(Song: I Run To You by Lady A )
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I don't know how long I have been walking or how much more I have to go, but I'm completely exhausted. I've had to change directions twice after getting turned around completely and I've been scraped by more thorns and branches than I had thought possible. Then again, I'm in the middle of nowhere searching for my soulmate because of a few dreams and a Counter that changed on its own, so my line of what's possible and impossible has started to blur.
By the time the sun starts to rise and the animals start to wake up, I'm on the verge of collapsing. It must be around five or so in the morning, meaning I have been going nonstop for close to three hours with around four hours of sleep. I come to a clear enough spot near a fallen tree, small enough that I can sit on and still have my feet touch the ground but too big to even think about moving it. I shrug my bag off and toss it next to my feet and stretch my back out for the first time in what feels like years. I look at the Counter, and I'm surprised by the number shining back: 3245603. That must mean I'm close, but I still have no idea how close, which is infuriating.
After the dream that sent me on this wild goose chase, I can't help but feel like he's in trouble. Maybe it was the scanner beeping or the fear that overtook him. Something was definitely wrong. If I'm wrong and this whole thing was for nothing then so what. I would never forgive myself if I sat there doing nothing just to find out this was all real. My Counter stopped, and the Sun appeared for some reason, and I'm not going to stop until I figure it out.
I rub my eyes and dig out a water bottle, a granola, and a protein bar. I devour the two bars and suck down the water soon after. I contemplate eating another granola bar, but exhaustion overtakes me, so I try to rest instead. I move to the ground, still leaning against the log, and throw the windbreaker on, hoping to protect myself from any bugs and warm up a little, though my shaking is probably due to lack of sleep, food, and the nerves from this whole endeavor. I grab the pocketknife and hold it close to my chest, thinking and hoping it would serve as some sort of protection. As soon as I lean back against the log and close my eyes, I'm out like a light.
***
I wake up to the cracking of branches yet keep my eyes closed, my brain not fully registering the noise. As soon as one of the branches closer to me snaps, I bolt upright on alert. I sit there for a few minutes before calming down a little and rubbing the sleep from my eyes. The sun is now shining bright above me, meaning it's probably 12 or 1 in the afternoon. I look around, and everything is in the same place as it was before, except for my backpack, which is farther away, but I must have just kicked it away because nothing else around me is disturbed, luckily. I dig out another water and sip it slowly while munching on the candy bar I threw in. I throw the wrapper back in the bag, stand up and dust my pants off and wrap the windbreaker through the bag straps and around my waist, knotting it in the front. I grab my water, clean up the rest of my mess and head out again. Now that I have more energy in me and I have slept a little, my movements through the forest are more fluid. I have more light, so I avoid some of the rocks and fallen branches that I probably would have tripped over if I had kept going earlier. I keep walking further and further, stumbling on some moss and a log but still persistent to keep going.
All is going well until I come to a river that runs through the middle of the forest, stretching as far as I could see in both directions, making it hard to tell how far it travels, and leaving me with no other option but to cross it. The water flows from the west on my left side to the east on my right; however, there is no noticeable slope in the land I had already passed, so it must be coming from a higher area further on. The current isn't that strong and it looks about a foot deep and about 5 feet across, more or less. I should be able to cross without a problem however, I don't know what the bottom is like. The water looks fairly clear in this area and I can see the tops of some larger stones buried in the muddy bottom. If I move just right I might be able to use a couple of the rocks as stepping stones and get to the other side fairly easily.
I keep my eyes on the stream as I sit down and start to unlace my boots, shoving my socks inside and rolling the pants up as far as I can. Slowly, I descend into the river, and I inhale sharply as the frigid temperature of the water hits my legs, sending enough of a chill up my spine to make my teeth chatter. Each new step is colder and colder, making my teeth chatter more. It should get better the longer I am in it, but the exact opposite happens, completely freezing my body while still standing under the summer sun.
On my fourth step, just as I'm stepping onto the other bank, I bring my left foot forward to give me more of a push, and I feel it slice open on something. I am unable to see what through the now murky water as I fall to the ground on the edge of the bank. I bring my foot up out of the water and feel the sting as the blood starts to run. The cut runs just by my arch, running from the ball of my foot to the base of my heel, not too deep to need stitches, luckily, but deep enough that if I don't find some way to close it, I will lose quite a bit of blood.
I shrug off my bag, take out the extra shirt and switch out the one I'm currently wearing for the clean one, then dig the pocket knife out of my pocket and start cutting up the dirty one into strips. I rinse a strip of cloth in the river, trying to knock off any dirt or debris, and push it against the cut, cringing and letting out a hiss. I hold the cloth there for a few minutes until the bleeding starts to slow and finally comes to a stop, rinsing the cloth in the stream twice in the process. When the blood has stopped enough, I carefully pat the area dry with another shred, dig out a roll of gauze that got tossed in and wrap the area a few times, cutting it after the fourth wrap. Thank you Threads for the random roll of gauze in my bathroom drawer I guess.
