change | yoonmin

Ch. 7

It was silent except for the distant howling of the wind and sound of crickets.

"What should we do??" Jackson said, pacing back and forth, worry etched on his face.

"Our phones got collected before orientation too.." Daehwi mumbled.

"The old lady earlier was telling us about this. She told us not to come in here." Hoseok said after clearing his throat.

We shot our heads up at him in alarm.

"Why didn't you tell us earlier?!" Jackson yelled, anger seeping through his eyes.

"You wouldn't have listened anyways." Hoseok said back, calmly.

They continued to stare each other down. I sighed and got in between them.

"Guys, stop. Fighting will get us no where. There's no time for that."

Hoseok sighed and glanced away first.

"There's no way the forest is that big I think. We just have to find a way out before the sun sets." Hoseok says, just as a stretch of the lightest pink painted across the sky.

"Hey, I wonder if it's okay to just randomly walk around like before.. wouldn't that just get us more lost than before? Shouldn't we just wait for the teachers?" Daehwi spoke up nervously.

We were all silent, not knowing how to respond.

I paused before bolting up. They looked at me weirdly at my sudden movement.

"I hear the sound of a river!"

Hoseok stood up next to me.

"Can I see the map again?"

I scavenged it out of my backpack and showed it to him.

"According to this map if the 'goal' pond is on the other side of this river then the exit must be there too right?"

We all nodded in agreement except one.

Hoseok crouched next to Daehwi's small figure.

"Since we know the direction to the exit, why don't we get as close as possible before the sun sets? Once it get's completely dark, lets do as Daehwi says and wait for the teachers then."

Hoseok addresses the rest of the group before turning to Daehwi.

"Is that ok with you?"

I kneel down next to Daehwi too.

"Hey, it's fine since we're together!" I try to cheer him up. He smiles at me.

"Okay."

We continue to walk in silence until we stumble upon the rushing river.

There were stones in the middle of it as if it was set by a human, to get across.

We stared in silence as water was white against the rock because of the strength of the impact.

"Okay, I'll go cross first." Hoseok said.

"Be careful." I said worried.

He carefully jumped rock after rock before making it over.

"If you step on the rocks I stepped on you'll be fine!" He yelled from the other side.

"I'll go last. Jackson, go next." I said, trying to make sure they were all over before I was.

Jackson hopped on each one.

"This is easy~"

Soon they were all over and it was my turn.