The boy is still pointing what looks like a large hunting rifle at me. I keep looking at him nervously, however, I have been in worse situations before. I take a moment to observe him.
He has blonde hair, which is mostly straight but has a small wave to it. His scowling green eyes stare down at me in hatred and defence, but which also hold a fear behind them that he's clearly trying to contain. Despite that, they're still distinctive looking, rather nice, like emeralds. He looks tall and lean from where I am on the ground. His white T-shirt and blue jeans have been worn of their colour and each have their own small stains, as if he's constantly worn them for years.
He has kept quiet this whole time.
Finally, I decide to move slowly. He changes his stance slightly, tightening his grip on the rifle. I crane my head up to look at him, with my elbows on the ground and my empty hands visible.
"What are you doing here? How did you find this place?", he asks me furiously.
"It-it was an accident," I reply. "I came across it by mistake. I saw nobody there, so I went to see it better, and I fell down the hill," I blurt out. I see him take a closer look at me, noticing how dirty I am. He emits a subtle look of disgust at me.
"Why were you here in the first place? Go back to where you came from. You never saw me, or this house!" he sneers. I feel my face, noticing that my hair is covering my beaten eye. I move it and reveal the wound to him. Still pointing a gun at me, his face changes a bit. The look of aversion on his face towards me partially melts away.
"This might help explain," I say. "I can't go back. I don't even know how to. I'm lost."
"Are you.... a runaway?" he asks.
"Yes," I continue. 'You can't tell anyone you've seen me. I need to go further." The boy starts to look concerned, as he slightly lowers his rifle. He looks as though he's deep in thought. "Listen, I'll go. I won't say a word about you," I say, slowly getting up. Suddenly, we hear another voice.
"Will! What are you doing? Who's this?" I see another boy coming up behind him. I guess Will is the blonde boy's name. This other boy has thick black hair and grey eyes, and is wearing a flannel with black jeans. His clothes carry the same look as the boy with the rifle, but he's more pleasant in his aura.
"Well, she came here by accident," he replies, "and was just leaving," he adds, turning to face me again and sneering.
"I am leaving. I won't say a word about any of this!", I repeat. I start to take some steps back, but then I see the dark haired boy squint at me.
"What happened to your eye?", he asks. I stop. The first boy, Will, looks at him.
"Chuck, what are you doing?", he whispers. I know now that Chuck is the second boy's name.
"I just want to know," Chuck whispers back.
"Here's what happened," I say over them. The two stop whispering and look at me. "I've been living with my drug-addicted abusive parents for years, and yesterday, my aunt tricked me into thinking I could leave. She ditched me, leaving me alone with them. I had nothing left to lose, so.....I ran." I hate how casually I can say that, as if it were a normal thing. However, I can feel tears building up in my eyes. Looking away from the boys, I wipe them discreetly. I see the second boy, Chuck, step closer to me.
"Are you trying to not be seen by anyone?", he asks. I nod yes. Will shakes his head and scoffs, before walking towards the house. Chuck starts to think.
"I believe that you've come to the right place then. I'm Chuck," he says.
"I'm Candice," I reply. "What do you mean by the right place?"
"Well, I'll say this much. You see that house?", he points.
"Yes."
"It's where Will and I live." I look at its condition. It's a wooden log-cabin type house, with a small porch on the front. It seems to be in good shape for a house in the middle of the forest.
"I-I don't understand.. Why?" Chuck looks at me for a moment, as if he's wanting me to answer. I then feel my eye, and look back up at Chuck. "You.... ran away here?"
"Yes. That's as much as I'll tell you for now." He looks around the area. "I think I can help you." I lean in to hear more, "if you stay here for a while by this cliff."
"Thank you," I say quietly. "Why would you want to help me, though?"
"Because, I remember running through those woods myself," he replies. We hear more noise and Chuck then turns around to see what it is.
Looking by the house, there are now three more people. As Chuck looks back at me, I notice that the others start to come towards us.
"There are others?", I ask.
"Yeah, there are five of us," he replies. The three reach us and I get a closer look at them. A million questions begin to appear in my head, but I remain quiet. I imagine all will be explained to me in due time.