This is the worst possible treatment, but it will do until I can settle for the night. I put on the sock and boot back on loosely and push myself up, shifting all my weight onto the other foot. I put the slightest pressure on my left foot and feel pain shoot up my leg, making me hiss again. I throw on my bag and carefully make my way to the tree to my right, avoiding putting pressure on the cut. I look around and see a clearing about half a mile ahead but rocks and another fallen tree blocking the path, of course. I hop from tree to tree, but after nearly losing my balance four times between only two trees, I get on my hands and knees and start to crawl, which is much easier but takes much longer. I climb over all of the rocks, scraping my knee on one of them because why not? Apparently, I haven't hurt myself enough in the past 24 hours.
I get to the fallen tree and see that it's too close to the ground to try and go under, so I reposition and push myself up enough to climb over it. I get my right foot under me, wrap my arms around the log and swing my left leg over, now straddling the trunk. I swing my right leg over and slowly slide down the trunk, aiming to land on my good foot but I stumble and catch myself with my left sending more pain up my leg. As I steady myself, I feel the blood start to run again. Hopefully, most of it catches in the gauze and isn't soaking through the sock. It's only a few more feet to the clearing, so I walk as best as I can the rest of the way, each step causing more pain.
By the time I get to the clearing, I collapse. I take off my boot and sock again, and sure enough, the cut has started bleeding again. I dump out the contents of the bag, not caring about anything anymore and just trying to find a way to stop the bleeding. I look at the junk scattered, and I still have three water bottles, a few granola bars, and a protein bar left, still close to a full roll of gauze, a few band-aids, the extra pants, my windbreaker, the matchbook, and the pocketknife as well as the strips of cloth from my shredded shirt. I open a water bottle and pour a little onto another piece of cloth, just enough to soak it through while still trying to conserve the amount I use. I unwrap the gauze I have on currently and wash out the cut with a little more water from the bottle, putting the cloth against the cut and applying pressure, trying to stop the bleeding again. After some time, the cut stops bleeding but is still quite raw. I place a few of the band-aids across the cut as tightly as possible, trying to pull the two sides back together enough that it won't be as open and exposed. This is the hardest and possibly the worst thing to try and do, but I only have a few of them and no other option. Eventually, I get them to stay on and wrap my foot in gauze again, this time a little tighter. I cut it after a couple of wraps and find a way to knot it in place. When I'm done, it feels more secure and less likely to bust open again, but this time, I just put my sock back on to keep an eye on it.
I shove the stuff back in the bag, all except the water, jacket, knife, and matchbook, putting the jacket on and tucking the knife and matches in the pocket. Only now do I realize that the sun is starting to set, and I have been going for hours without stopping. I look around and realize that besides the log I climbed over, there is very little brush and fewer trees. I crawl over to the tree, still unsure about my foot, and find that it must have fallen long ago because it was pretty dead and dry, with no signs of life besides the small amount of moss on the ground by the bottom. The bark comes off pretty quickly, and some of the more stubborn pieces only take a few hits with the knife, and they give up. I rip off piece after piece and toss them toward my bag, along with some twigs lying nearby, before crawling back to my spot in the clearing. I open the knife and start to dig out a hole in the ground, which is just dry enough in some areas that it can be moved easily but wet enough that some areas need to be chipped at until it breaks up. There is a sliver of light left by the time the hole is big enough to fit in a few pieces of bark without sticking out of the top.
I take out the matches and strike one, trying to light the end of one of the sticks to use as a starter. It takes three matches to get the stick lit, which I then grab another one and light that, carefully placing the first into the hole against a piece of bark, hoping it would spread, but holding the second stick just in case the first goes out. After a minute of nothing burning but the first stick, I'm about ready to repeat the process with a third when the bark finally catches a spark and the flame slowly grows, spreading to the pieces next to it. I throw the stick into the hole, releasing a breath that I didn't realize I was holding. By the time the fire has finally caught all pieces of the bark, darkness has overtaken me, and the only light comes from the almost full moon and the little fire in front of me. I throw my hood up and move back a little, laying down next to the fire with my head resting on my bag.
I stare at the fire for so long that my eyes start to burn from the light, so I turn on my back and stare at the sky; it is still a warm night, so the fire isn't for warmth but more for comfort. I bring my arm above me and look at my wrist, smiling at the number: 1365939. I'm so much closer to him, I might even reach him tomorrow, well, depending on my foot, but I'm holding out hope and looking at the positives. I turn back to the fire, a smile still on my face as I close my eyes. I try to sleep but my mind keeps racing with questions, and the smile soon falls off as they come one after another.
What can I expect when I get to where I'm going? Is he even going to be there? If he is there, will he be hurt? What about Frank and the boss, will they be there? The biggest question, though: will he even know who I am? Like Grandmother said the other night, she just knew. If he does recognize me by some random chance, will he even be happy to see me? I mean, I am technically the one who got him in this situation, right?
These last two questions are the only ones on my mind as I fall asleep next to the dying fire in the middle of nowhere
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