Across the Globe [COMPLETE]

Where Life Blinks

18TH OF JULY

Rongo

“I still don’t get the part about the rivers,” Tane says as he wipes wet hair off his face. “There’s no rivers in this town, only lakes, and a bunch of streams.”

“Maybe it’s not literal,” I say as I look at him from under the hood of my parka, glad that my hair is not soaked like his.

“We’re exhausting possibilities, we scouted the whole forest yesterday and found nothing,” he says, frustrated.

We walked around the whole forest yesterday, looking for a clue, for just about anything, but we didn’t find a thing. It’s hard to see, when you don’t know what you’re looking for.

“Maybe we’re doing this wrong, maybe you don’t have to look for something, but rather wait for it to find you?” I say, trying to appease my brother’s frustration somehow. I feel like any idea is welcome by now.
He turns around to face me, anger burning behind his eyes, which look so much greener now that we’re inside the woods. He opens up his mouth to say something, but then the anger seems to turn into something else.

“Tane?” I ask, and I take a step towards him.

He’s looking at me without seeing, his eyes fixed on a random spot in space, unblinking.

“Tane?!” I say again. I reach an arm up to touch him, but then I don’t. Maybe I shouldn’t. He’s just standing there, not moving, the rain washing over him and making his hair stick to his face. After a minute too long, he blinks, and his eyes focus back on me.
“We got it all wrong,” he says, and I can hear panic in his voice. “I’m not the target,” he explains as a thunder hits the Earth somewhere far away and he sets off running towards the noise. The meaning of his words hits me a seconds later, and I can't believe we were so stupid; of course he’s not.

This was always about her.

✢✢✢
Samantha

I’m trying to calm myself as I look back and forth.

“This is just like an exam,“ I tell myself. I already have all the answers I need in my brain, I only need to work through them. Work over the options.

The trunk is covering the whole path, which is pretty narrow, only a couple of meters at most.

The tree’s been ripped off the ground, so its huge roots are shooting up into the air to my right. It makes up a huge wall that blends into a mass of impenetrable and thick forest. I go over and try to squeeze around in between some branches just to make sure, but it seems impossible.

To my left, there’s a slope too pronounced and wet for me to even attempt going that way, I’d certainly slip all the way to the bottom of the valley if I try.

I look back to the track I came through, but going back would take forever, we were walking for hours before the storm started.

So there’s only one option left, I’m going to have to climb over the tree. It’s a huge trunk, but the bark is rough so I might be able to wedge my fingers in the crooks. Gripping as best as I can, I start climbing up. My hands are covered in mud, and it makes me slip constantly, but I use as much strength as I have, and make it to the top.

I’m about two meters high, and I could possibly jump down, but I’m scared that with my luck, I’ll sprain an ankle. The path is even more narrow on this side, thick bush to one side, and a deep slope to the other. So I start descending with my back against the wood, trying to slide down as slowly as I can, and as close to the bush as possible.