As soon as the attention of Tabitha Howlter had been caught, she wasted no time in scrambling to her feet and bounding over, with a spring in her step, to meet the owner of the voice that had called her.
At first, Phil was relieved to see her, and even smiled for a bit, finally comforted, knowing that she was alright.
"Phil!" Tabitha chirruped, and pulled him into a hug, her arms wrapped around his sharp ribs, "What are you doing out here?"
Phil's relief turned swiftly to annoyance and he attempted to pull away.
"Looking for you; what else would I be out here for?" He snapped, "Sightseeing?" And at the hint of irritation in his voice, Tabitha let go of him and took a step back.
"Come on now, calm down…" she swallowed.
Phil sighed and averted his eyes to the floor, bending his shoulders in exhaustion.
"Sorry…" he apologised, "It's been a long day… or rather, yesterday was… what time is it? 1AM?"
Tabitha checked the phone in her hand that had been the source of the light earlier and read the time.
"Yeah, almost," she nodded, and then looked back up to make eye contact, "You said it had been a long day; what's been happening?"
"I'll tell you later. I think the real question is about what in the world you're doing here," Phil replied, and awaited an explanation.
"I went for a walk," Tabitha answered, stating the obvious, "I wandered all the way down here and something just so happened to catch my eye… turned out to be a shrub hole just down there-" and she gestured over her shoulder to where Phil would have been able to see a tunnel in the side of a pile of rocks, its entrance surrounded by leaves and branches, if it was light enough.
Only, it wasn't light enough, so he couldn't see it.
"And?" He pushed.
"I went through it and I found the most amazingly beautiful place – you should have seen it, Phil, it was stunning – there were mountains all around and a waterfall and a-" Tabitha went on, but Phil cut her off before she could carry on rhapsodising.
"And you got so carried away admiring the scenery that you forgot to come back to the campsite?" He put in, urging on the story.
"You could say it like that," Tabitha said, her cheeks flushing pink, though it was too dark to tell, "There was an old lady there who was very nice and invited me in for tea. I went with her because I did fancy some tea, but I suppose I got carried away. Only just escaped about half an hour ago, and I was so tired I had to sit and rest for a bit."
"Didn't you think to call Dil?" Phil asked, his voice soft yet slightly hoarse, "He was scared stiff about you…" and he paused before adding, "So was I…"
"Oh- Phil!" Tabitha breathed, endearingly, "I didn't have any signal on my phone," she mumbled, "I would've called, but I couldn't. I'm sorry I worried you both so much."
"Ah, it's fine, I suppose. What matters is that you're OK," Phil assured her, straining a smile, "Now we really should get back to Dil before he starts wondering where I disappeared to."
"You didn't tell him where you were going?" Tabitha asked, following along as Phil turned away and stuffed his hands into his pockets.
"Didn't want to wake him," Phil whispered, his breath showing up like smoke in the cold air.
"How about Dan?"
"He's at home."
"Does he know where you are?"
"More or less."
"'More or less'?" Tabitha repeated, sceptically raising an eyebrow, "What's that supposed to mean?"
"I called him. He knows I'm at Granite Falls, but he doesn't know exactly where," Phil told her, "No matter, though. We'll soon be back home, hopefully, and you can recite your story to him. I'm sure he'll enjoy you telling him all about how pretty these mountains were…"
"He'll be too busy being happy to see you again," Tabitha smiled, and Phil gave a suppressed snort of a laugh.
He would have made some sort of self-depreciating joke, but he was filled, at that moment, with the returning sensation of dizziness.
The world seemed to spin a bit around him and even though the air was cool, he was still too warm.
Rubbing his eyes and looking down to see where he was putting his feet, he noticed that his shoelaces had come undone, and instead of awkwardly trying to tie them as he walked, he took the opportunity to stop for a while.
"Laces," he stated, simply, "You go on ahead; I'll catch up in a moment."
