Noted

Chapter 18

I was woken up by the chirping of a bird sitting on the side mirror of the truck. My eyes fluttered open, and all I could see was the small bird looking at me with much interest. I let out a small, lighthearted laugh, until I remembered where I was and what happened before I fell asleep. I realized I was still in the forest, so I checked the time. It was five o'clock in the morning, and the driver's seat was still cold and empty. Troy hadn't returned.

I quickly sat myself up straight in my seat, which scared off the chirping bird. My hands were shaking the more I became restless.  The cold chilled me to the bone. It felt as if lightning was going through my body, as if every single vein and every single muscle I had was stuck or convulsing. I looked at myself in the mirror and saw that my eyes were bloodshot and my lips were almost blue. I looked all around the outside of truck, but no one was to be seen. I was still alone in the middle of nowhere.

My first thoughts went to the darkest places. I figured that if Troy hadn't come back by now, he had likely been caught by the cops, or killed and eaten by wild forest animals, or he had inadvertently walked off a cliff while trying to find his way back to me in the dark. And as for me; I'd be left to fend for myself and likely succumb to either freezing or starving to death. Regardless of what was to come for me next, I couldn't picture going through it alone, without Troy.

I turned on the radio to see if any station was talking about a captured suspect of the Olivia Swan case. All I was getting was either static, or music stations that played creepy, sinister sounding, classical organ music that only made my stress level increase.

"Where are you?" I whispered. I breathed out lightly. My jaw had been clenched so tightly that I couldn't articulate properly. I got fed up of waiting, and I knew I had to do something.

I swung the door open and got out of the truck. If Troy was in any danger–which clearly he was; I'd have to go and find him.

As I maneuvered myself out the door, I almost fell out of the truck. Once my feet touched the muddy ground, my legs felt like noodles. They felt numb, cold and exhausted. Nervousness was kicking in to. It was the same feeling I'd experienced when I revisited the Remington Bar crime scene with Mr. Lake. This time, however, it wasn't about me. Troy could be in trouble, or be hurt, or could be out there somewhere, dying.

I stumbled a few times as my eyes adjusted to the darkness that was slowly becoming brighter as I walked further into the woods and towards the sunrise. I grabbed onto trees and branches, and when a branch snapped, I fell over and landed on a pile of loose, jagged rocks. I stood up again, and my knees started to hurt. I was bleeding. I could see the blood soaking through my jeans from the obvious new scrapes, but I didn't actually care. I needed to find Troy.

"Troy!" I croaked out my first attempt at calling his name. "Troy..."

I walked upon the crunchy leaves that were still on the ground from the previous autumn. I constantly felt like someone was watching me, but every time I turned around to see if anyone was there, darkness was my only observer.

As I pushed past branches and kicked away shrubs to get through the forest, a pine branch whipped me in the face, causing a scratch along my right cheek. I winced as I went to touch my wound, and the sight of my own blood suddenly made me feel nauseous. One moment later, I looked up from my bloody hand, and my eyes caught something in the distance, moving in the woods. I continued to walk in that direction to investigate, completely forgetting about my bleeding cheek. When I focused more, I saw moving lights up ahead.

"Must be a road," I muttered.

I rushed towards the direction of the moving lights.

"Troy." I muttered to myself. "I can't find you."