Natural Chemistry

Chapter 13: Light in Darkness

"We need to reach a clearing so we can light up a fire, the cold will freeze us." He replied, his voice much more assertive and sensible that mine.

Vince was still holding his phone in his hand, checking for reception but every time his face held a look of great annoyance.

"There is no signal here," He continued his rant with a few colourful words making an appearance every once in a while. "My phone will soon run out of charge. What then?" I think Vince meant that to be a rhetorical question but I answered anyway.

"We die."

"Well, aren't you a ball of sunshine." He snorted. I was walking behind him so when he made an abrupt stop, I couldn't help but walk into him.

"Sorry." I muttered, for both walking into him and my grumpy attitude.

"I think we can set camp here." He said, putting down his backpack.
The place he had chosen had a little area on the ground clear but it was surrounded by the dark forest. The cold breeze of the night was already starting to send shivers down the back, or maybe it was the spread of darkness around me which creeped me out.

Vince soon started walking again.
"Where are you going?" I asked him in a scared voice. I was terrified beyond measure, the idea of staying here without him didn't sit well with me.

"I'm going to get some wood for the fire, Jinx. Do you want to freeze to death or starve to it?" Vince threw a smirk in my direction, his silver lip ring shinning under the light from the flashlight.

"I think my positivity passed on to you." I crossed me arms on my chest sending him a cold stare.
He just rolled his eyes and turned around to walk again, seeing his retreating back I swallowed all the pride I had and called out after him.

"Please don't leave me, I'll come with."

"You have to stay here, so I can come back. If we both leave, finding this place again would be near impossible. I'll see you in ten minutes, relax." He said in a calming voice. I let his words sink in and it actually soothed my worries.

I gave him a hesitant nod and he walked on.

I stared at his back till I couldn't see him anymore, that's when I realized how alone I truly was.
Not letting my mind think on those tracks any longer, I dragged Vince's bag beside me and kept it in the estimated distance from the fire, right beside me.

Arranging the backpacks and sleeping bags took me fifteen minutes and Vince had yet to return.
I sat down on my sleeping bag, wrapping a blanket around myself.
The hunger soon got to me and I took out yet another energy bar. Eating only these will give me no strength to do anything further than sleeping. But I needed fire to prepare any other food item.

It made me wonder how these inventors thought hot water is an easily available entity in a forest.
I was soon shivering, not out of cold but fear. The howls of the animals of the night now seemed to be getting closer.

It had been half an hour. I was sitting here, alone, with all kinds of wild animals around me for thirty entire minutes.

"He'll come. He will." I reassured myself. I knew he wouldn't leave me here to die alone but I was scared I'd die before he returns.

"Don't you dare look out your window, darling everything is on fire. The war outside your door keeps ranging on." I sang, my voice distracting me from all the horrible stories coming to my mind.
I continued singing and soon my voice is all I heard, everything else merged into the background.

But the sound of dry leaves rustling got my attention and I took my flash light and tried seeing the cause of it.
The noise increased and my heart beat did the same.
Before a scream could leave my mouth, I saw Vince emerging from the forest.
Seeing him standing there with wood tucked under both his arms, I let out a sigh of relief.
I couldn't stop myself from getting up and hugging him, letting my face bury itself in his neck and breathe in his scent mixed with the smell of cigarettes. Somehow he wore it well.
My arms were wrapped around his neck in an iron hold. I had thrown myself on him which caused him to drop the wood and stumble back a little. The height difference between us was the cause of my feet being off the ground.

I felt his arms wrap around my back after a while and the feeling of safety flowed through me. It was as if with him here, I knew I could do anything.
It had been quite a while since I was in his arms and I didn't care.

"Hey, I'm sorry I'm late, Jinx. You'd think finding wood on the forest would be easy." He chuckled, his index finger drawing circles on my back.
He put his hand on my waist, and made an attempt to put me down, but I wasn't having it.

I just got him back and I'm not letting go.

******
Can they get any cuter? Yeesss they can.

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Love,
Rojesta 💜