Author's Note:

This is a continuation from the first chapter, so it's not quite a second chapter per se – mostly due to the fact that I had to cut the previous chapter in half.
Yeah, I kinda regret doing that, haha.

Chapter Two – Waking Up
{Part. 02}

No trumpets sound when the important decisions of our life are made.
Destiny is made silently.

-Agnes de Mille

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

There was no denying it, the ever-so-familiar clouds were threatening rain.

Lucky me, there were no shelter in sight; trees were out of the question as those would not really served a purpose – much less shield me from the downpour that was likely to befall on me. I was quite literally stuck out here to be drenched. Knowing my lovely friends, they would not come out and end the prank – I wouldn't have either were I in their shoes. Now that I think about it, I would have to literally curl up into a ball and cry out for help for them to finally appear.

Well, I was not going to give them that satisfaction!

Bitches.

Of course I wasn't just going to stand here and wait for the rain to make my move. So what if I never hiked before? I'm sure I wouldn't get killed if I use my common sense. Hell, I'm mature for my age – or I like to think that I am. There was no real good reason why I should freak out now. Besides, I'm bound to come across some form of civilization out here. Bathrooms could serve as a temporary shelter and so could an empty kiosk were it to rain before I reached someone.

Yes, all the more reason I should be pissed off once I meet up with those who set me up.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

Okay.

There's something off.

Way off.

Since I don't sleep with a wristwatch nor did I possessed an internal clock that actually tells you the time of day, but I knew for a fact that I had walked for a while. The prank should had worn off by now. Those who were behind this should appeared already with their phone's out ready to snap those unflattering pictures of me trudging in the wilderness, only to later see them posted in their Facebook or some shitty photo sharing website.

I should had been home by now, plotting my own revenge... right after I took a nice, warm, cleansing shower.

Yet, here I was – standing in the middle of some godforsaken place I didn't know.

I should had come across something by now.

I had no idea how far I had walked, I couldn't even tell – everything looked the same! The more I walked, the more trees I came across. Occasionally I'd hear a rustling coming from one of the many shrubs only to see some small animal scurry across my path. The wind was getting stronger now; there was that familiar scent of rain in the air that – thankfully – had yet to make its appearance. The forest, as I was sure it was one, was no longer as inviting as it was when I first set off. As a matter of fact, it perturbed me.

I must had walked for hours if the pain in my feet was any indication of the time; apparently, I was not accustomed to walking in such terrain without shoes. Big surprise, huh?

I was not big in directions – as in, I couldn't physically tell where was what. For that reason alone I decided it was wise to just walk in a single direction and that's what I had done for the last couple of hours or miles. This with the belief I would eventually come across something or someone by now. Even in this weather, I was sure there were a handful of people wondering around who'd revel in what nature had to offer. It was useless though; everything around me literally looked the same – I hadn't come across anything OR anyone. The only change was the fact that I could tell the day was slowly turning into night, caused either by the clouds overlapping one another or the day really ending.

There was no point in standing around and weeping about it.

Well, at least not yet...

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

I slowed my pace considerably.

Night had fallen and with no light source, I had to be careful where I stepped.

How long has it been now? Four hours, five? Better yet, where the hell... "Am I?!" I screamed out into the darkness, into the night air, into this world I had awoken up to.

I was beyond perturbed – I'd be happy to admit I was scared.

Alone, hungry and awfully tired, I could not think of a time in my life where I ever felt this way.

My feet were sore from all the walking, multiplied by the stones and sharp twigs I stepped on. Then there was the cold, the awful cold that my flesh seemed too quickly to absorb! Despite walking for an unknown distance and time, it no longer kept the cold at bay. And even so, I needed a rest.

God, how I needed it…

A loud crack resonated from the sky above and I automatically looked up to the dark sky only to feel the first raindrop fall upon my face. Frantic, I dashed to the nearest tree. Nogood. Nogood. Nogood. The branches would only protect me from the rain for so long, I could not possibly stay underneath them. I had to find shelter and fast. Without waiting another second, I stepped away from the tree in search for a better shelter.

What first started off as slow rain soon turned into pouring sheets.

The strong wind was not helping either.

My hair was no longer just damp but stuck to my face as rivulets of water dripped down the side of my face. The little that I wore was practically soaked through, the cold dampness of the cloth now snuggling against my trembling body. Each step I had taken either led me to a stumble or my feet would sunk into the cold, muddy earth. The coldness now clung to me as the droplets of rain did to my body – there was no way I could keep myself warm.

I would be lucky if I didn't catch a cold from all of this.

Shit.

It was then as I huddled my trembling self to a tree that I saw the one thing I gave up hope of finding – the outline of a familiar frame stood out from the surrounding trees.

