Blanca Like Snow

Chapter 37 - Desperation

||This chapter changes POV (from first to third) so it's in italics to visually portray the change.||

Chapter's glossary

Bbali bbali: In Korean "hurry up."

❅ ❅ ❅ 

"Blanca? Blanca?!" Nora screams, running through the forest, her heart beating fast. She heard something, a scream and then nothing else. And Blanca doesn't reply, which increases her anxiety.

When she finally makes it to the place she left her best friend at, the girl isn't anywhere to be seen, so Nora starts screaming louder, calling for Blanca desperately, trying to hear her from somewhere in the forest. But no replies come and a bad feeling in her guts sinks deeper, making her hands tremble and her head spin.

Where did Blanca go?

She then hears footsteps, someone running towards her and she gets scared, but at the same time hopeful that it is Blanca the one approaching. Instead, it's Will the one who shows up, expression frantic and breathing hard.

"What happened? Where is Blanca?" Will immediately asks, approaching Nora with wide eyes, pale with dread.

"I don't know!" the girl replies, anguished. "I was just peeing and she was waiting for me, then I heard a scream and thought something scared her, but she said nothing else and now she's nowhere to be seen. I don't know where she went or what happened and she doesn't answer!"

Will's expression hardens but it reflects the same panic Nora is feeling. How can something like this even happen? And if they look around it doesn't seem like something attacked Blanca, there's no sign of evident struggle aside from the broken twigs and leaves from them moving around. What kind of animal would've taken her away? Or where could she hide, so deep in the forest, as not to answer Nora's calls?

"The drone!" Will exclaims then and Nora takes a heartbeat longer than usual to process, but when she does the girl finally understands why he's thinking about it.

Without saying a word, they rush back to the clear and grab the drone they put down for a while as they weren't moving. If Blanca is around, the thing will rise in the air and go after her, and if they follow it they'll find her, wherever she's hiding.

Hopefully, she's just hiding.

Will sends the drone in the air and after a few seconds, this starts moving. Leaving everything behind, they follow it the best they can, with hammering hearts and fear freezing their blood. Nora wants to cry but pushes all emotions at the back of her mind, because they need to find Blanca first. The emotional breakdown can wait until Blanca is back with her.

They follow the drone through the forest, running as fast as they can, their lungs burning with the strain but not slowing down for even a second, desperation stronger than anything else, making the legs keep going. One footstep after the other. Faster than they made their way to the clear, they are out of the woods and back next to the van, so Will runs to it noticing how the drone doesn't stop, this time heading in the opposite direction from where they came.

Blanca isn't hiding in the forest... someone must've taken her and they need to catch up. Fast. Later they'll find out how this happened, who took her and everything else, as for now they need to find her. But the van's ignition isn't starting, up no matter how much Will tries, and he can't waste much time trying.

"Argh! Screw this!" he screams, jumping off the van and running after the drone, as fast as before, if not even faster, taken by adrenaline rush.