Trapped

Chapter Seventeen (C)

With the fog getting thicker with each passing second, I could see Alex get excited.

"Cool, I've got it on, we can continue," he smirked as if he was actually thinking he's done something special.
We started walking as he was holding his camera in his hands, pointing it in every possible direction.

I could see Tim look at me again.
"So, you don't remember things?" he was asking me.
I just shrugged in response.
"Do you..." he looked at me with a sad look in his eyes.
"Uh..."

"Stop bothering him," I could hear Kate's voice as she started tugging him away from me, but he just shook her arm away.

"Do you remember me?" he finished the question.

I remember.
But not the same way.

I just shrugged again, "I don't want to talk about it," I told him.

"Right..." he responded and looked at Alex who was way too excited about his camera to be bothered with us.

"Hey, I don't care if you don't agree, but if we don't go back, we're gonna get fucking lost," Kate was saying.
"I'm gonna head back, with or without you," she turned round.

"Good luck with that," I could hear Alex yell at her from far away, as he was trying to make his way back to us.

She walked away, and I just stayed with the guy next to me up until the other one finally reached us.
"Yo, guys, you need to see this. I have this really good setting and I didn't even know about it -"

Alex's rambling was interrupted by a woman's scream from far away, sounding a bit like Kate.

Alex quickly grabbed his camera more tightly as he started pointing it in the direction, and I could notice he was shaking a bit.

We all turned around to check, but considering the now much thicker fog and darkness, we couldn't find her.

"We should head back and find her," I was already starting to walk towards that place, but Alex grabbed me by my arm.

"No way, dude, we're getting this video done. We're gonna catch him on it, we have to, it's been too long," he said.

"We have to find her!" I raised my voice at him.

"She will find her way. She's just freaking out because she's alone at night in the frickin' woods," he smirked.
"On the other hand, where is..." he looked around. "Tim."

I turned round, searching for him.

I didn't notice when he disappeared, but I was sure we were separated by the constantly deepening fog.
It was difficult to see a few feet away.

"Stick with me, bro," he commanded.
"If you get lost too, I -"

"Just shut up," I said, annoyed by his voice.

"No, I mean it," he said, grabbing me by my hand.
Once again, it felt almost as if I was getting an electric shock.
"Sorry but this way we won't get separated."

I rolled my eyes.
"Could have just grabbed my arm, not my hand," I attempted to shake his hand off, but he was holding me too tightly.

He doesn't care about Kate going missing.
He seems like Tim getting lost just made him worried for himself, not anyone else. I was thinking.

"Mhm..."

"Not so brave now, are you?" I smirked a bit, but his hand holding mine was still frustrating to me.

"You know I'm not scared of anything," he said.

I almost chuckled, but I just continued trying to get his hand away.

"We're gonna find them, or I'm letting go of you," I was warning him.

He just shrugged.

Suddenly, I realized that for a moment, I completely forgot this isn't my original place.
That I don't know it here.
That I... may not belong here.
When I remembered, it just left me there numbly standing.

"Yo, what?"

"Nothing..." I looked in to the white surroundings.
Alex was tugging me somewhere, and I could no longer tell which way.

Suddenly, I could feel someone or something else touch me, making the spot that's been touched burn as if it was set on fire.

Looking around, I couldn't find Alex anymore, and I couldn't feel anything touching me anymore.
Looking behind me, the second I could see something black and tall standing there, I ran away.

I was running without a specific destination until I ran into someone.

"You look like you've seen a ghost," Tim remarked, looking at me.
For whatever reason, his stare now was making me feel more uncomfortable.
"Where's Alex?"

"I don't know," I just stared at him with wide eyes.

"Well, do you want to try and find him, or would you rather get to your house?" he was asking me.

"I -"

"Hmm?" he stared at me, and he almost looked amused by something.

"I don't know."
I didn't dare to find his recent change in behavior too disturbing, as I knew that me being here is odd enough.

I made another step, trying to walk away from Tim, but as soon as I've made it, I heard unstoppable loud ringing.
Not sure where the ringing was coming from, I stopped and looked at him again, then I was looking around, trying to find the source.

"Do you..." I was trying to ask.
"Do you hear it?"

He stayed quiet, just looking at me.

The ringing was getting louder with each moment until I could see someone rushing over to us, grabbing me by my arm.

Alex.

"Jeez, I thought I lost you," he said loudly, panicking.
"Tim? Where's Kate?"

No response.

"Tim?"

Silence.

"Damn, you're starting to creep me out. As you know, I don't get scared easily, so whatever you're doing, stop," Alex was saying.

For a second, I thought I could see Kate in the distance.

"We need to get back, NOW," Alex yelled at us.

In that moment, I could hear the ringing get louder than before, sending me to the ground as I was losing my consciousness.