Perception

LXXVII

The next morning she felt like she'd been hit by a freight train. Every muscle seemed sore, somehow, her calves cramping painfully in the little bit of space between the two camping mats that she seemed to have slid into in the night. The cold was gone, though, and she realised straight away that it must be quite late, already. Eli kissed the top of her head.
"Good morning, sleepy head."
She raised her head to look at him. "Good morning, jeez, what time is it? How long have you been awake?"
"No idea and no idea. I didn't want to move and wake you. A while, though."
"It... it almost doesn't seem real." she whispered to him, as dream-like images of nightly wanderings started filling her head.
"Yeah, I know. But I'm guessing you saying that means it was."
She nodded and pushed herself into a semi-sitting position.
"Yes, I think it was. So what are we going to do now?"
He eyed her for a moment. "I guess we hide, like the voice said? Pretend to simply be campers, and wait?"
She nodded again. He was right, of course. "Yeah. Okay, let's do that. I guess... I wouldn't mind going for a walk in a little while, though. I'd like to see that house in daylight. We'll just look like hikers, right, simply walking past?"
"Hikers on Birkenstocks."
She smiled and sat up on her own mat, stretching her torso first all the way to the right, then to the left.
"Yeah. Hikers on Birkenstocks."

The campsite looked so different in the late morning light, it wasn't even funny. It was warm, both because the sun was out and because there were happy people all around, normal people, having late breakfasts or getting ready to set off for a hike. A dog eyed her kindly from a few places away, tied to a pole in front of a biggish tent.
Hi dog. she thought. Wanna change places, today?
The dog eyed her some more and wagged its tail. It made her smile. She'd have to go past and stroke it, when they made their way over to see if they could score some breakfast from the little shop.
"Do you want to sit here and relax while I get supplies, or do you want to come with?"
She got up straight away.
"I'd rather come with, if that's okay."
He simply held out his hand to her in response.
They walked towards the dog first. It came up to her straight away and pushed its wet nose against her hand. She stroked its head and smiled at the dog's tail, which was quickly speeding up into a frenzy as she petted the silky soft head some more.

Walking was good. It took the cramps out of her calves, it warmed her limbs through, it helped her breathe. But everywhere she looked, she couldn't help but see shadows. That scream that she'd heard last night was somewhere in the wind still, as it gently moved the leaves on the trees beside the path.
Who had screamed?
She wished she knew as she followed Eli past the midget golf course into the tiny supermarket.

She struggled to eat anything this morning, sitting cross legged yet again on the waterproof sheet Eli had spread out in between the tent and the forest to the side. Her stomach wasn't really ready for food, but she ate anyway. She'd need her strength for whatever it was she was about to face.
The forest around them was undeniably beautiful, this spot being yet another place she would love to visit at any other point in time, really. But at the moment that idyllic forest that had seemingly swallowed the campsite whole, seemed nothing but foreboding.
She was relieved when Eli was done eating and started putting away the supplies in the front of the tent.
"You want to head off, yeah?" he asked, zipping up the tent already, reading her mind. Or maybe he felt the same foreboding? She couldn't be sure and she didn't want to ask.
"Yeah. Let's." she told him.
The fleeting thought of a duck egg blue comforter crossed her mind as she got up and put her Birkenstocks back on.
Hikers on Birkenstocks. Well, she just hoped that that was all that whoever was in that eery house would see.