"Quick!" she yelled impatiently. I was too scared to do anything but follow her instructions.
"Ezra, hurry!" her strong voice screamed. I didn't know she was that fast until now, but I suppose these were exceptional circumstances.
"Aria, slow down. Just wait." I tried to stop her, wanting or maybe even needing to calm her down.
I caught up, breathed, and brought my attention to the petite brunette in front of me. Tears rushed down her scratched, red face and her hair had a life of its own, like a tree in a storm, yet she didn't seem to notice any of it.
I wrapped myself around her tightly, partly in comfort but also in an attempt to warm her shivering body. "It's okay, we'll find her," I whispered over the rain lightly.
"How are we supposed to find her, we only have one hour left!" Aria screeched, breaking out of my hold. "This is all my fault, I'm supposed to be her mother for God's sake!"
"It's okay, we will find her, I promise." I ignored her guilty confession, knowing it was false.
A certain silence engrossed us. A silence so beautiful yet terrifying as we fought to find her, the thing that made both of out worlds complete. The only sound was the light patter of the rain, which had relaxed some, and the trees whistling, as if they were a background choir to our tragic song.
"Well we can't be far, It has to be around here somewhere," Aria broke the silence, looking around the dark, damp wood.
"Didn't you say it was north of Pennsylvania?" I remembered.
"Yeah…why?"
"Well, if we came from that way," I turned and point towards the dreaded path, "which was north east, then surely it has to be that way." Aria only looked at me in disbelief as I turned in circles on the one spot, I wouldn't be surprised if she questioned my insanity.
"Ezra, are you sure about this? Because if you're wrong then-"
"I wouldn't risk anything, not now," I cut her off, intertwining our fingers delicately. "I'm sure," I whispered.
"Okay," she said softly, after considering my words for a moment.
Then suddenly, we were walking, walking with such care that it almost seemed foreign. There was no path. But it wasn't need as we plunged into the unexplored land.
After what must have been fifty minutes, I stopped abruptly, causing Aria to crash into my back.
"Aria…look." We only stared at the rotting shack, not believing that we had found it. Aria only pushed me forward, her lips not allowing her to form a reply.
As I took the steps, which could be described as leaps, a piercing scream ignited from the shack, and travelled through the woods, contributing to the now, raging storm. At the scream, my heart stopped so suddenly that I felt numb. I didn't need to enter to know what had happened to her, yet I still ran towards the door, flinging it open.
Her body was curled up in the corner, surrounded by a river of dark liquid.
We ran out of time. Although, now, seeing her small body so tangled in on itself, time didn't seem important; nothing did.
Twelve hours searching for her, knowing that she had come here to die, didn't make this any easier. If anything, it was harder.
We had been allocated twelve hours; coincidentally the number matcher her age-yet we failed. The race against time was lost to the unknown, and so was she.