"Thank you, thank you," I mumbled to some nameless, unseen force.

I quickly crossed to the nearest tree that stood only a foot or two away from the only shelter I'd seen. This shelter in question was nothing more than a tent, a very simple looking tent. Where this a comical situation, I would had guess the frame was being held up by a standing stick in its center. It looked that simple but it was definitely he one thing I had been looking for the last couple of hours.

Now that I was much closer, I could not see any signs that someone was here; there was no cooking utensils outside or anything to prove that someone was occupying this spot – which I found a bit odd.
But I suppose lacking any experiences with camping and basing it all on the movies I'd seen, this was not a proper way to access whether someone was here or not. Of course it was raining, so that might explain why there was no sign of life.

As I leaned against the trunk of the tree, I watched attentively for any sign of movements from within. It was a stupid thing to do, I realized seconds later as there was no light to cast a shadow from within – which honestly left me with one thing to do.

Clearing my throat, I called out loudly. "Hello?"

1 Mississippi… 2 Mississippi… 3 Mississippi…

No reply.

I called out again.

Nada.

I gave whoever was inside a fair warning; I was noisy, which should have awoken anyone who was inside. Well, perhaps not that noisy but enough to rouse attention. If they were heavy sleepers, they would be in for a surprise once they found me standing in front of their tent like Jason from Friday the 13th minus the axe. Heh. Surely I would not just stand out here in the rain leaving the person inside unperturbed, because desperate times call for desperate measures. Without a second thought, I pushed myself from the tree as I quickly, albeit clumsily, made my way to the front.

But before I could dash inside, I made one last call.

"Anyone inside?" I called out again as I walked around to the entrance.

As before, there was no reply.

Instead, I caught sight of the front of the tent flapping due to the strong winds.

Common sense would dictate if a person was inside, they would surely closed or zipped the entrance to keep the elements outside. Seeing it was not, it could only mean one of two things: the occupant had left in search of something or the tent itself had been abandoned. Were this a different situation, I would had reconsidered what stood before me. But life proved otherwise as I was drenched from the rain and surrounded by the freezing cold that accompanied it. With no other option left, I dashed inside.

With barely enough room to stand, I managed to firmly closed the entrance as it should had been so as to keep the rain outside. I then settled myself into the farthest corner of the entrance – granted, it wasn't all that far from the opening but it was far enough away to see if anyone approached. With my knees pulled up to my chest, I slowly rocked my body side to side as I listened to the splat, splat of raindrops hitting the sheet that now shielded me.

It had been a while back when I knew my situation had taken a turn for the worst when I came to the realization that my friends had not actually pulled a prank on me. Had they, in good conscious, they would had appeared and saved me.

Yes.

Saved me.

Yet...

This was something new.

I had questioned and pondered the bizarre possible reasons why I was here. The thought of being kidnapped had crossed my mind, but why in the world would anyone want to do that, much less drop me in a forest? My family were not particularly rich or important to warrant such crime. Then there was the fact that modernization had reached the farthest corners of the earth, and I should had come across some form of civilization by now, be it people or structure. As much as I pondered other possibilities, I could not come up with a definite answer. It was useless just thinking this over.

Whatever the reason this was far from good.

"Shit," I muttered as a cold shiver ran up my spine as I furiously rubbed my exposed arms for the ninth time. As happy as I was finding the tent, it was not doing me any good by being cold. Clearly it would had been wise to take off my wet clothes but I was not in a location were warm and dry clothes were freely available.

I then remembered as I was making my way to the corner of my newfound shelter, I felt a bundle of something soft and cloth-like in my path. Unsure for how long the tent had been abandoned, I knew it would be best not to touch a thing...were this a normal situation. Without a second thought, I crawled and felt my way around for this bundle.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

The rain had stopped but in its place had come the flashes of lightening and the ever familiar rolling thunder.

Thankfully, I was no longer as cold as before thanks to the warm cloak I wore. Granted, I would had preferred warm, dry clothes over a cloak that was two sizes too big on me. With its high collar -which I zipped all the way- that shielded half of my face, I pulled in my arms and legs underneath the cloak and close to my body to keep them warm.

Now all I had to do was wait for morning to come.

So how was the ending, nothing out-of-the-ordinary, is it? DUN-DUN-DUUUUN ;)

On a different topic, I came across this interesting and fun idea where -as a writer- I'll ask you a question, be it amusing or semi-serious, as a way to both get to know the reader and interact with them. Of course it's all voluntarily – you don't need to play if you don't want to.

Here goes!

Question:
If you could take ONE thing with you to a fictional world -let's assume you just appeared there- what would it be and why?

Thanks for reading - see you next week!