Into the Woods

Chapter 7

Suellen

Charlene, Deanna, and I begin walking on the trail to give Julie some privacy to pee. We're still chuckling about the creek crossing fiasco. We all agree that Julie was the funniest, running across the possessed log before diving in. Deanna was runner-up because she thought she was more intelligent than the rest of us before one slippery rock was her undoing.

"Is it just me, or is Julie taking forever?" Charlene asks, concerned.

We all realize it has been several minutes, and Julie should have been done by now.

"Let's go back," Deanna suggests.

Charlene and I agree. We make our way back to the creek, but we don't see Julie.

"Julie! Julie! Where are you?" Charlene calls out, nothing.

"Damn girl, where the hell did you go to take a piss," I yell.

We begin to scour the surrounding area, but nothing.

"Maybe she started back on the trail but made a wrong turn." Deanna shrugs.

"Yeah, maybe," I agree.

We go down the blue trail, looking for another path Julie might have taken. We don't see one.

"I hate that our damn phones won't work." Charlene has her phone in her hand, willing it to work.

"What should we do?" I ask, confused by the turn of events.

We all stare at each other for several moments.

"We could split up and search the woods," Charlene offers.

"I don't like that. What if another one of us gets lost?" Deanna counters.

"What if we backtrack, head back to the truck, and find help?" I put in my two cents.

"Then what? We leave her here?" Deanna, the voice of reason, replies.

"What if one of us went back to the truck to get help, and the other two stayed here in case Julie finds her way back," Charlene suggests.

We all look at each other and make a decision. "Who stays and who goes?" I ask.

"I'll go," Deanna offers.

"That's probably a good idea. You know this area better than all of us." I admit.

We make our way back to the creek and watch as Deanna crosses back through the water without removing her socks and shoes. This time she doesn't fall on her ass.

She turns our way and calls over to us, "Keep calling her name. I can't imagine that she went that far."

"We will!"

We wave goodbye to her, and she gives us a thumbs-up before disappearing into the foliage.

Charlene and I look at each other with a 'what now?' look.

"Should we go together and search the area? What if Julie tripped and hit her head?" I point out.

"Shit! I never thought of that. Maybe that's why she doesn't hear our calls," Charlene says with concern for our friend.

I look around the area. I have no clue which direction to start our search.

Charlene interrupts my thoughts. "I think that we should start at the water and go left. We'll make a half-circle around the area until we return to the creek. Each time we circle, we'll go out a little further, but we stay together the whole time."

"I like that plan. Let's do it," I concur.

We walk to the water's edge, go left about five feet, and then begin to come back to the creek. Once we arrive back, we go left about ten feet and circle. We call out to Julie the entire time we're searching. We continue to widen our search perimeter and find nothing.