Ingrid is the epitome of a failing millennial at 30 years old. Dumped by yet another boyfriend, a troubled relationship with her family, her only friend lives abroad, and she is overweight, sedentary, broke, uneducated, and now unemployed. All she k...
Hoots, at first distant like in a dream, but then closer and more real. A light spike from grass leafs she could perceive at the slightest move all over her arms. It seemed that the trance was over, since a still sleepy Ingrid could lazily stretch her limbs again. Yep, she was definitely awake, she could even smell ... smoke? Her eyes opened at once, searching for the possible fire in the park, hoping it was nothing but, if it were, she would immediately call the firefighters. She instinctively groped all over herself and the grass to her sides trying to find her smartphone, especially because it was much darker than she liked, as if there was a blackout. Only after a few seconds did it come to her that not only did she not find her cell phone anywhere, but the park she was at looked nothing like the place she apparently fell asleep at. Her eyes tried to find posts, houselights, anything familiar indicating civilization to convince herself everything was alright and nothing bad would happen to her. She didn't know whether she was robbed, kidnapped, still dreaming or in the middle of a delirious episode. She looked up to the nightsky, not having any clue of what time it was, but dazzle dazed her brown eyes seeing so many stars like she's never seen before. The view could be described like those shiny black fabrics used to make fancy gowns.
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The sight was so mesmerizing she even thought of making a poem. No, wait, a sky that full of stars means I'm nowhere close to a populated city like my own. I'm not in my town! Ingrid learned in her teenage years that the many artificial lights were the reason why people from the city never knew what a real nightsky was like, a privilege reserved to open places barely touched by mankind's technology, like big farms, villages and small towns in the countryside or forests far from the city. And that was a big problem for a woman like Ingrid. She didn't know what possibility was more alarming: her being alone in any of these places, or not being alone. Bad things happen to women all the time, and it happened to her more than once, but she made it alive. However, she knew where she was and where or at least how to find help.
The smell of smoke brought her mind back to reality, to the fact she needed to do something. Trying to avoid making any noise, she stood up and looked around one more time, trying to get as many details from the place as she could. No houses at sight. No human voices so far. But if there was smoke, there was fire at some point. And if there was fire, it was made by humans since the temperature wasn't high enough that night for a natural fire, and primates didn't learn the art of firemaking yet. She had to make a decision right now. It was obviously very late at night and whoever was making a fire in a place like this certainly had a specific objective in mind. Maybe patrolling, maybe camping, but it could also be something evil, something that awaits stupid horror movie characters who for some reason always run into the assassin instead of running away. Oh, for fuck's sake. Ingrid rubbed away the last traces of sleep and confusion trying to make a plan to survive the night, since she would definitely not ask strangers for help this late and with no chance to defend herself in case shit happens. Of course there were other threats in a forest (at this point she didn't think she was at a farm or a small town anymore) like animals and insects, but she knew that, due to her size, it was easier to scare them away or at least survive since they only attack out of instinct and true hunger. Well, technically there are sadistic animals that willingly inflict pain in others for their own pleasure. She remembered some videos she watched and articles she read on that matter, but this fact wasn't relevant at that moment.
After pondering for a few minutes, she decided to hide behind a bush and sit quietly until morning dawned. It was a good thing she had slept enough to not be bothered by staying awake for an indefinite time, and hunger was also not a problema to her, since she knew well to go without food and water for more hours than not. Nonetheless, a voice inside her head insisted maybe she should follow the smell of smoke and see what was there, and who. Throughout the night this voice could not be silenced, but Ingrid preferred a voice instilling doubt in her unharmed and alive than quench her curiosity but also someone else's she would rather not somewhere abandoned by those willing to help her out if she needed. Fuck it, waiting here it is.
