Olifina: Love And Trouble

23. The Chase

I wondered how Rodas could see the person so quickly. The person wasn't moving and was wearing all black. It was hard to notice that someone was there.

We tried to remain hidden behind the scanty bushes which didn't serve as a nice enough covering. Thankfully, Rodas and I had dark-coloured coloured clothes and shoes. The moon wasn't bright in that area so it helped. The person began to move after about ten minutes of standing still. Honestly, if maybe Rodas hadn't pointed the person out to me I could've thought it was a tree or something.
I crawled closer to Rodas as we continued to watch the person who was moving at a very fast pace.

Soon, he was out of sight and that left Rodas and I conflicted between the decision of either taking the chance to leave or wait to see if he was truly gone.

Every inch of me felt like just jumping out from those bushes and making a run for it, but Rodas held me back. I tried not to argue much with him for it would only draw attention to ourselves. After about five minutes of waiting, Rodas tugged at the sleeve of my jacket.

"Let's go," he whispered and I held my bag tighter, ready to follow him.

He stood up slowly and I followed closely behind. We walked a little distance before Rodas started to increase his pace. Thankfully, I was careful enough to notice the change in his speed.

I felt like a cat, scampering through the woods at past 9 pm with Rodas. We were trying to be fast and careful at the same time. For once, I thought I saw a shadow running towards us. I increased my pace, overtaking Rodas and taking the lead for a while.

Goosebumps grew all over my skin and my heart raced. I was scared out of my mind. Rodas cut in front of me as he took us off track. I was familiar enough with our usual path so I wasn't mistaken when I concluded that Rodas had taken us off track. We passed by a river I had never noticed. Rodas continued to drag me along with him. He was full of energy while I on the other hand felt like fainting. The whole running and hiding throughout the day had drained my energy.

We got into an area with thick bushes. Rodas slowed his pace at that point. Almost every step we took landed on twigs which snapped under our feet. Rodas still held my hand while he used the other hand to clear the bushes in front of him.

Rodas was quiet the whole time. His full concentration was on leading us out of there. I tripped on a rock and Rodas caught me from falling.

"There's a clearing in front. We can rest there a little before we continue."

I nodded and we continued on our way. My body felt feverish against the cold wind of the night blowing past us as we passed through the forest. My breath came out shallow and rushed. Finally, we got to the clearing Rodas had talked about.

I dropped to the ground like a wilting plant. The muscles in my legs felt like they would fold together.  My stomach churned underneath me and I placed my hand on it in a bid to pacify the pain.

"Rufina," Rodas called from beside me where he sat. "We need to move. Here isn't safe."

Despite the screaming in my mind telling me to remain on that ground, I nodded to Rodas. He stood up and offered me his hand which I took and he pulled me up.

We walked as fast as our weak and hungry selves could go.

"Are we close?" I managed to muster enough strength to ask.

"Yeah."

We were still on the strange path so I couldn't tell if we were close to the house or not. After some minutes of walking, I called Rodas and pleaded for us to stop and catch our breaths. Besides, I couldn't see any sign of us being followed anymore.

Resting on a tree, I took out my phone to check the time only to see the amount of missed calls from Oliver and my dad.

"My dad and Oliver have been calling. My phone was on silent so I didn't notice."

"They called me too. I could feel the vibration of my phone in my pocket. We need to keep going."

I nodded and put my phone in my pocket. Rodas pulled me up like he had done before and we continued to walk, dragging our feet underneath us.

Above us, the moon shone brightly. I brought out my phone again to confirm the time. It was already ten in the night.

The croaking of frogs sounded close, accompanied by the chirping of birds and the hooting of owls. My body still felt feverish and my stomach twisted underneath. The hunger made everything intense. I started to feel hot under my sweater. I unzipped it and pulled it off. It was the fever.

"Do you feel hot?" I asked Rodas just to confirm if I was the problem or if the place was hot.

Rodas turned to me and shook his head.
I couldn't agree less. I knew I was having a fever.
The sound of the rustling of leaves above us confirmed that the place was windy.

As we moved further, I began to recognize the place we were. The house wasn't a long walk ahead. The realization strengthened me a little and I increased my pace so I was now walking beside Rodas.

"This is a different path, but I know we're close."

Rodas looked over at me and smiled weakly, nodding his head.

I stopped to catch my breath, combing through my hair with my fingers. All around us was dark, save for the moonlight.

"Why didn't we think of bringing torches?"

"Because we didn't think of staying till this time."

I sighed and followed behind as Rodas continued to walk again.

We soon got to a tree which I recognized as the apple tree we had plucked apples from the other day. We're home.