Forest of Hearts

Chapter 10

Elle POV

I sat up and looked around. It was late morning, a few others were asleep in the room with me. 'Where was I? Did I fall asleep in class again. No? This isn't school.' I remembered that we were on a school field trip in the middle of nowhere. Then the horror of the past few days returned to me. 

People missing, some injured, the bus; now a pile of rusty scrap metal. They hedged us in all around. 'I can't believe I let them take him! I have to save him.' I thought sitting up. But what if I fail again? I sat back down and picked at my nails. 'I was one kid... Who do I think I am trying to save everyone? If none of the teachers could do anything about it why would I be different?' I sat back down with a sigh defeated. 'We... I need to hold on until the helicopter arrives today. I can make it home.' Then I remembered the way he said he liked me. 'If I hadn't been so upset that all of this had been because he wanted to give me flowers. If he hadn't kept blaming and giving up on himself, I would have kissed him right then. Now I had cooled down I knew I couldn't leave him and the others behind. If they're still out there, I have to save them.

I washed my face, combed my hair and changed for the first time in almost two days. Those little things that had evaded my attention since that first night. Those plants, those monsters had put us all on edge for so long, but now all I could think of was Tyler and all we could be... I walked out into the hall determined. More determined and focused than I had ever been in my life.

"Elle." My best friend's voice stopped me. I turned to look her in the eye. He was with Mrs Evans.

"Where are you going? The helicopter will be here in a few hours!" Mrs Evans exclaimed.

"I have to save him... I have to save them." I said with finality. 

"Elle don't tell me you'll throw your life away, just because he said he liked you?" Mrs Evans was the most upset I had ever seen her.

"You're a strong person, you've handle the horror of the last few days better than anyone else, You've taken the lead when no one else could, but I couldn't live with myself if I let you go into that forest without saying a word. I know right now it seems like you'll never meet someone like him again, but you're wrong. You haven't seen the world yet. Think about your family and friends back home." 

I thought about my Dad. I put my hand into my pocket and pulled out my Swiss Army knife the one he had given me.

"Mrs Evans, my Dad has cancer. I've been with him through it all and it's made him a better person. The kind of person who can die at any moment without regrets. If I get on that helicopter. If I leave I might never see Tyler, I'll never know. There's no guarantee everything will work out because I abandon him either. I will die. We're all going to die, eventually... I have to do this, I have to know I tried my best. I want to see him again before I die. If they ask about me say those monsters took me with the others." I turned to leave but someone stopped me.
"Elle I won't let you go alone! While you slept, we found the plants weakness... it's salt. You also figured out they were nocturnal. If we go as a group with salt in the day. We have a chance." Mae said reaching into her pocket. 
"But but how will we know where to look?" I asked. Those woods are deep.
"Yohan had Snapchat maps open when they took him." She said with a smirk turning her phone to me. A blue ghost hovered over his location.