He felt panic grab his knees and hold them to the ground as adrenaline pushed them into the cold night air. He jumped to his feet and toward the inside of the road, closer to the mountainside than to his cliff, from where the man had emerged. His throat was burning, he had too much saliva in his mouth but for some reason he could not swallow it, his throat was closed. “Back off!” Now, the situation was undoubtedly serious, an unfamiliar guy emerged from a mountain forest at night staring at him, yet the seriousness was broken by the giggles and sound effects of that video. The phone, the source of the only noise present now but also the only tool with which to call for help, was resting in the trunk of the car, now almost closer to the alleged killer and attacker than to him. This be clear did not stop him at all from saying "get out of here now or I'm calling the police! I don't give a damn about who you are or what you want!" Given the ‘silence’ interspersed only by any sleazy jokes the boy continued “I have a ratchet in my hand, don't you think I could use it immediately?” His voice confident and steady as he inside was a mess, his heart was pounding and making it difficult to hear clearly what he was saying or any other external noise, his stomach was twisting, his hands holding the weapon were trembling and praying they wouldn't have to be used. 'Take it easy Samuel, he doesn't seem to be moving.' Indeed it was hard to tell where the other was, darkness surrounded them, burning Samuel's eyes, penetrating them and invading his mind, caliming them as its own.

A couple of rough coughs and then a new voice "hey. I know it sounds bad, but you're the first person to come through here in hours, I'll be damned if I let you leave," the words came garbled to Samuel's ears, the loud heartbeats resonated in these and made comprehension difficult, moreover, the other's voice did not sound threatening, so much as more... absolutely desperate, tired and overwrought? "What are you saying, are you nuts??? I'm calling the police now, and you don't try to stop me!" “Yes! Please, I beg you call them, I can't take it anymore.” Now Samuel was much more confused than before, did the other also want the police to come? Why would that be? Didn't he understand that he was going to report him and hand him over to them? Cautiously he approached the car, one of the two trembling hands was timidly detached from the weapon and victoriously reached for the phone. Dialing the number, however, he stopped, “you understood that I'm calling to report you right?” his hair stuck to his forehead and his glasses still fogged up were fixed in seconds, he did not want to take his eyes off the indistinct figure even for a moment. The latter, when asked, stepped forward a little further “I don't care, call them and tell them to get an ambulance too” "wait.... What? Are you hurt?“ ”Fuck kid call them! You want a better excuse? Because I can jump you and punch the fuck out of you if you prefer" and with that the wavering finger made the decision lightning fast. “Yes excuse me, I need the police...” “Do you have an emergency?” “Yes I think so” "can you explain the situation you are in? Can you speak freely?" “Yes yes, I was in the car, I was getting on the Stelvio's Mount when I got a flat tire, I stopped and now there is a man here, I don't know him” “ok got it, did he try to assault you, hurt you?” Continued the female voice as she tapped the keys on the keyboard, probably trying to retrieve their exact location; “no no, however, I have asked him several times to leave and he won't budge, he also told me that I am the first one to pass by in a while and he won't let me leave,” a lump in his throat as he finished those words, he realized how it was all so real, what a situation he had gotten himself into? “Okay, we'll send someone, now please keep calm” “the ambulance” diseased through clenched teeth the other one, holding his belly harder. “he's telling me to have an ambulance come too” “is he hurt?”, Samuel wasn't sure he wanted to know the answer, either way he turned to the figure "are you... are you hurt?“ ”Why do you think I insist on the ambulance? Cus I like the sirens?" "Okok I meant, where are you hurt? Is it serious?" The answer came a few seconds later "in the belly, on the side. I don't know if it's serious but I don't think so, I've been like this for hours now“ ”hours??" The 112 girl was also trying to get more information about it by asking Samuel to hand the phone to the other boy, but she was put on the back burner. “Yes, hours” “but how did you end up here?” “Now you care eh” chuckled the one, but it cost him a twinge and more pain than expected, he doubled over. Samuel's natural instincts led him to push forward to help, his brain had to intervene to firmly remind him that this was a stranger in a forest at night and he was not to trust it, and so he nailed his feet to the road. After a few more coughs he spoke “I ... had gone up with my girlfriend ... on the way back down I decided to tell her that I intended to leave her” he continued in an uncertain and embarrassed voice, marked difference with the tone used earlier “she got angry, stopped driving and pushed me out of the car, then she left okay.” More silence filled the space between the two, and when Samuel opened his mouth it felt like plunging a knife into some meat. "But... really?" He asked incredulously, his eyes wide open and his cheeks holding back an disrespectful laugh; “yes, I am serious” “meaning you left her while you were in the car together and she was behind the wheel?” “What would you be implying sorry?” “That if that were the case you would really be an idiot?” a sigh of surprise on the other end and then silence. When Samuel remembered the phone call the other had just recovered “you call me an idiot?” “Yes I'm sorry, he said he's hurt in the belly sideways” “you, who alone with the car stopped in the middle of the road at night call me an idiot?” “No, no he said it shouldn't be serious, it's been like this for hours,” the other through clenched teeth whispered “stupid kid I should take you out and confirm all your fears”; but Samuel hadn't heard this veiled threat and continued talking to the girl, until at one point he addressed him directly “he said they'll be here in about twenty minutes, do you think you'll hold out right?” He thought about it for a while. He looked at the boy, he could see him quite well, the darkness had never given him much trouble. The figure in front of him was distraught, he noticed how drenched in sweat he was, the tremors that ran through him and the fear that gripped his throat, yet right now he was trying to look him in the eye. "Twenty minutes is perfect," he declared at last.

