Girl In His Mind

Chapter Three

As I said before, the estimated time of arrival would be five or six hours. But that guess was with a car, and without sleeping, eating, and breaks. Walking was getting more, and more difficult. Even when the wind died down every few hours, the trio almost couldn't make it.
     The city our group lived in is called Banderriea. It is located where Germany used to be. Now, along the path to the evac center, there are many small towns no one knows about. Except of course the people that live in them.
     Heavy breathing and sobs woke up Ana and Amelia. Simon was having another panic attack about the sounds, Ana thought to herself.
     "Simon, come on. Just breath. It'll be alright. Ignore all the sounds."
Amelia tried to comfort him, but she was wrong about why he was crying.
     Without saying any words, Simon extended his hand out to both of the girls. Inside his hand was a tiny note, that appeared to be written in a foriegn language, but it wasn't from Earth.
     Ana knew almost ten languages, almost meaning she was in the process of learning Portugese when the storm occurred. None of the languages she knew or had even seen were written like this, not even any of the Asisan languages. However, there was one clue as to how to read this cryptid note. A key to translate the unknown tongue.
     After Simon had calmed down and the three could hear each other, Simon explained why he was so shaken up.
     "I woke up to a man in front of me. He was dressed in a strange cloak, and was chanting something. Once he had realized I was awake, he dropped the note in my hand, and ran in that direction," Simon pointed south east and continued glumly. " There were about five more people, but they paid no attention to me. They did however circle around our dead fire and chanted. Then they left."
     "Why didn't you wake-" Amelia was in the middle of asking Simon a question, when Ana interjected.
     "First the wind, and now the goddamn mountain people? What next, aliens and ghosts?" It was of course a rhetorical question, but Simon felt an urge to answer it.
     "Maybe. But first you need to read us the note," Simon replied.
     "Okay, here we go.
'One of you shall die this year,
But they'll be the one
You least expect.
Not the one with alert ears,
Or the one with an abundance of fears.
But the one that is all but real,
And all but keen on living.'" Ana finished the macabre poem, and looked up with wide eyes.
     "So, do we just believe this? Or do we assume that it's nothing and we'll all live," Amelia asked.
     "I would like to imagine a world where we all make it back alive, but Ana's girlfriend is gone, and I think one of us will be too." Simon said confidently.
     "We gotta find those people. Let's pack up and start today's walk," Ana's voice shook with caution and grief.
     Simon and Ana are two very different people. Simon is the type of person to either fall apart completely, or act as confident as possible. Anastasia just always acts like she has everything under control, even if she's about to cry. But Anastasia can cry whilst talking about how none of her friends are going to die, the day after her girlfriend died.
     That day of walking was utterly terrifying. Every time they passed a dead tree, or even a bush, the three thought it was a person who would attack them. They were so paranoid, that even if Simon cough, they all jumped with terror.
     "It's fine. It's fine, it's fine. Nothing is wrong. I'm not going to die for quite awhile. So it's fine," Simon unconsciously muttered to himself.

     Mummering and mumbling and muttering were a normal part of the girls day at this point. They had been on the road for approximately four days. At this point they were all going crazy and insane.
     Simon was the worst of course. His mind was scattered and cramped with noises and voices. The voices in his head got louder every day. Saying things about giving up and finding the nearest cliff, or things about just freezing to death. The only thing keeping him going was the fact that if they ever got the evacuation center, he could get help. He never really thought about therapy or getting medications. The thought of help was really helping with all the noises.
     "We gotta take a break. Guys, let's stop. Guys?" Ana asked the other two her question, but the other two were gone. "Ah, fuck."
     Being all alone again was hard for Anastasia. Especially if she had no clue why she was alone. After all, Amelia and Simon had just disappeared.
     In an attempt to find them, Ana backtracked and looked down cliffs and holes in the ground. Worrying about them was no use. She practically knew they were dead. Until she heard a cry for help coming from ahead of the path.
     "Ana!" It was definitely Simon. Amelia sounded pretty similar to Simon though. In fact, almost exactly the same. Ana hadn't thought about it since the car, but who was Amelia anyway? Simon always spoke about her like she was a real person, but it doesn't matter. We're all crazy anyway, Anastasia thought to herself.
     Ana ran as fast as she could in the snow, but without proper gear it was nearly impossible. Soon after she began running, she couldn't even see Simons outline. At this point everything seemed impossible.