Marmalade Sunset

Chapter 11

"I actually did go back in the forest," Al said, cheek on his shoulder.

"When you told me that the exit was gone, I traced my way back to where the boulders were just to confirm with myself. It was terrible going in alone and especially in the middle of the night. I felt like an endangered animal in a field of trophy hunters."

"And what did you find?" He asked.

"I think I saw your copy in the forest, next to the final tree with the mark. He was sitting on a moldy slab of stone with his eyes pointed to the sky.

I was going to call out your name but something stopped me. Something just didn't feel right. When he heard me take another step, he pointed his grey eyes at me. He didn't do anything but look in my direction as if waiting for me to come out, but I never did. When I finally came out of hiding, I realized I was alone in that forest."

Al shook her head as he was about to speak up, as if saying there wasn't a need.

"And we'll be seeing him again."

Glenn gave a nod. It was almost time.

"What will we do after making it back?" She asked.

"I want to have a chat with the owner of the lodge. I'm sure he can fill us in on what we just experienced. Or maybe not. Maybe he's as clueless as us and our questions will be forever unanswered."

"After that, I meant." She giggled.

"I have a friend that can probably drop us off at the town. We'll say sorry for making everyone worry and then get on with our lives. Our world doesn't whine about its day as it rounds the sun just so we can have a good time, right?"

"You're still thinking of leaving everything behind, aren't you."

Glenn gave another nod.

"I have to. There's nowhere for me to go anymore so I have to keep moving across the world to find a place of my own. I want to feel like I belong to a concrete part of this Earth."

They spent some more time in each other's warmth before the clock reminded them of what needed to be done.

It was almost midnight, that was something he mustn't forget.

They quickly dressed and made their way back to the lobby, hand in hand. The night was still with nothing in their way of clouds and a hearty looking moon in the centre of the sky watching them quietly. The horizon was still softly etched on the ocean.

Glenn found the chest in his tent and brought it along. He left his tent as it was when he crossed over several days ago. There was no need to carry anything else with him besides the chest. Al led on with a flashlight and had her duffel bag draped over her shoulder.

They cut into the forest through the same path, skipping over the bumpy terrain riddled with moss and fungi and made their way over the unused train tracks. There was no smoke in the air, nothing to distract them from tunnelling into the boulders.

Glenn could imagine Cecil's tomb in the same unfinished state as when he saw it before. The flowers would be gone, the plaque taken away from its holdings, but the light continued to pour onto that clearing.

Al followed the path for as long as she could make out the steps before the trail ended in the same green floor as everywhere else. She pointed the flashlight at the tree trunks and walked toward each one, then shifting to the next. She had taken the initiative for another time.

There was no longer a sense that she was in need of help.

Glenn trailed a few feet behind, making sure nothing was following.