Hanging By A Thread

1

'Ray? Ray you okay?'

Ray snapped out of her daze and looked at her best friend who was evidently distressed and concerned about their friends current state.

'Yeah I'm fine, why?' Ray questioned, rubbing her eyes.

'You just seemed out of it is all,' Jessie shrugged.

Ray smiled slightly at Jessie before playing with the switch on her torch nervously. She had been looking forward to the thought of exploring the woods during the night again, but now the time had arisen she wasn't so sure.

'You sure you wanna do this?' Ray asked, suddenly overthinking everything.

'Yeah of course,' Jessie scoffed before her face softened when she saw the expression on her best friends face, 'Hey, it's gonna be okay.'

Ray nodded slowly, trying to make herself believe it would be. Of course it would be. She was just simply overthinking the way she always did. There was nothing dangerous in these woods, or at least they hadn't come across anything, and she'd been in here on a night before. So had Jessie. They were safe, they were okay and-

'Frick what was that-?' Jessie shrieked, darting behind Ray and gripping onto her arm tightly.

'There was nothing-' Ray started before stopping.

A loud howl could be heard and the bushes in front of the girls rustled, making them both scream loudly and run back a couple steps. They quickly looked around for somewhere to hide, not wanting to be within the sight of whatever it was. Ray spotted a large tree and pointed to it before the two girls ran over and crouched behind it.

'What was that?' Jessie whispered fearfully, her blue eyes darting around their surroundings.

'The howl was probably just a wolf and the bushes just the wind or a rabbit or something,' Ray whispered back.

Jessie nodded fearfully before hugging the tree as an effort to comfort herself. Or at least that's what Ray presumed. if she was honest, she thought her friend was just being dramatic. Of course there were going to be wolves and the like in the woods and they were going to be surrounded by strange noises all night but that didn't mean they'd come across them. That was, if they both made it that far because as of then it wasn't looking very likely.

'Ray do we have to do it?' Jessie whispered, clutching onto her friends arm tightly.

'You don't but I'm going to.'

'Wait no you can't go alone but I don't wanna come with you-' Jessie bit her lip apprehensively.

'But I have to go, I have to do this,' Ray said, 'I have to prove to them but not only myself that I can do it. I mean, I've already done it once, how bads a second time gonna be?'

'Elizabeth don't be ridiculous,' Jessie said, growling slightly, 'There could be murderers or cults or god knows what in there.'

Ray just stared at her friend in shock. Elizabeth? Had she really just called her that? She could excuse Jessie not wanting to go but calling her by the thing she hated most in the world? No, that wasn't okay.

'It's Ray,' she responded coldly, ripping her arm out of her 'friends grasp,' only just realising Jessie had a tight hold of it yet again, and standing up.

'Oh god Ray I'm so sorry I didn't mean it-' Jessie whispered, the reality of what she'd just done dawning on her, 'I'm sorry I'll come with you, please just forgive me. I didn't mean-'

'No go home. I'll go myself,' Ray said indignantly, trying to keep her face a blank mask.

'Ray-' Jessie started.

But Ray didn't hear the rest of it as she had already walked away.

*****

Ray had been walking for over an hour and it was safe to say that not only was she hungry she was also exhausted. She wasn't surprised though. She hadn't eaten all day nor had she slept properly for the past couple weeks. But she wasn't going to stop. Not yet. She was gonna explore a little more first. Despite knowing most of the layout of the woods, or at least thinking she did, it seemed to change everytime. A small rustling from a bush behind her startled her from her thoughts and she smiled when she saw a small bunny hop out from amongst the foliage.

'Hey little guy,' Ray smiled, crouching down and holding her hand out.

The bunny hesitantly took a few steps forward before nuzzling it's cheek against her hand, making her smile. They stayed like that for a couple more minutes, Ray playing with the bunny who was more than happy to stay with her. Ray went to say something before a scream echoed throughout the words, startling her more than she thought possible. Ray darted to her feet before looking around, slightly nervous. The scream had been close to her. Too close. Not knowing what else to do, she started to run in the opposite direction, wanting to get as far away from whatever that was as possible. She didn't know what that was but if Ray was honest, she didn't want to know.

Ray didn't know how long she'd been running for if she was honest. All she know was that it felt like it had been an hour when, in reality, it had only been about 10 minutes. She was begging herself to stop and take a break, maybe even fine somewhere to stay for the night, but she couldn't. There weren't many areas where one could hide and she had a feeling Jessie had taken all the food when she'd left. Panting, Ray stopped and leaned against a tree, a painful stitch forming in her side. Surely resting for a minute would be okay? At this point she didn't care, five minutes would be okay. She sunk to the ground, her back scratching against the bark as it did, digging into her back slightly. Her stomach growled at her quietly, reminding her of the fact that she was actually quite hungry, so she took off her bag to check to see if she did have any food. As presumed, she did not. Ray groaned quietly before standing up, slinging her bag back over her shoulder.

'Ray.'

Ray looked around in shock. Something had just whispered her name but there was no one around for miles. But she'd heard it. She was sure she hadn't imagined it.

'Don't be stupid you're just imagining it. There's no one here but you,' she berated herself.

Ray went to start walking again before halting. There it was again. The voice saying her name. She wanted to follow it. She had to follow it. So she did. Ray hesitantly took off in the direction of the voice, not realising her torch had somehow died nor that she seemed to be going into the heart of the woods which was currently unexplored territory for her. Despite spending her days in the woods, Ray had never seen this part before. Everything seemed clearer almost, more defined almost. But Ray couldn't concentrate on that. How could she? All that mattered to her was the voice. She had to find the source of it. She had to. And she wasn't going to stop trying until she did.
Ray passed rivers and caves and stunning natural beauties but she didn't focus on it. How could she? The voice was calling her name. She was so close she could tell, with each step it was getting louder and she loved it. The way it called out to her, the way it sounded as smooth and sweet as honey. This voice was her everything in that moment, her reason to live. And she wasn't going to loose it. But as soon as she realised that, it stopped and so did she. Ray looked around, not really remembering anything from the past hour or so. It was safe to say she was more than a little confused. She looked around, trying to figure out where she was but her attention was immediately drawn to the cave in front of her. She wasn't entirely sure why but she had to go in there. She had to. Hesitantly, Ray stepped inside.