Chapter 3. That wasn't so hard

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*Long Chapter*

-Keegan-

"There is no way she ran through those bushes. The thorns would've torn her to shreds." Jared breathed, suddenly appearing alongside Keegan. "There's no chance!"

"I know," Keegan mumbled in response", but she did."

Suddenly, Orla ran past them into the thicket. She hissed a parade of curses as she ran through the treacherous bushes. Their spiky thorns tearing her clothes, ripping both fabric and skin. Jared and Keegan watched completely dumbfounded while she jerked her arms up as she got stuck a couple of times. Keegan grimaced when he remembered the stinging pain the thorns would leave as they pierced his sister's skin.

"Orla! Have you lost your mind?!" Jared shouted after her. One of her middle fingers appeared in the air, clearly meant for him alone. "Your sister is insane." He sighed heavily while turning towards Keegan.

Jared's sand colored hair, wet from the rain, stuck to his face. Just like everybody else's. His grey eyes were big. They exuded utter bewilderment over Orla's decision to run after the girl. He genuinely looked like he thought she had lost her mind. 

"Aye, well... so am I apparently." Keegan said and went after his sister.

"You are seriously going after the girl as well?" Jared shouted after him as he made his way through the thicket.

"I am going after Orla!" Keegan shouted back. But it wasn't just Orla. They couldn't leave the girl alone in the woods. As much as he didn't want to admit it; his sister was right about that.

It didn't take long for before he caught up with his sister. Orla hadn't found the girl, when he saw her standing by the bush where they had found the girl earlier. She was rummaging through it as if the girl might be hiding within it. 

"Where do you think she could be?" Orla groaned when she sensed his presence. He could see she felt stupid for being caught looking through the bushes. Trying to salvage some of her pride, she rose and ignored the bush and him all together. 

"I don't know. She can be anywhere..." He shrugged his shoulder discouragingly. 

They searched for the girl for about half an hour until Keegan wanted to hit his head against a rock. He hadn't thought about looking for her footprints!

"Orla." He said with a gruff voice. "Look for footprints."

She rolled her eyes at her own stupidity, and his. "Fuck... Didn't even think of that." She groaned. It made Keegan feel a little better that he wasn't alone in making this mistake, or feeling like a fool.

"I will go back to where we lost sight of her and look for her footprints there." He declared. Orla nodded and told him she would join him shortly.

It didn't take long until he found the girl's footprints just where the thicket ended. He threw his hands up - annoyed with himself for not thinking of this sooner - when he saw a perfect print of her  right foot. Followed by a print of her left foot, a trail lead him in a different direction than that leading to the bush she'd laid beneath. He followed the trail, studying the footprints. They took him deeper into the woods. She had managed to cover quite the distance. More than he'd expected she'd have had the energy for.

She shouldn't have the strength to run this far... Keegan thought to himself, astonished and impressed. After a moment, he noticed how deep the prints were, clearly caused by her panic and only wish to get as far away as fast as she could. She is scared to death. He felt bad when he remembered how terrified she had looked when those blue eyes had seen him for the first time. He hadn't been able to assure her that she was alright, or safe, before she had fallen to the ground and then run off.

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