I Tried

Chapter One

Strange Company

Elizabeth POV

The heat was so bad I could almost feel Death digging it's claws into my shoulders. But in reality it was just the sun, burning it's rays of hell into my skin.

I felt exhausted. Which was a little strange because I rarely ever get tired from hiking. But now I was hot, sweaty and I'd already eaten all the M&M's out of my trail mix.

"Meg, I'm dying." I whispered sorrowfully.

"Oh no." Megan said with enough sarcasm in her voice to fill the Grand Canyon.

"Megan... Before I die... Can you do something for me?" I said.

"I swear if you say what I think you're gonna say, I'm gonna explode from frustration." Megan grunted.

"Am I a bad person for kinda wanting that to happen?" James said. Megan shoot him a deadly glare and I was a little shocked that he didn't turn to stone because of it.

"So... what if I was a robot and I was running low on fuel. And that fuel just so happened to be M&M's? Would you just let me die?" I said and I knew that she'd just say 'no' but deep in my heart I had hope. A burning hope for M&M's.

"Agh!" Megan shouted as she dramatically threw her arms in the air.

"But in all seriousness, can I have some M&M's? I ate all the ones from my trail mix." I said.

"No. Besides if you only wanted chocolate, why didn't you just buy a bag of M&M's in the first place?" Megan pointed out.

"Because that's weird. I mean the whole reason beside trail mix is to hide the fact your eating chocolate on a hike." I said in the most matter-of-fact tone I could do.

"The raisins and nuts are the perfect disguise." James added helpfully. Which I think was the first he'd ever been helpful.

"That's not the reason at all! Those nuts and rasins are there to make the overall experience better!" Megan shouted, scaring away a few birds in the process.

"Fine, fine." I said as we continued our journey through the woods.

The more we walked the hotter I felt and the more James complained which just got Megan more frustrated. Though after awhile it became pretty easy to zone out of their arguments.

As I zoned out I noticed the different types of trees around me, which were all doing a awful job of keeping the sun beaming death rays away.

I noticed the different birds and their chriping, which was very pleasant and I noticed that small flowers blooming around us. It was all very lovely.

Until...

something snapped me back to reality. Something... very strange.

A little ways off the trail was a little girl. She wasn't really doing anything, just stumbling around. But what really caught me off guard was the fact she was all alone.

"Who's that?" Megan said as she stopped and pointed at the girl.

"I don't know..." I muttered.

"Hello? Are you lost?!" James said. The girl suddenly noticed us and screamed. But she then quickly covered her mouth and just stood there. Her eyes were full of fear and fixed on Megan.

"Is she okay?" James whispered to Megan.

"I don't know... I don't think she likes me though..." Megan whispered back. Her voice was sounded so much more depressed than usual. "El go talk to her."

"Um... Okay?" I said as I started walking up to the girl

"W-who are you?" Her voice sounded like it could break at any moment.

"My name is Elizabeth. You can call me El though. But anyway, are you lost? Where are your parents?" I asked as I knelt down in front of her.

"I-i-i don't know. I-i-i don't know where anybody else is. I-i-i-" she started crying and collapsed onto the ground.

"Hey, hey, it's gonna be okay." I whispered to her. I tried to sound calm. I tried to sound like I knew what I was doing. But in reality I was freaking out.

"H-h-how did you know?" She said, her voice breaking as she spoke.

"Well... I don't really know. It's... It's more of a feeling." I lied. But I couldn't just tell her it wasn't going to be okay.

"H-h-how do you get that feeling?" The girl said as she sat up right.

"I'm not sure... But maybe if you calm down my friends and I can help you find your family." I said and this seemed to calm her down.

"O-o-okay." The girl wipped the tears out of her eyes a she spoke. "I'd like that. I don't like being alone here..."

James started whispering something to Megan but I couldn't quite make it out.

"Okay, do you by any chance, remember which way your came?" I asked.

The girl did a quick twirl as see looked around the forest and then shock her head.

"Well... Um... There might be a town somewhere nearby. Maybe we should go there and see if anybody is looking for her?" James said.

I simply shrugged in a response. I wasn't really quite sure what to do. We were literally in the middle of nowhere and we hadn't seen anybody else on this hiking trail...

"Well I guess we better go then. I think if we pick up the pace a bit we can get to a town by tomorrow morning." Megan said.

"Okay, does that sound good?" I asked the little girl.

"Yeah but what about the monster?" She said and something about this sent chills down my spine.

"What monster?" I said as I looked around the forest. But all I could see were Megan and James. "There aren't any monsters here."

"What about that?" The little girl said as she pointed at Megan. Megan's face tightened up, she looked like she wanted to turn invisible and I couldn't blame her.

All her life she'd been teased and she came here to get away from that. But... I guess you can't get away from everything.

"Megan isn't a monster. She's a friend. She's gonna help me find your parents. And please, don't ever call her that again."

The girl nodded but didn't take her terrified eyes off of Megan.

"Now, come on. Let's get moving. I said as I stood up and helped the little girl up too.