Chapter 2
I finally stopped walking and looked around. I didn't recognize anything near by. "Cassie?" I called out, hoping that my sister was close enough to hear me. No response. I sat down on a fallen tree branch and tried to map out how far I had gotten.
At least it's not dark yet, I thought to myself. I wished that I knew directions better too, but I always got confused. My dad would always tease me that I didn't know north from south.
Even worse, there was no sign of the creek or any sort of water nearby. I couldn't believe Cassie had gotten that much ahead of me.
Crack! There it was again, only it was so much closer this time. There weren't any animals nearby, either.
Great. Just great.
I was trying not to let my imagination play tricks on me. "Cassie?" I called out again, a little louder this time. You know, just in case she hadn't heard me the first time.
I looked down at my watch. I'd been alone in the woods for about half an hour now. I tried not to think of all of those stories I had heard about people going into the woods and never coming out.
I figured I had two choices. I could sit and wait for someone to find me, which could be hours. Or, I could start walking and hopefully find my sister and a way back to my house. With that, I decided that I should start walking – hopefully I would run into something soon.
While I walked, I tried not to think about how thirsty I was or the fact that it was going to be dark pretty soon. The trees were already beginning to cast long shadow in front of me. I was scared, but I didn't want to admit it.
Crack CRACK CRACK. The noise that I had heard previously kept growing louder. I didn't even want to turn around as I broke into a run. I started running blindly, hoping that I would be out of the woods soon.
I didn't even notice the fallen log as I slipped. I tumbled down a small embankment, rolling a few times. I laid there for a minute, completely dazed.
In fact, I was so confused that I could even scream when an arm reached out and grabbed me.