Chapter Four
Istumble out from the back gate, sword in hand and take a moment to let my eyes adjust to the darkness.
Marissa’s screams ring through the forest. “No, no no! Put me down! Benji help!” I don’t waste a second, starting out at a full speed run, plunging into the dark forest.
“Marissa! Keep making noise, I’m coming!” I yell out, realizing afterwards that thatthingcould always double back and slice me open like it did to Benji.
“Nuria!” I hear her call, sounding farther away than before. I stop to see if I can hear more but everything has gone quiet. It’s as if the crickets are holding their breath and the leaves of the trees are keeping themselves still so I can hear.
There. Straight ahead.
I hear a crash through the brush. It’s going up the mountain. This won’t be an easy task in the dark but I push on, stopping every now and again to listen out.
Her shrill screams stop after a while and I am now relying solely on the faint light of the moon to reveal where the creature is going. It seems to be running in a panic and not caring about making tracks, but I know I'm falling farther and farther behind every time I stop and examine broken branches and footprintsin the mud. My night vision has always been exceptional but having to decipher tracks in the dense forest is proving difficult even for me. Hours pass this way, but time and the distance from home means nothing to me right now.Hang in there Mar!
I run on, my lungs heavily protesting. When I stop for a breath I realize I haven’t heard anything or seen any tracks in a long time. The darkest part of the night looms over me like an oppressive dome and even the moon seems to have given up on aiding me in the search. If I keep blindly running on, I might lose the trail for good. I decide to hunker down under an overhanging rock to wait out the few remaining hours of the night and see if I can find a trail in the morning. There is no use stumbling around when I might end up going in the wrong direction. My body vehemently thanks me for stopping.
As I lay on the hard lumpy ground, thoughts of what my parents will come home to in the morning keep playing through my mind. I can’t help but feel that for some reason this is all my fault. All I can do is pray that Marissa is still alive.
Out of nowhere the vision from earlier passes through my mind –
“The talking boulder said that the creature had orders not to harm me!”
Ok, I’m sounding crazier and crazier; a bloody talking boulder? Come on Nuria…but I hold onto the thought that maybe it was real and maybe thatthingthinks Marissa is me and won’t hurt her. I curl up, nestled far against the back of the rock wall and welcome sleep.
I wake with a start. The sun is already peeking through the trees, my only clue to the time. I quickly get up and stumble over to a nearby creek that I hear babbling nearby. I splash icy water on my face and take a long drink from my cupped hands.I should’ve brought my hiking pack with me.I realise I might not always be near a creek, and having at least a water bottle wouldhave been a smart move.How many things could I have done differently to keep Marissa safe?
I start my hike uphill, to the protest of my legs from the night before, when I notice the leaves of the birch and aspen are already starting to turn into their startling yellow and oranges up here. I pause a moment to appreciate the golden sight, wishing that the circumstances of this discovery were in a less dire situation. I wish I could be allowed a moment to sit and paint what I saw, but I shake my head and carry on, all too aware of the importance of my mission. I scan the bush nearby and can’t see anything immediately so keep making my way north-east, in the direction I last heard them crashing through the forest.
After a few minutes of fruitless searching I start to lose hope. I begin to wonder whether not waiting for the police was a stupid idea, when I see something shimmering out of the corner of my eye. I rush up to it and bend down to find one of Marissa’s stick on nails, light purple with glittery tips, lying on the ground.Mar,you genius!I look up to find some very distinct tracks leading straight up a steep incline. The added weight of carrying Marissa is making the creature’s feet sink into the ground more than it normally would, making the tracks much easier to see. I strengthen my grasp on the sword and start my climb.
I’m coming for you Marissa,I think to myself over and over, letting the mantra keep me steady.
