Slowly her eyes fluttered open and she stared into the cloudless sky. Groaning she stretched her tensed muscles and sat up. Confused she looked around, taking in her surroundings.
She was lying in the middle of a desert, all alone, with just a backpack next to her.
Her clothes were covered with sand and dust and her skin arched from the burning sun.
Quickly she went to check her pockets, but realized that she had none. She wore dark green pants and a white, sleeveless shirt. Her heart started to beat faster and she was very aware of the danger she was being in.
Without thinking she touched her necklace and jerked. The cross was gone! Instead there was a ring on the golden chain. She removed the necklace and looked at the item. Wondering she twisted it between her fingers; it was Jane's ring. Why did she wear Jane's ring on her necklace and why wasn't he wearing it?!
What if something had happened to him?! She felt a piercing pain in her heart at the thought of Jane being in danger. Quickly she put the necklace on again and then closed her fist around the ring. She would keep it as long as possible.
With a shivering breath she closed her eyes again; this just could be a bad dream.
But after five minutes she still was sitting in the bright sun, so she opened her eyes and moved to sit on her knees. This backpack had gotten her curious.
Carefully she opened it and first pulled out a brown leather jacket. Also in these pockets was nothing to be found. Then she found a metal bottle, but there was no water in it as she discovered next. Sighing she put it aside and searched through the remaining stuff in the backpack. Suddenly her fingers touched the dry fabric of paper. She grabbed it and pulled it out. It was just a small piece of paper with black computer letters.
Find him… Was the only thing written on it. Of course she knew who was meant with 'him'.
Whoever wrote this note told her to find Jane and she was completely sure that he was somewhere outside there as well. She had made her decision then; she'd find him, whatever it would take. With new energy, but also shaking hands, she continued looking through the stuff. There was a knife, a small box -empty unfortunately- and a rope.
She put it all back and stood up. After a few steps she stumbled and fell into the hot sand; how long had she been laying there? Her whole body was hurting like hell.
After taking a deep breath, she stood up again, grabbed the backpack and went into any direction, hoping she would see Jane only once more in her life. She really had to tell him something.
Jane woke up to the sound of quiet water next to his ear and the setting sun shining onto his face. He opened his eyes slowly and sat up. His head was hurting and he had to put his hands above his eyes because of the bright sunlight. Curiously he looked around and all he saw were stones around him.
Just a few inches next to him a little stream was making its way through the rocky landscape, on his other side laid a backpack. Only then he realized that he wasn't wearing his usual suit, but dark green pants and a simple white shirt with short sleeves.
He ran his hand through his hair, but suddenly stopped. Something was missing.
He looked at his hands and realized that his ring was gone! Shock let him take a sharp breath before he noticed another difference. He was wearing a chin around his neck, although he never had owned any kind of necklace nor wore one. There was an item on it, but he couldn't tell what it was until he removed the chin and stared at Teresa's cross. How did it get to him?
Again shock caught him; maybe something had happened to her!
He put it around his neck again and sighed. What was up here? How had he gotten into this place? He stood up and saw stars for a few seconds; he must have been unconscious for pretty long! Then he turned to the backpack and opened it. There was plenty of stuff in it, nothing which caught his attention. Just some tools, a jacket… Until he suddenly felt a small piece of paper. Quickly he pulled it out and read: find her…
The only one who could be meant was Lisbon and that made it so much worse for him. He just had to know if she was ok! Worry stared drilling into his heart and he had to close his eyes. He had to take her in his arms once more, had to tell her the truth!
The thought of her being in danger let him stand straight. Quickly he grabbed the backpack, filled the bottle with water and hurried over to the rocks. He would find her, doesn't matter what it would take.
She had walked for an eternity already, but still hadn't reached any point which at least gave her hope. The sun was still burning on her skin, although it was setting. Slowly her vision started to get blurred and her body got heavier with every step.
She just had to go on, no break, no rest. The thought of Jane made her going on and gave her the hope she desperately needed for each new step.
Suddenly her breath caught in her throat and everything she saw was black; a deep, smooth black.
" Teresa… " She heard a gentle voice saying. " Stand up… "
" I can't. " She heard now her own voice. " I can't… "
" Of course you can, just open your eyes and you will feel better. " She recognized the voice as Jane's and opened her eyes quickly.