"Who's this?", asks one of the girls, crossing her arms defensively in a faintly darker flannel than Chuck's. She's tall and has brown wavy hair, with different coloured eyes. Observing the three of them, they look back at me as if they don't trust me. I can't blame them––I wouldn't trust me either.
"I'm Candice," I say. "Chuck told me a bit about this house. How he....ran away. I've done the same." They still look unconvinced. Sighing, I reveal my swollen eye to them. "Does this prove anything?" The other girl, the smaller one with a pale freckled face and her hair in golden braids, steps towards me and reaches out her hand.
"Oh, that looks rough. What happened to you?", she asks, with her bright blue eyes widening at the sight of my swollen one. I enviously notice that they're much brighter than mine.
"Evie!", snaps the third boy. The girl, Evie, turns back to face him. He's got slightly tan skin, with thick, rough brown hair and deep hazel eyes. He folds his arms similarly to the brunette girl, revealing his rather large arms and built physique by his grey T-shirt. He looks at her, frowning.
"What? I'm just asking a question!", Evie replies in turn, before stepping away.
"Look, it doesn't hurt that much," I lie. Evie still looks worried. I look up at the rest of them, who are visibly still unsure about me. "Listen, I don't want any trouble, as I told Chuck. I'll go if you want, because clearly, I'm not wanted here." They all look at each other, then back at me. I grab my bag from off the ground and start to walk away. They don't say anything for a moment. I can still feel them watching me as I head back up the hill.
"Wait!" calls Chuck. I turn around. "You can stay by the cliff, so you're less likely to be seen." The tall girl and the boy walk back to the house, while Chuck and Evie stay by.
"Thank you, are you sure?" I'm still not sure about these people, but they seem okay so far, and like me, they don't seem to want any trouble. I can't blame them for not trusting me.
"We all know what it's like to run away," says Evie, giving a slight smile. I give one back.
"Well, either way, I'm fine here. I'll keep my distance, especially since none of the others seem too happy that I'm here."
"It's just hard for us to trust anyone but each other." says Chuck. "Don't worry, if you're around here long enough, they'll come around." I smile.
"I know what it's like not to trust people, so I get it. Thanks anyway." I pull out my water bottle to take a sip, only to find it empty.
"Here," says Evie. "I'll fill it." She takes it from my hand and heads to the waterfall, rolling up her light pink hoodie sleeves. Chuck rises from his knees and stands up.
"I'll talk to the others, and see what we can do. In the meantime, stay here," he says.
"I will," I reply. "Chuck?"
"Yeah?"
"Thanks," I smile.
"No problem," he replies, as he walks towards the house. Evie comes back with my water bottle.
"Here you go."
"Thanks," I reply. I guess I was right earlier––if I was thirsty enough, any water would be good enough to drink. I take a few large swigs.
"So, Candice, you're a runaway then?"
"I guess I am now." Evie nods, giving me a look of pity. "Look, I don't even need to stay here. I don't care where I end up, as long as it's not where I came from. I'm fine to spend the rest of my life alone, if I have to." Evie's expression slowly changes, as she smiles.
"If that's the case, then you've definitely come to the right place. You'll need to earn our trust, but once you do, you could be around here for a while."
"Really?" I feel myself light up inside for the first time in a few days. I maintain a neutral expression for Evie.
"Yeah, we'll see. Anyway, you should get some rest, if you've been walking for so long. Someone will come and see you later."
"Thank you."
"Anytime. Bye."
"Bye," I say back, as Evie walks back to the house.
As soon as she's left, I start to think about everything that has just happened to me. Yesterday, I felt the pain of my aunt walking out on me and suffering abuse from my parents. While it still feels painfully fresh, especially on my face, it's starting to feel like a blur in my memory.
I down some more water, hardly gasping for air as it quenches my thirst. Grabbing my sweater, I use it as a pillow again. I'm exhausted, and yet it's only about seven thirty in the morning. I can feel my stomach rumbling once more, but I need to save my food in case these people decide to let me starve.
I'm still in shock about finding this place. I never would've guessed a place like it existed. If one had asked me twenty four hours earlier if this is what I would've wanted, I would've thought they were crazy. Now, I'm potentially reconsidering.
Then again, I'm getting way ahead of myself.
