started retracing their steps back in search of phone service.

It was past midday now. The road was littered with rocks here and there. At times, the masses of concrete completely blocked their way ahead, making the students climb over to cross the barrier. Apparently, there had been landslides all night. Since the bag that contained their cellular devices and gadgets had gone missing, the students had to rely on the only two phones available; Professor R.K. and the driver's. So far, the both of them had failed to get any service on their phone.

Asim was walking close to the edge, continuously looking down for some sort of a sign. It was freaking the professor out. Worried about him, R.K kept asking the younger boy to walk away from the edge. In the end he just told a few students to stay close to Asim. The guy with glasses and brown hair was given the job to watch over him. Asim learned his name was Ronald. He did not mind his company; Ronald was kind and understanding and did not bother him at all.

"Professor, look!" a tall, dark guy shouted out of nowhere.

Everyone looked his way in the hopes that he may have found phone service - only to realize he did not even have a phone to begin with. The students shifted their gaze to where he was pointing. They were surprised to find the door of bus hanging at an odd angle from a branch of a tree. One of its windows was busted and the broken branch was sticking out of it. The tree was bent, growing towards the road. The branch was fairly stout, but it seemed like its impact with the speeding bus had snapped it into two, ripping the door off its hinges in the process.

Everyone stood there for while, watching the door that had betrayed Salma and Zayn. Instead of ensuring their safety, this door became the reason for their fall out of the bus.

The professor cleared his throat after a while.

"Let's keep going. It shouldn't be far now," he instructed.

"Can we take a break, professor? We are all kind of tired," a student, who had injured his foot, requested.

There was a round of agreement but Professor R.K. told them they could rest after they find a spot with a bit more shade. He anxiously eyed Asim and Claire when he said that. Asim had a feeling the professor was not bothered about the shade, rather, he just wanted to move him and Claire away from the door. Asim did not want to move. Now that he had a rough idea where Salma may have fallen, he wanted to go back and inspect the slopes from there. It was clear that Salma and Zayn were somewhere between this point and the place where Claire thought Zayn had fallen over.

Asim's anxiety reached a new level of maximum when he realized how steep the slopes had been between the two points. Looking down, he could not even make the bottom through all the thick vegetation. His confidence that Salma would have made it was faltering as he stared at the slopes going on and on forever.

His heart clenched in the most painful manner and he had trouble breathing normally. Professor R.K. seemed to have realized the shift in Asim's emotions. He motioned for Ronald to get him away. The gentle fellow approached him, cautiously beckoning him to get a move on. 

"C'mon mate." Ronald muttered, pulling him away from the door to follow the rest of the students. Asim obeyed.

Although his heart refused to listen, his mind accepted that there was nothing he could do even if he went back looking for her. Claire on the other hand put up a fight. Asim was not sure if he was embarrassed that she was at least trying to fight for Zayn, or relieved that he was still in his senses to know better.