Leuthold Preparatory | ✓

Chapter Twenty-Five: Part I

Misidentification 

Another day driving meant another day that the four of them were forced to get out of the car to avoid the confined space. They had often gotten out to stretch, Ines didn't seem to trust anyone else with the car and stopped frequently. Yet they found themselves getting out of the car for a reason beyond their bodies, beyond their control. Rocks and mud covered the road from the cut-out road down into the forest below. 

"I thought mudslides only happened in fall," Ines commented as the four stared at their roadblock. 

Hannil stared at it the longest and was the only one to approach the mudslide and try to move some of the rocks. They were too large for him to move and he only covered his nice clothes in mud and the wet trees were unhelpful in his attempts to remove it.

Celeste shivered in the cold; they were so high up that it no longer felt like summer. The cold wind blew through them and even Hannil relented to its force. They returned to the car and it was incredibly silent as they sat.

Hannil had been in a good mood most of the drive, Noah had thought. He had held his hand for so long that Noah could still feel his hand in his. Now Hannil looked bitter as if the mudslide had personally scorned him. He looked over the map for a few minutes before he took in several ragged breaths.

It was silent until he asked: "Does anyone know when the next heavy rain is to strike?"

Celeste turned to him for a moment, she stared at him almost bitterly before she asked Ines in French and had a small conversation with her. Ines clicked the touchscreen on the dashboard and went through several layers of French apps before she answered: "Seven hours."

Hannil looked even more frustrated by the answer and got out of the car to begin looking in the forest.

"What is he doing?" Celeste whispered to Noah.

"I don't know," Noah replied with a small shake of his head. 

After a while, Noah got out of the car and looked up at the overcast sky. It was grey and the clouds were low, the roads not nearly as beautiful as it had been before, but he still considered them to be so. The sky disappeared when Noah went into the forest, the trees were so thick it gave him pause in his search, it was nearly night in there. 

"Hannil?" Noah called out instead of following the direction he vanished.

"Yes?" Hannil replied quickly from within.

"What are you doing?"

"Checking," Hannil answered.

Noah put his hand on a tree to balance himself as he leaned more into the forest. Every shadow caught his attention, too many trees were vague figures. There were simply too many dangers; his entire being told him he should not enter. That there was something within; despite that Noah thought his anxiety was simply anxiety, he stayed at the first line of trees.

A minute passed before Hannil came back into view, he was looking up and down each tree he walked by.

"What are you doing?" Noah asked more pointedly.

"Checking," Hannil replied once more, the word stressed.

"For what?"

Hannil looked at him before he gestured for him to come into the forest. Noah hesitated before he stepped to the tree Hannil was looking at. Hannil pointed him to an old carving of three lines in a tree that had two more going through them. It looked as though it had been done time and time again, but was still old and scarred.