Beats and Breaths-Lifelines

Chapter 9

They both jumped to their feet in joy.

"GONE!" The sound echoed down the street as the two children left their coats and bolted into the forest.

The forest was quite cold, and Shan immediately regretted leaving her coat. The thick fog sept into her thin shirt, leaving her soaked in minutes.

She shivered, and Frederik glanced over. He seemed cold too, though maybe not as much.

"Are you ok?" He said softly as they tread through the mud.

"Peachy." She growled, pulling her arms in.

He looked ready to protest, but then thought otherwise.

They walked on in silence. No noises sounded from the forest except their boots squelching in the mud.

The fog seemed to become an almost human-like shove, forcing the siblings to bow their heads and push through it.

At one point, Shan stumbled and sept knee-deep into the thick mud and lost sight of Frederik completely.

By the sound of his footsteps, the fog was so thick that he didn't even notice she was gone.

Wiping mud off her mouth, she croaked, "Frederik!"

The fog muffled any response. No answer. No sound.

Panic building, Shan struggled to get her leg out. It sucked her in deeper, and with a horrified cry, she realized that it was no mud. It was quicksand. She'd be gone long before he even noticed.

Shan.

Frederik trudged forward, pushing his way through the fog. Shan was next to him, shivering. Putting his head down, he focused on putting one foot in front of the other.

Shan.

It was immensely cold, oddly. Outside of the forest it had been moderately warm.

Shan.

He wondered how close they were.

Shan.

It hadn't seemed to take as long last time. Maybe they were not as strong without their Lifelines. Come to think of it-

Shan.

-he was feeling weaker since then.

Shan.

Shan.

Shan.

SHAN!

A headache blossomed in his forehead. He felt like he was missing something. Like some tinny voice was squealing in his head.

"Shan.Shan.Shan.Shan.Shan.Shan. Shan, Frederik, Shan."

On pure instinct, he stopped dead in his tracks.

"Shan."

"Shan?" He reached out to where thought she was.

Nothing.

When had she...When had she...

"SHAN!" Frederik shouted. Something was wrong. So wrong.

She had fallen behind and he hadn't noticed. He hadn't noticed that his sister was gone.

"SHAN!"

A small voice echoed back, and at first he thought it was her. He turned in a circle,

trying to pinpoint where the sound had come from.