Tabitha agreed to this and calmly carried on. Her hair was a bit messy and Phil was sure that there was a leaf stuck in the ends, but apart from that, there was no evidence that she had been on a little adventure into the deep woods, through this 'shrub hole' she'd mentioned.
Phil watched her go as he leaned back against a tree behind him and managed to scratch all down his hand on the rough bark. Why did trees have to be so sharp?
He knelt to re-tie his laces and sat for a while to steady his vision. Perhaps it was just because it was dark.
He supposed he'd better get back to the tent, tell Dil that his wife was safe and get some more sleep before he inevitably had to help pack everything away in the morning.
He really didn't feel up to the walk back to Willow Creek.
He dizzily started the trek back to camp, regretting not sending Dan out instead of him.
He didn't sleep very well that night.
In fact, he didn't really sleep at all.
This was a stark contrast to all of the Howlters, especially Dab, who woke the next morning well rested and refreshed.
Dan Howell, too, had had a fine night's rest and started his day making a bowl of cereal for Dab. He would have tried making toast again, but of course, they didn't really have any electricity.
He was hoping that he'd be able to see his best friend again today because it felt odd not having him there.
He would have called to ask how things were going, but he didn't wish to interrupt.
Seeing as he didn't know whether everyone would be back home today, he left the blanket fort out, spread over the table. He'd had to leave it out because Dab had opted to sleep there that night, surrounded by pillows and draped in blankets.
The child soon woke up, though, when he heard the sound of cereal being poured.
At least Dan still had him to keep him company.
"Morning," Dan smiled, softly, "Hungry?"
Dab nodded in response and rubbed his eyes as he sleepily stepped out from his pillow cave.
"Do you think that mum and dad will be back today?" He asked.
Dan shrugged,
"Probably," he said, calmly, "I certainly hope so. It'll take a while to pack away the tent and return everything to the ranger, anyway, so they might not be back until after dinner or sometime."
Dab looked OK with this.
It seemed that he didn't really mind his parents being away, as long as he had Dan to spend time with. He wasn't strict, at least, and would happily spend hours talking about anything and everything that Dab could think of.
Quite the opposite to-
"Reckon Phil's alright?"
"Should be," Dan nodded, handing the kid the bowl in his hand, along with a spoon, "If not, we'll soon find out."
They did, in fact, soon find out, and Dan found that his friend was not quite as alright as he'd assumed.
He'd been standing outside in the fresh air some few hours after dinner and enthusiastically looked up from his phone as he'd heard Dil and Tabitha chatting away and three pairs of footsteps down the street.
Naturally, Phil was the first person whom he greeted, and even though he smiled, he still looked exhausted.
Dil and Tabitha didn't, though, and at hearing their voices, their son came straight out of his blanket fort to meet them.
It was a good job he did, too, because Dan was too pre-occupied to talk to them: he'd pulled his friend into a warm hug and held him there as he practically collapsed. Probably from the walk.
"Are you alright?" He asked, quietly, in a voice 600 times sweeter than sugar.
Phil only gave a murmur of a sleepy 'uh-huh' in reply.
Noticing how warm he was and how flaccid, Dan led him inside and ordered him to get some rest.
"Did you have a nice time?" He asked Dil and Tabitha as he sat down on the sofa, pulled Phil down beside him, and reached to get the blanket from the back of the chair before remembering that it was currently spread over the dining table.
"For the most part, yes, we did," Dil chuckled as Tabitha admired the fort – she didn't seem to mind that her table was a mess – "Everything turned out fine in the end, though," Dil continued, "And I appreciate the helping hand."
Phil probably would have said something along the lines of 'you're welcome' if he hadn't been half-asleep, so instead he averted his eyes to stare out of the window.
"Where did you get to, then?" Dan asked Tabitha, curiously, and saw her face light up.
"Oh! I have to tell you all about it! You have to hear about these mountains…"