The sight she had didn't change; darkness. But soon her eyes got used to it and she could see the frames of hills and the stars in the sky. Of course Jane wasn't there; it just had been a dream, her subconscious mind had made up to save her from death.
It was night; that was obvious. Only then she realized the coldness which numbed her body.
She wouldn't survive this sudden climate changes for long… But in that moment she just put on the jacket she had had in her backpack and stood up again. After walking some more time, which was a little easier now than during the day, she found a big rock which formed some small kind of cave. It was not much, but would protect her from the sunlight the next morning. So she kneeled down and climbed into the narrow space between the rock and the sand. Although she was thirsty so much it hurt, she forced herself to sleep. She would need the energy the next day.
As the night took over from the day, the burning heat was replaced by biting cold.
He had already put on his jacket, but felt like a sculpture of ice though.
It was so dark around him that he couldn't see his own hands, so he stumbled every five steps until he decided that it was nonsense to go on walking. Carefully he kneeled down and touched the cold stone he was sitting on. There didn't seem to be anything dangerous around, so he laid down and looked up into sky. The thought that she was being under the same stars made him feel more confident and he closed his eyes. He would need as much energy as he could get.
It started with a sudden bang; and then rain poured down onto the dry sand. The giant wall of water made the desert to a sea of sand; a murderous, troubled sea which was waiting for Lisbon to wake up. First there just were a few short trails, but soon real rivers were streaming into her little cave. Her clothes were wet within seconds and when she opened her eyes, the water was just about to reach her ear. She needed some seconds to realize what was going on, but then the shock caught her, she sat up straight and hurt her head on the ceiling of the cave.
Groaning she reached for her backpack and crawled out of the cave as fast as possible.
Outside the situation wasn't better; the rain was running into her eyes and made her shiver.
The ground under her feet was getting weaker and weaker and she slipped with every second step. Panicking she looked around, but didn't find what she was looking for. Squeezing her eyes shut, she ran up a hill, but never reached the top. After five steps the sand started flowing away under her feet and pulled her with it. Quickly she walked into another direction and then saw what might be her rescue; a big rock with a plateau on top. She ran over to it and quickly analyzed every inch of the surface; it was her change to get out of the steady flowing sand/water mixture! First she threw the backpack onto the plateau and then went to climb up as well. It turned out to be more difficult that she had thought, since the walls of the rock were all wet and with that slippery. She made a few attempts, but slid down again every time.
When she tried it once more, she got higher than before, but suddenly lost her balance again because of the heavy rain. A jolt of pain shot ran through her body when she landed on the ground, already sinking into the sand. But she ignored the pain and went to climb up the rock once more. This time she even reached the top and sat down on the plateau, digging her fingernails into fabric of the backpack. Her leg was hurting horribly and when she looked at it, blood was mixing with rain and dropping onto the wet stone.
Again she closed her eyes and laid head on top of her knee.
She missed Jane; she missed his with all her heart and desperately needed to find him.
Breathing now slower, she started playing with the ring and kept holding it tightly between her fingers. Without it she probably would have given up. The situation was so hopeless and crazy it seemed like an unrealistic dream. But now that she wore it around her neck, right above her heart, it reminded her of what she was fighting for.
He was worth every pain and she was ready to suffer for him.
'Okay, concentrate only for a second' she thought. How would she find him in this sandy hell? The only thing she could do was searching, but only when the rain stopped.
Until then she just could wait and hope for the pain to get less.
After some minutes of just staring into the nothing, her thoughts drifted off to Jane again.
She would tell him how she truly felt about him. But what would happen then…?
Jane was staring out into the rain from his place on top of an old tree. Honestly, he was surprised that he had gotten up there in less than twenty seconds. The ground under him was flooded, but in the moment he had other worries. The rain had woken him up early and he was sitting on this stupid tree since that moment. While this eternity he had been thinking of plenty of things. But well, most of them were including Lisbon. He just missed her really much… After one more hour the rain got less and Jane climbed down the tree; he had wasted enough time. Quickly he walked into the best looking direction, the thought that Lisbon could be practically everywhere made him feel dead. But he had her cross and it gave him hope!
In his time on the tree he had also guessed that she had probably his ring if he had her cross…
Whoever had planned this didn't want to kill them, but Jane didn't know what this all was about. The most important thing in the moment was to find Lisbon and he wouldn't fail this time. Without her he wouldn't go on with his life; that was sure. So there was no 'would', there was just a 'will'.