Forever yours

Chapter 4 - Thomas

Only one girl in town had hair as red as blood, but that girl had disappeared almost three weeks ago, never to be seen. Unlike most missing people in the last few weeks, her body hadn't turned up yet. Nor dead, nor alive.

Until now.

Thomas was running after Luna, avoiding the tree roots and the rocks that were making it tougher for him to keep up with the little spy. The forest trail went up and down, the girl jumped over fallen tree branches as if they were nothing. She ran through water as if her shoes didn't get wet. Nothing seemed to slow this girl down.

Thomas's lungs were burning. He almost twisted his ankle on an overworld root and the muscles in his legs were starting to protest.

When he was thinking of giving up and letting the girl go, the red-head tripped over a protruding stone and slammed down against the rock-ribbed earth. A high-pitched screech blared between the rustling trees.

Thomas stopped, nearly tripping over his own feet in his haste. He crouched down next to the wounded girl. An open gap was crossing the girl's lower arm, blood was streaming down to her fingers and dripping on the ground. Her eyes turned glassy as tears started to cloud over, she blinked a few times but that only let the tears escape and roll down her rosy cheeks. She immediately wiped them away with the back of her hand.

Now that she wasn't moving, Thomas's assumptions were stated correctly. It was indeed Luna Devon, the missing eighteen-year-old girl from Home. The last time Thomas interacted with her was on her fourteenth birthday. By then, they had already seen each other less due to their age difference and life getting in the way. He had by then his job on the field, and Luna was very much in the middle of her teenage hormones stage of life. Of course, he had regretted not keeping more in touch. Now that regret seemed to have returned. Perhaps if they had, she wouldn't have been kidnapped.

The young woman in front of him was nothing like the little girl he last saw. She still had the same red hair and those clear blue-gray eyes. Everything else had changed though. She had lost most of her baby fat, she was leaner and sharper in her face, although Thomas would never describe Luna as 'sharp' in any circumstance. She didn't wear a skirt or dress with one of her many blazers, which used to be her typical outfit. She now wore the cobalt blue school sweater around her hips and a white blouse with rolled up sleeves, which was now covered in dirt stains. Her cut off jeans shorts were just as muddy and her long white legs were hidden under scratches and scars - not all of them from her recent fall.

How long had she been living in these woods? Three weeks he guessed. That answer only raised more questions.

"Are you okay?" He asked, already diagnosing what he was dealing with. "That looks like a nasty cut, you need to clean it as soon as possible. Here." Thomas pulled his green plaid button front off and draped it around the wound, putting pressure on it so the blood would clot. "Doctor Delgado can take a look at that wound more closely." Her face tensed. "I think it's going to need stitches. Everybody will be so happy to see you again."

Luna pulled away her arm, pushed him back and jumped up, making a move to run off again. Thomas grabbed her wrist before she could disappear in the forest. She turned to him, her eyebrows knitted in an angry frown while trying to pull her arm free.

"Or not." Thomas quickly recovered from his clear mistake. "Whatever you prefer." That seemed to calm the girl down a bit. "But you have to clean the wound or it will get infected."

"Like I don't know that," she hissed.

That made Thomas take a step back. He was not used to Luna being so aggressive or even slightly rude. She used to be loving and polite. A warm soul. What happened to her? He wondered.