Chapter 5
I woke the next morning frozen. My hair and clothes were brittle and frosted, my skin felt blue and I was unable to move my fingers. I didn't think it would get so cold.
I had taken my jacket off to wrap around the rabbit which had long since gone. Taken from it's hiding spot, I felt like nothing could hide. I couldn't hide.
Looking over the tree tops, the parachute that was draped over the canopy had also gone. That was my sense of direction, my point of reference and familiarity, the only difference I had made to show me where to go and now it's gone. I had no idea where I was or where to go, everything was so similar, for all I knew I could be wondering round in circles.
Cold, a fire to warm me up would be spotted so I decided to walk. I don't know where I was walking, but I knew I had to move. He could find me if I stayed.
I decided to walk away from the river, across the hillside instead of up. The river had hidden my footprints well I hoped but now to take a different path that would be unpredictable. I had no reason to move away from the river that hid my steps, so I would. I didn't want to be predictable.
Walking for hours it seemed, my stomach started to ache. Each step seemed like a chore, an unnecessary effort that I could and should avoid. In the distance, more trees, more hills, more distance to cover. It went on forever it seemed.
Slumped against one of the many trees, I struggled to catch my breath. What if I died here? Right here, nobody will ever find me. Nobody knows where I am.
How would mum react? Does she even know I'm missing?
Ironic really. Mum never liked me walking home alone, she always wanted someone to walk with me or came to pick me up from school. I never really knew why, I had always thought of my mum as being paranoid, worrying about stuff that would never happen. How wrong was I?
It's funny, what are they doing right now? As I sit here, starving, dehydrated, my injuries dirty and surely infected, my parents and friends are at home with no idea what's happening other than the fact that I never made it home.
Something touched my shoulder. It was still touching my shoulder. It didn't let go of my shoulder.
I didn't want to look, it's fingers were outstretched, reaching to the base if my neck.
It moved I front of me. A black blur?
I opened my eyes. A man was stood there, but not the man following me. This man was dressed in a brown coat, with a white beard and wrinkles. A Canadian accent, offering water and a place to rest. I didn't hesitate to say yes. He carried me up the hill, told me about how he'd seen me walking between the trees, I just stayed quiet and nodded.
I was so grateful, his cabin was small and roomy, hidden in the trees and by the hills. He gave me food, warm stew that melted as it sank down neck. He said he would look after me, it all happened so quick, my body limp and gullible to anything offered.