105 DAYS

Chapter Ten

Jack moved faster. He was trying to forget the trees he had seen. His heart was beating faster. He was afraid. The sight of the trees had gotten on his nerve.

It was the fourth day he had been lost and he wondered why hadn’t met even one of his team members or at least another person from another team. Was he the only who had gone away from his group? He wondered wo would be informed of his news. He had written his office details, and his address. But as he was the
only one living in his home may be the management would inform his neighbours. But as he was not close to any of his neighbours, they wouldn’t take any action
towards finding him. Maybe his office Managing Director would try. But as the man was very famous for his black heart Jack thought that he wouldn’t take an attempt to look for Jack. He would hire a new employee.

Jack felt a heavy weight on his shoulders. He hadn’t known the importance of either family of friends for the whole of his life. But that day at the forest for the
first time he regretted himself for living without a family. He hadn’t known anyone besides Martha. Jack wondered whether he had any relatives. Whether his parents
had any siblings. But he thought that his so called aunts and uncles wouldn’t have even known anything about Jack. That day Jack regretted growing up in an
orphanage. Orphans only worried about themselves and their friends. But Jack was not in a group with any friends. He sighed heavily and stopped walking for the night. He pulled out his sleeping bag and drifted off to sleep.

As the early rays of sunshine fell through the trees Jack woke up and made his way towards the fork in the path. He took the middle path and moved forwards.
He passed immobile trees and breathing leaves. The rustle of the leaves was enough to break the deadly silence of the forest and his heavy footsteps. He didn’t
worry about the sound from his footsteps. He hadn’t come across any wild animals and sometimes he wondered how hadn’t any animals met his path and thought
that it was also part of the mysteriousness of the forest. As soon as he gets out of the forest, he thought that he should learn all about the forest and unveil its
mystery.

But Jack’s long trail of thought was stopped short by the sound of footsteps. It was not his as he had already stopped and the sound was growing closer and closer. Jack was afraid to meet any animals. He looked for a place to hide himself. But the tall trees made him unable to hide. He looked up and saw the closely grown branches. He quickly climbed a tree and balanced himself over the branch. He
listened intently.

***

Kevin bit a biscuit. That had been his meal for the past week. He didn’t know how far he had gone through the forest but he knew that he was nowhere near the
end. The trees were grown closer and the forest was even more dense. Kevin wanted to light the torch even in the mornings but he worried about his batteries
and made way within the dim light.

His mind drifted towards Andy. He didn’t know how she would react when she hears the news. She would talk to the management and make them search the forest for Kevin. But she would be heartbroken for sure. Even the few days of
breakup they had faced had made her lose weight and her face hollow. Her red rimmed puffy eyes with tears trailing down the face was etched in Kevin’s mind.
He didn’t want her to worry about him and wanted her to be strong. But he didn’t know how to inform her of either the situation or that he was safe. He wanted her
to be strong willed at least for Rosy’s sake. If Andy was worried so will be Rosy. Even though the one year old doesn’t understand the situation she could read
Andy and Kevin’s expression well. If either of them looks sad she will start to cry and it would be a hard attempt to make her stop.

Kevin was angry at himself. If he hadn’t signed himself up in the hike, he wouldn’t have to face the today’s unfortunate situation. He had walked alone for four days and yet he hadn’t met anyone else. He didn’t even have much to eat or drink. He felt as though his strength was weakening and he wanted to be strong. He didn’t want to lose Andy. She was very young to be widowed. He didn’t want her to bring up Rosy alone and he didn’t want Rosy to grow up without a father. They had started a family together and they should bring up the family together. So, for their sake he wanted to be strong. But if he just had a companion, he could go through the forest stronger. Even though he knew that he was being selfish he hoped that someone else should have been lost. So that Kevin could team up with that person.