The Vanished (A Prequel to The Forgotten)

Together

Delire wasn't aware that he'd fallen asleep until he woke up. But as he lifted his head wearily to see the sun rising, he sighed. It wasn't a depressed sigh like one would expect of someone in Delire's situation. It was a sigh of appreciation for the beautiful scene before him. The sun was just entering the sky, turning the sky a wonderful golden pink. The outline of every blade of grass turned a beautiful gold, painting a delightful picture in front of Delire's eyes. He smiled again at the scene, and then stood up, brushing himself off.

"Gotta appreciate things like this," he told himself. "I doubt I'll be finding too much to smile about out here." He glanced around, wondering where exactly he was. He'd fallen asleep crawling through the grass, and he'd been exhaughsted and shocked, and it had been dark. All he'd known is that there was plenty of grass to slap his face as he crawled through it. Now, he saw, he was in a place identical to where he'd started. The grass simply seemed to stretch on forever. Delire knew that of all the places to be stranded, a grassland was one of the worst places to be. It had no wood, no naturally growing fruit or berries, and no water.

Unless there's a river somewhere, Delire thought with a frown. But he couldn't hear any running water or see a smudge of blue anywhere. So he simply sighed, this time dreading the hours ahead. He knew they'd be filled with walking, and walking, and walking. And also probably some walking.

***

Angeline froze, startled, as she heard a sound from under her boot. She glanced down and saw a snapped twig under her foot.

"First sound I've heard today," she muttered. She scowled at the twig as if blaming it for disturbing the silence, but really, she was glad for the noise. She'd been falling into an endless rhythm, step after step after agonizing step after silent step. Finally, the rhythm had been broken, and she was more aware of her surroundings. Still looking down at the twig, lost in thought, a sudden realization hit her.

"Where'd you come from?" she asked curiously, picking up the two snapped halves of the small branch. "There are no trees for you to have fallen from around here... are there?" She knew, of course, that an animal, such as a bird, could have carried it a distance, but how long would a bird hold onto a twig for? Not too long, Angeline reasoned. Which meant, somewhere not too far away, there was a tree. Now she just needed to know which direction the trees were in. Angeline frowned at the pressure of the decision. If she went the wrong way, she would have no chance of getting wood for a shelter, or leaves for water. Making up her mind, Angeline started one way. Then she hesitated and rethought her decision, taking a step in the other direction. But again, doubt nagged at her, and she began to turn uncertainly. Then her patience snapped, and she headed in her original direction.

"Good riddance," she muttered. "It's only a life or death decision. I shouldn't think about these things so hard." And off she went, toward either a chance at survival or more endless nothingness.

***

Delire stopped.

He wasn't sure why he stopped. He simply felt something, some instinct that he had missed something. Had he forgotten something? He shook his thought in annoyance at that thought.

I'm in the middle of the wilderness with nothing but the clothes on my back. What could I possibly have forgotten? He shrugged, deciding that the stop had been pointless, and took another step.

And stopped.

"Water!" he cried out suddenly, now aware of why he'd stopped. He could hear running water! He strained his ears, listening in each direction. Finally, he figured out which direction the noise was coming from and started toward it. It was a refreshing feeling, heading toward the water. It gave Delire a clear purpose, and he knew soon there would be work to be done and plans to be made. And this energized Delire into action. There was a certain spring in his step as he marched rapidly toward the growing noise of running water. After all, water meant no more thirst, and a chance at growing food... Delire was grinning as the river came into view.