Wandering through the somewhat thick woods, the repetition of the surrounding foliage was beginning to get to me. I couldn't tell if I was going in circles from how much everything looked alike. But the feeling of being alone was quite calming, yet alarming.
This is useless. No one's here... Alex was right I thought to myself. All hope began to drain my body. This 'search' was a lost cause.
Turning around, readying myself to limp back to the crash site, a loud snap rung through the area. I completely froze in place, scared out of my mind. Whether this was an animal or a human, I just didn't have to will power to run with the pain, leaving me with one option: stand my ground.
"Wh-who's here?" I shout, hoping to be heard. I didn't mean to stutter. Fuck I mentally scolded myself. I was responded to the eerie static of silence, met with my uneven breathing. Someone is here, I'm sure of it!
"Show yourself!" I yell, frustration lingering in my voice as I'm amazed with how loud I was shouting. Where has this confidence been coming from? I question. Shaking my head, I let my breath flow through my nose, trying to calm my nerves. I think I'm going crazy. No one is around me and yet I'm hearing the snapping of a single twig. I must be hearing things...
Making up my mind, I retraced my steps toward the crash site to only hear a second pair of footsteps. My mind wouldn't let me stop walking in case I was hearing things, but when the steps began to synchronize with my feet, I didn't feel safe.
Making a sudden stop, I swiftly turned, careful to not hurt myself, only to be met with no living being. This made me more anxious. I began contemplating that I wasn't crazy. Maybe someone from the group was trying to get a scare out of me, so I began calling out names.
"Jazz?" I yelled. She can't walk.
"Preston?" In the crash site gathering rope of some sort.
"Chad?" To lazy and insensitive to care.
"Alex?" I questioned, my tone going into a higher octave with every name called. She's probably comforting Jazz. So what does that mean? Taking a deep breath in, I began my confrontation to the mysterious presence.
"O-Okay, whoever the hell is trying to mess with me, it's not funny! Please, just cut it ou-" I was stopped mid-sentence, a hand coming into contact with my lips to make me stop. The hand was dirt ridden and smelled really funny. I started to struggle, trying to pull this strangers hand off of my face, but was unsuccessful in doing so, my body tensing up at its touch. Fuckity fuckity fuck fuck fuck. My eyes began to water out of fear of what was to come next. Are they going to hurt me? Rape me? I began to hyperventilate for the second time today, only no one was around to care or save me from myself and the person behind me, my mind encumbered in fear.
"Shh, you'll scare it," the person huskily whispered into my left ear, making me jump at its suddenness. At this point, I could tell that the persons voice belonged to a male, going off of his somewhat deep voice.
I could feel his breath on my nape, making me feel uncomfortable, but to save myself the trouble, I listened to his words of caution and calmed myself down. With his right hand, he pointed to a small white rabbit, covered in black splotches on its fluffy body. It was happily bouncing around on its hind legs, going around doing their own business without a care in the world. I wish I knew how that felt. I softly sighed, reminding the boy that he still had his hand over the top of my mouth.
Taking his hand off, he grabbed me by my right shoulder and turned me around to be face to face with the boy, keeping his hand firmly grasped to my shoulder.
I finally get a look at my 'attacker'. His glistening electric blue eyes staring right into my shamrock green ones, his shining with pure childish curiosity as his un-kept rose brown hair shone in the dim light surrounding us, his olive skin glowing despite his dirt ridden appearance. To say the least, I was mesmerized, confused, stunned and scared all at once.
I was in complete shock, frozen in place. Someone lives here? I couldn't believe my open eyes, staring at the boy in front of me.
He continued to stare back, my face growing red, obviously flustered. Before our staring contest went any farther, I averted my eyes to my hands, rubbing them together in trepidation.
I could still feel his judgmental gaze on my face, examining every little imperfection I had to offer. Deciding to attempt to break the silence, I spoke up.
"Uh, hi?" I meekly whisper, fear evident in my trembling voice. No response. Can he hear me? Or if he ignoring me?
"You're strange," the boy muttered, barely audible.
Without my notice, his hand raised to the side of my face, lightly clasping my left cheek in his palm. I flinched, my body tensing up, eagerly wanting to step away, but had no courage to do so.
His hand began to slide down my face, to my neck, my shoulder, and the proceeding length of my arms, eventually reaching my clammy hand. Do I move? He's still got a tight grip on my shoulder, how do I run away, get out of this?
My eyes began to drag themselves to look back up at the, seemingly older, boy. Without even realizing, we made eye contact once again. For some reason, I was startled by the unexpected, and unwanted action. I jumped back slightly, causing his hands to let go of me, holding them in the same place, as if holding an apparition.
Why didn't he resist? My question was soon answered as my body continued to reverse, colliding into a seemingly warm object.
I yelped, the unanticipated wall startling me. I swiftly turned around, curious as to what I would find. It was another boy. I didn't dare look at his face, fear taking over. Instead, I darted, adrenaline flowing through my body. But, to my dismay, it didn't last long. The boy from earlier didn't move from his spot, pulling his leg up and out to the side, making me to stumble and fall. My left knee slammed into a rough, blunt rock, my blue denim jeans tearing, blood exuding from the area.
I softly shrieked in pain, the rest of my body falling to the ground in a fetal position. My face turned to tears, warm oily liquid seeping from the ducts. My head, pounding from the building pressure as hushed cries spilled from my eyes, dropping to the ground below.
"What do we do with her Rowan?"
"She shouldn't be here," the other boy stated, both looking down at my meek figure, me never looking up.
I buried my face into my knees, wanting to hide, but looking away just made everything worse. Before I knew it, I was hit in the back of the head, with what I'm guessing was someone's foot.
I rapidly lost consciousness, but moments before, I felt my body being lifted off of the ground, being cradled in someone's arms like a baby. I would have kicked, screamed, anything to make them drop me, but I was utterly defenseless. There was downright nothing I could've done to save myself.
After my brain processed what was happening, I blacked out entirely, leaving me with one question; What are they going to do with me?
I'm scared.
At the crash site:
It was sunset. It's been at least three, maybe four hours, since Emily had gone off to search for inhabitants of the area. She should be back by now.
"Jazz!" Alex called for afar, walking over to me.
"Have you seen Emily?" She yelled, her walking picking up in speed.
"No," I sigh, sadness obviously lacing my tone. The urge to cry was hefty, the pain in my leg had spread to my torso, not bruises, but because my leg couldn't handle the full intensity. The swelling and bruising has really soaked up the spotlight, purple abrasions scatter across my leg and other parts of my body from the crash.
Preston and Chad had come back from their little search for supplies for my splint, we're just waiting for Emily to come back. We would apply the splint ourselves, but Emily probably knows how to do it better, I guess.
I gulped in fear. What's taking her so long? I thought. Did she hurt herself? Is she lost? Fear overcame me, but I had to realize that everything will be okay. She'll be okay. She'll be back within the hour. Yeah!
All we can do is hope and wait...