The trees slowly change as the sun passes into the west and I gain altitude, with pines and spruces becoming more and more abundant. The air grows colder as well, the pine scented, cool mountain breeze is a welcome sensation as I am sweating and huffing my way up this particularly steep and rocky section. I am not graced with any more footprints amongst the rocks but every now and again there is a snapped branch on the low lying juniper bushes, showing signs of something big trying to pullitself up. The stick on nails stopped littering the forest floor a few kilometres back when, I’m guessing, she ran out. But I can feel that I am still on track.
I hope I'm still on track… Marissa I’m coming for you!
Holding onto a sword whilst scrambling up rocks is proving harder and harder but any thought of leaving it behind is met with the memory of the deep gash in Benji’s chest, and I think better of it. When there is a brief respite from the steep incline I take a moment to search for some sort of water to quench my extremely parched mouth when I come across the most beautiful patch of wild blueberries I’ve ever seen. A late season bush that must have been missed by the resident bears and squirrels. At the sight of their juicy ripeness I hear my stomach grumble and let myself pause long enough to gorge on handfuls of them. There is no water in sight but the juice from the berries should keep me from dehydration if I slow my speed and try not to sweat so much.
Up this high I have a better view of where the sun is in the sky as the canopy is starting to thin out. I pause, realizing it is much farther into the afternoon than I thought.
I should probably find shelter soon.I feel guilty for not trying to search through the night again but my body is aching and my feet are bleeding through my canvas shoes. I know I’ll lose the ability to track soon anyway.
Better to let my body rest so I have my strength tomorrow,I reassure myself. It doesn’t look like there will be any rain so I flop down beside a big rock that shields the cool wind, for the most part, but knowing with some dread, that I will be cold tonight. So many things I should have thought about before blindly running off, I know that this was the right choice though.The useless Easthelm police would never have found the tracks… I had to go.
I carefully peel off my shoes, hoping that airing them out overnight will help them heal. The cool air on my open blisters feels amazing, but the sight of them makes my stomach churn. I lean back against the cold, hard stone and close my eyes. Despite the discomfort, I am already starting to drift from sheer exhaustion.
I have the feeling of falling, my eyes flick open but all I see is darkness. Someone else is there though, they are familiar somehow… almost comforting.
Do not fear. You will be safe soon; the male voice from my visions speaks to me. I try to respond but I am suddenly jerked awake by the sound of a snapping twig. It is dark outside, with the faintest hint of light cresting the eastern horizon.
Is it almost morning already?I’m shocked at how deeply I must have been asleep and I wipe at my mouth feeling a good amount of crusted drool in the corner and wish I had a creek nearby to rinse it off. I quickly pull on my shoes and wince at the sting as they slide over my now scabbed over blisters when I hear another twig snap, even closer. I am now on full alert.
The snapping twig sounded way too close for comfort. I grab onto my sword and stay as still as I can, listening out for more movement. Something clicking on the stones approaches from behind the rock I am leaning on. The element of surprise is on my side; that is, if whatever is stalking me doesn’t know I am hiding here. The steady rhythm of clicking on stone gets closer and closer until it sounds as if it is right behind the rock. I have to take my chance–
I jump up and spin around, “you will not take me!” I yell whilst brandishing my sword. I am shocked to see a massive white horse staring at me. The yelp I let out startles us both and I stumble back, tripping over a boulder and landing flat on my back. The horse shakes its head and whinnies, looking as if it is laughing at me as it steps around the boulder. It looks happy tosee me and seems docile enough that I wonder if its rider is near-by, but notice it has no saddle or reins.
“What on earth are you doing all the way up here?” I ask, shaking my head and laughing out loud as I realize I am talking to a horse. She saunters right over to me and lowers her head, giving my shoulder a nudge with her nose. I tentatively reach out to give her a little scratch but as she huffs a big breath on my hand, I pull away. I have had an irrational fear of horses for as long as I can remember. I used to have nightmares about falling off the back of one when I was first staying with Delia and Hunt but they didn’t know anything of my past, other than that I had been found in the woods by some hikers with no other people in sight. I was nearly hypothermic and couldn’t remember much myself. The search for my parents went on for a few years but nothing ever came of it.
