It’s fucking crazy, but I feel like it’s the right decision.
With a renewed sense of purpose and my shoulders lower than they have been for a while, I pause, looking up at the clouds moving overhead. Another shower threatens sometime soon, no doubt, but I think I have time for a quick hike. It’s something I couldn’t do in LA because of all the fans and media who would follow my every move. But out here, I’m trying my hand at it. I see an opening in the pines and walk over, looking at the fields to the woods nearby. Trying to get my bearings. I have no idea where they lead, but I won't go far. The last thing I need is to get lost before it rains.
Striding through the trees, it feels good to move my body. My gym sessions are great, but there’s something about walking and discovering new things, breathing in fresh air and letting nature lead the way. I get lost in my thoughts, hiking up a small hill, surrounded by the forest. Spotting a large log overturned, I take a seat.
Looking around, I get that same contradiction as I did at Nikki’s the other night. Not sure whether the forest is welcoming or a frightening place to be. I wonder who owns this land. I like being here in nature, in solitude. Alone with my thoughts, the fresh breeze, the silence. There’s no one around, and I didn’t ask Sawyer if there are bears in Whispers. Something I probably should've asked. That’s all I need. To be mauled by a fucking bear.
Then I feel it. A fat hamburger raindrop hits me from above, and I look up, not able to see much as the cloud cover rolls in and the trees block any sunlight.
“Shit.” I jump up from my tranquil spot and start speed-walking. The pines seem different than when I came through before, and after about a hundred yards, I realize I’ve walked in the wrong direction.
I stride to my left, wondering what way I came, the woods now all looking the same, nothing distinct showing me the way home. I’m starting to understand that being lost in the fucking woods is now a clear possibility. I grab my cell but have no service. It shouldn't be a surprise, since the forest is dense and I’m in the middle of fucking nowhere. In my haste to turn, I trip. The soil is wet from all the recent rain, my leg sliding. A tree branch catches my shin, scraping it.
“Fuck!” Frustration nips at my shoulders as I lean over to grab my stinging shin before my foot gives way on the slippery soil again. I’m falling fast, straight down a small ravine. Sliding like a fucking kid on a playground slide, I land hard on my ass, about fifteen feet from my track above me, the drop not one I can climb.
“Motherfucker…” My teeth clench, angry, frustrated, and hoping like hell I don’t spot a bee out here. Looking around, nothing is familiar. I have no idea where I am and no idea what direction to walk in. I grab my cell again and curse when I see I broke it in the fall. It’s now completely useless. This is why I don’t do nature. What the hell was I thinking? With no cell service and no one knowing where I am, I push off the mud and grass and try to stand on my injured foot.
“Ahh, dammit.” My foot isn’t broken, but it’s starting to bruise already. I limp a few steps, trying to warm it up, the pain still shooting through my ankle, but it's bearable. If only Hollywood could see me now.
I step along an opening in the trees before I see a small track. Thinking it must lead somewhere, I limp along, all the while the rain falls, the sky darkens, and I question how much more of an idiot I could be. No one knows where I am. At least Griffin would give them a time and day, although he’s probably already on his jet, flying to his next job, working while he travels.
As the forest gets darker, I spot a little light up ahead. So I hobble a little quicker as the rain falls a little faster, hoping like hell that someone is there.
21
Nikki
The rain won't let up. It’s been like this for days. And while snuggling in front of the fire with a good book is my idea of paradise, James and I are going a little crazy not spending some time outside.
At the moment, my free time is taken up by trying to build a small wind turbine, something I can wire into a battery, giving us electricity if we need it in case the power cuts out. Out here, surrounded by forest, is the last place I want to be without power. I thought on windy days I would test it on the hill nearby, see if I could find a spare battery from Bob at the hardware store and connect it all. I love playing around like this. Seeing what I can make from what would otherwise be discarded items and using it for something like clean energy. Can you imagine what the world would be like if we reused items to create amazing things like this? So far, it’s looking good, but all this rain puts a damper on it.
“I’m just going to run outside and move my turbine under the porch,” I tell James, whose head is stuck in a book near the fire.
“Need help?”
“I got it.” I don’t bother with a jacket as I run outside. Getting to the turbine I left on the far side of the lawn, I look at how best to grab it quickly without damaging it. I bend down and start to lift, before I drop it quickly, hearing a noise that has me freezing in place. My heart thuds as fear creeps up my spine. I look quickly back to the cottage, seeing no one. Nothing. I wonder if I imagined it as I glance around, seeing nothing but trees. The cloud cover makes it too dark to see anyone else.
“Hey! Anyone there?” I shout, backing away from the turbine.
I think it was a man's voice. I swallow the quickly rising panic that’s consuming me and look around for a weapon, spotting a tree branch at my feet and lowering myself slowly to grab it before I turn.
And when I do, my breath catches all over again at who’s stepping out from the tree line.
“Sutton?”
“Are you planning on killing me with that stick, Tinker Bell, or just bruising my ego some more?” His grin is wicked and full of happiness. Relieved, I drop the stick immediately.
Seeing him limping, I rush to his side. “What happened?”
“I was out hiking… Fell down a ravine.”
That surprises me. “You hike?”
“Clearly not very well. I went once in the last few weeks, fell then too. It’s probably a hobby that I’m not equipped for, but I do like it.”
I roll my lips to hold back a chuckle. “So, what? Action heroes are clumsy?”
He waves that off playfully. “Action heroes are awesome. What’s that?” He nods toward the turbine, the one that’s starting to move in the small breeze that’s picked up. I examine it before looking right and left, the breeze coming through here nicely, something I hadn’t noticed before.