I wonder why I talked so much, saying as much as I did to complete strangers when I've never been able to trust anyone in my life. Maybe, just maybe, these people can help me find a better life. I lie down flat and begin to look up at the sky, observing the light breeze sway the thin tree branches above. It feels like a peaceful void, where I can't take my eyes away from the sky. I could get lost in it forever. However, my fatigue gets the better of me, as it makes my eyes grow heavy and close.
|||
The next thing I see when I open my eyes is the darkening of the sky. Did I sleep a whole day? Is it dawn? No, it must be sunset. I look over at the house, still lying down, and I see that the group has lit a fire in a well-constructed pit. They're even cooking over it and they seem to have a lot of food nearby.
It looks like they live here in the middle of the woods, as their own little group, disbanded from the rest of society. Since Chuck said that he and Will were runaways, the rest of them must be too. I sit up and grab another granola bar from my bag, turning away from the fire. I'm so sleep-deprived that I don't even notice the footsteps coming up behind me.
"I brought you something," I look up, startled. It's Evie again, and this time she has a plate of food. "Do you want something to eat?"
"Yes please," I say, relieved. Evie hands me the plate and sits on the ground with me. I look on the plate and there's some sort of meat, along with carrots and some light greens. "How do you get all of this out here?"
"When Chuck came, he brought seeds. He stole them from.....well, he's really clever for bringing them."
"Wow," I say, looking at the utensils. "How did you get all of that stuff, like the plates and cutlery and everything?"
"It came with the house, I think it belonged to some hunter. It must've been abandoned a while ago, but it was filled with stuff from a normal house, with a lot of supplies. Someone must've built it, but then abandoned it. It just has no plumbing or electricity."
"Understandable," I reply, impressed, "but that's incredible that you all would've found this."
"Evie! Come back!", calls the other girl from the campfire.
"Just a minute!", answers Evie. Rolling her eyes, she turns back to me. "She can be so demanding!"
"What are the rest of the kids' names?", I ask. Evie faces back to the campfire and points out her finger to guide me.
"Well you know Chuck, and the girl is Alexa. Hayden is the brunette boy, and the blonde boy is Will." I look at all of them. They seem normal from over there, as if they're all a group of friends out camping on a regular summer day. They're all talking and laughing, seeming to be enjoying themselves.
"Right, thanks."
"Anytime. I hope you like the food." A realization dawns on me, as I watch Evie's kind expression.
"Evie?"
"Yes?"
"Why are you being so nice to me?", I ask. It practically feels stupid to ask. However, Evie smiles nonetheless.
"Because, I was in your position about six months ago." My eyes widen.
"You're telling me you walked through that forest in the winter?"
"Yup," she chuckles. "They helped me. I'm the newest member of the group––for now." I perk up subtly upon hearing the words for now. "Between us, I think soon you'll become one of us." I'm not used to someone being this nice to me, and it feels unusual, but good.
"Well, thanks. But if they don't want me around-"
"They may not trust you now, but if you give them time, they'll warm up to you, and you'll think of them as the best people you've ever met. I'll tell you more tomorrow, but I should get back."
"Thanks, Evie. I really appreciate all of this."
"No problem. Bye."
"Bye." Evie runs back to the group. I can slightly hear some conversation between them.
"Evie, you need to be careful," says Hayden. "We don't know her yet."
"I know we don't! But she's like me, when I came. You all didn't trust me but you had to help me. Actually, you didn't have to help me at all. Hayden?"
"Yeah?"
"You were the one who found me. You carried me inside when I was freezing up. You saved my life. Realistically, you could've chosen to do nothing and leave me out there."
"That's true," I hear Chuck say.
"She just needs to show us she's not a threat," insists Evie. She seems slightly younger than me, but mature.
"Look, for all we know, she's just gonna run off and tell someone she saw us," says Alexa.
"In fairness to her, I highly doubt that. This place is far off from any civilization. Nobody but us, and that girl, knows we're here," mentions Will.
"Did you see her eye? She wouldn't want to go back anyway," says Chuck.
"Yeah, true. She's probably messed up like us," laughs Hayden. I frown at that, but then I shrug, realizing he's right.
"We'll talk to her tomorrow, to learn more about her, okay?", says Evie.
