one missed call

one hundred - sixteen

the car lurches into a stop and the moment it does, leo gets out and hurries over to north who's on the ground with her legs tucked, staring at the seemingly endless territory of wilderness.

"hey,"

she glances up, "leo, i can't thank you enough for coming to help—" then north notices the person locking up the car, "—and you brought nathan."

he chews on the inside of his cheek, "we need all the help we can get."

nathan walks over to them then crosses his arms awkwardly. "you okay, north?"

"yeah, having the absolute time of my life."

he grins back at her.

"so this is where you lost rita?" leo inquires, ignoring the squeeze he feels in his heart when north and nathan look at each other.

"she had a head start on me so i'm not very sure if she ran in there but i did find this," she holds up a torn piece of yellow fabric. "it's from her shirt and i found it hanging by a sharp branch on that tree." north pointed forward at the darkening forest.

"how long ago did she run off?" nathan asks.

"it's been an hour." she hugs herself anxiously.

leo drops hand from his chin and looks at the two grimly, "then i guess we have no choice but to go in after her."