Cinderella vs. Happily Ever After

Chapter 8

            All around them, the dark gold of the late sunlight poured through the trees, glowing against the reds, oranges, yellows, and greens of the trees around them. It was like being in the heart of an inferno Valerie decided as they continued down the pounded dirt road. Birds darted from tree to tree overhead, scolding and calling at their intrusion while under their feet the freshly fallen leaves shushed and crinkled.

            She took in the endless looking sea of trees then turn to Isaac and said “Shouldn’t we be finding a place to camp soon? It’s going to get really dark really quick.”

            He nodded. “I’ve been looking around for the last little while. I want something off the road but in a place we can easily find out way back to it from. I don’t want to get lost in a forest of this size. Especially in a place where there really are witches with candy houses.”

            She frowned and continued behind him, listening to the chatter of a squirrel, the rustling of a robin throwing leaves in search of worms and the distant gurgle of water ahead as she thought. Then she stopped, blinked a few times, and grinned. “Do you hear that?”

            “Hear what?”

            “The water! We follow the water along until we find somewhere to stop and we leave a rock or something so we know which way we came. Then we just follow it back. Easy,” she said, already looking forward to getting her backpack off. She was certain the marks of the straps were going to have left permanent impressions on her shoulders.

            Isaac’s grin answered hers. “You know for all of your problems and flashes of true stupidity, you tend to make up for it with moments of brilliance like now.”

            She scrunched her nose at him. “Yeah well at least I’m not a man-”

            He cut her off by grabbing her hand and dragging her into a run behind him. Neither of them was at their best after a full day of walking but they managed some semblance of speed. In a few moments they had found the small stream that ran near the road for a few feet before disappearing off into the woods in both directions. The water was clear and they could see the round grey and pink rocks in it along with some tiny fish. “Which way?” Valerie asked.

            “Rock paper scissors?” He said after a moment’s thought.

            “You want to leave something like finding a camp site up to rock paper scissors?” She asked, arms crossed over her chest.

            “Well what do you suggest?” He replied, arms spreading wide, palms up.

            “Eeny meenie miney moe,” she said, smiling her finger already jumping between the silver ends of the stream.

            “Oh cause that’s better,” he retorted, eyes rolling.

            She chuckled. “You’re just jealous I thought of it first. Now let’s go. I need to get out of these clothes or I will kill something.”

            Valerie led the way to the left, Isaac shaking his head but following. The trees quickly closed in on them, leaving not even the tunnel that had existed on the road. In minutes, they both acquired several scratches and had nearly tripped over roots more than once each. “Are these boots waterproof?” She asked him.

            Isaac nodded. “All terrain, all weather, can take a beating and keep going. I see where you’re going with this and I agree.”

            They both moved so they were wading through the stream, where there were fewer branches to grab or smack them. But now they had slippery river rocks to deal with. “You know, I think this has cured me of any desire to ever go camping again,” Valerie said as she grabbed Isaac’s arm for the third time to avoid falling.

            He smiled. “Now, now Val, you should be happy. Here we are, out in the middle fo the woods, communing with nature. Don’t you feel inspired?”

            “Oh yeah,” she said as she slapped at a mosquito that had found her. “I’m inspired to hatred.”

            Isaac laughed. She shook her head. They continued for a few more minutes, long enough that the sunlight had gone orange when he suddenly grinned and pointed. “Look, see that raised bit there? There are no trees in or around it. Looks like it’ll be a good place to camp.”

            “Good. I was about to suggest we make ourselves a raft and just sleep in the damn stream,” she grumbled, wobbling on another loose stone.

            He steadied her arm, still grinning.  The two hurried over, nearly falling even more than before in their rush. Valerie could tell she had blisters on her feet in addition to her scratches bruises, and the backache she’d gotten from her pack. She could only imagine that Isaac felt the same as her. He was hurrying just as much as she was. Which, given that he was normally faster than her, made her think he really was as sore as she was. They climbed up a steep bank of earth and stone, sliding slightly on the thin layer of leaves that blanketed the whole forest.

            They reached the stop and found themselves at the edge of a shallow circular depression. Around them, broken branches lay scattered mixed together with sharp edged pieces of broken shells. Valerie gasped as she looked around at the destruction. From the way the shell pieces were scattered, it looked to her like whatever had been in the eggs, she was fairly certain the grey fragments were from eggs, had exploded out of them.

            “What happened?”

            Isaac shrugged. “I don’t know. But it looks like it happened a while ago. There’s leaves over half of this. Which means it’s safe to camp here and all the broken branches means we don’t have to go looking for firewood.”

            She shook her head. Something about the shells gave her the shivers but she knew there was no way they’d find another camp site, even one worse than this one, before dark. So she said nothing.