"Fine," some of them say.
It's nice to hear Evie defending me, wanting to give me a chance. I don't know if the rest of them will too, but I believe that deep down, these kids may not be that different from me. It sounds like they've all been in my position before––maybe worse. From what I've seen of this place so far, I'm willing to work to earn the trust of everyone here. I know that I don't want to go back, so I'll do nearly anything to not let that happen. I've almost finished my food plate that Evie gave me, which doesn't taste amazing, but it's the first full meal I've had since the Stoneycreek Diner.
I then start to feel my eye throbbing again. I open my backpack and grab my ointment. It squirts onto my finger from its tube and it feels cool on my skin. I apply it on my eye and it feels amazing. It slowly starts to numb the pain and as I hover my hand above it, it starts to emit less heat. Grabbing my water bottle, I take another sip, before splashing some on my hands and rubbing on my face. The cold water hitting my wound feels even better with the clash of the ointment.
Glancing over at the campfire, I notice that everyone's gone, except for Will. I see him sitting in one of their chairs, poking at the fire with a stick. He seems sad, and tired. When he's not holding a rifle at me, he looks like a different person, almost vulnerable. I wonder what series of events landed him here, and what he had to get through to leave his old life behind. I get distracted but then I see Will look up at me, looking in my general direction. I quickly flip over onto my other side to face the cliff. That felt weird.
A moment later, I hear Will leave to go inside. I turn around to look at the fire pit, which is slowly dying out. He comes back outside with an empty bucket, which he takes to the waterfall and fills it up from the pool of water that it feeds. He chucks it on the fire when he gets back, smothering it and letting the steam come off. He enters the house once again. Luckily, I don't think he noticed me.
|||
It's been several hours since I woke up. The sky has gotten pitch black and the wind is increasing. I need my sweater and windbreaker again. I put them on, but they don't help very much. I can hardly see anything around me anymore. I'm simply hoping that no wild animals are close enough to me.
When I was little, I was scared of the woods because of the books I read, which made forests seem terrifying because of all the fighting and the mythical creatures that would appear. I certainly never thought I would be lying deep in the middle of one now. Then again, the irony of my fear back then, was that I lived with scarier creatures than what could possibly appear out here. This whole situation still feels like an intense dream. It feels freeing to be out here, with that in mind. The only complaint is the bugs, that I continuously have to swat away from me.
Suddenly, I see a light coming from the house. The light gets bigger and closer, and as I see it better, I notice it's coming from a lantern. I sit up to see Chuck with something else in his hand.
"How are you doing out here?", he asks.
"It's manageable," I say, swatting another fly on my black leggings. He tosses me a blanket and a pillow.
"Here, take these. They're from Will's room." I'm stunned to hear him say that.
"Are you sure he's okay with me having them?"
"Yes, he may not trust you yet, but it doesn't mean he'd want you to have nothing out here."
"Oh..okay. Well, thank him for me."
"For sure. Are you sure you're okay out here?"
"Yeah, I'm fine." I chuckle. "I have the bugs to keep me company. I just hope there won't be any bears or wolves or something. I don't know."
"Don't worry, bears won't be after you. If you're asleep, the black bears will leave you alone."
"What?"
"I'm kidding," smiles Chuck. "Bears don't come around in this area. In the time I've been here, I've only seen about three, and they all were in the distance."
"How long have you been here?", I ask.
"I came about two months after Will, so almost two years. Will's been here the longest."
"Wow, that's a long time," I acknowledge, while trying to process that.
"Yeah, I know. You get used to it though. I wouldn't want to be anywhere else, he smiles. "Anyway, we'll check on you in the morning. You can come to the house then. Goodnight."
"Goodnight," I say, as he gets up and walks back towards the house. As he leaves, the light from the lantern slowly fades, eventually leaving me in darkness.
It may be cold and buggy, but this is the safest I've felt in a long time. It's ironic that the people that were supposed to protect me from the dangers of life, are the ones I don't feel safe with––my parents. If I'm lucky, I'll never see them again.
After lots of tossing and turning with my mind racing, I think as to what will come of this. I hope that tomorrow will allow me to learn more about this place. Eventually, I finally feel myself start to relax and drift off to sleep.