Thirty passed before sirens were heard in the distance.

“Okay guys,” sighed the first policeman, slamming the door, “so which one of you is the weirdo who won't leave?” And slowly Samuel's hand rose in the other's direction, “oh shut up,” hissed the one and rolled his eyes. “You are also injured I see.” Effectively the headlights of the car and the ambulance illuminated the road enough for Samuel to see quite clearly the person who had ‘kept him company’ during this time. 'It certainly wasn't what I expected,' he thought as his first thought: the guy was quite tall, quite fit (more than him for sure), and his fairly short but not too much hair was splashing all over the place, and most importantly, it looked... white? But he was definitely young, had he dyed it maybe? Decolorized? Was this something he could do at home or did it have to be done by a professional? 

That strange flow of thoughts was interrupted by the second policeman, much shorter than the first but with the same superficial and obnoxious attitude "so you called us in for this? That's it?“ ”Well in short. The car won't start anymore, I was hoping you..." “Kid for that job you call a tow truck not the police, you're lucky we're magnanimous and won't report you for false alarm” but Samuel had stood by the word tow truck...wow was he really that stupid that he hadn't thought of that? Maybe he was the idiot after all. Here he was reminded of the other boy, he was no longer attached to the tree but sitting on the edge of the ambulance, with the (probably) volunteers shoving the flashlight light into his eyes and asking “name?”, and the answer was slow in coming, and to Samuel it seemed not for any medical reason, but more because he had to make it up at the moment...strange.

“Silas Hyde” well... made up at the time seemed an even more plausible option now. Besides, 'silas is latin for forest.... very convenient that way eh?‘ "ok kid, we called the tow truck, you're welcome and goodbye" "ei wait, you're just going to leave me here like this?" "What are you 6 years old? Are you afraid of a little darkness?" Samuel felt the blood boil under his skin, he wished he could shut those obnoxious and annoying mouths once and for all. “Can't he ride in the ambulance with me?” sudenly, all eyes on Silas “come on the re Is enough space and it's not like I'm dying,” said, aiming his gaze at the person directly concerned, and Samuel felt himself burning. His cheeks began to blanch, it was the first time someone had really looked at him, and he felt as if that was the first time anyone had really looked at him. His head was leaning against the wall of the ambulance, he was breathing with his mouth slightly open, his face was tired, but his gaze was something else; Samuel swallowed hard, no matter how much he wanted to, he couldn't stop putting his eyes in the other's, his breathing quickened, more saliva filled his mouth and this time he struggled to swallow it down; oh god it felt like those eyes were going to crucify him on the spot. Then Silas smiled slowly, languidly, lifted his head a little and continued speaking, slowly, poking the other man's eyes harder, "come on Sammy, surely you prefer this to waiting for a tow truck for who knows how long." Samuel lost runs, his pupils reduced to a mere dot surrounded on all sides by the intense hazelnut of the iris, his throat suddenly dry. 'How does he know my name?' The bleak silence was then broken "yeah for us it's okay" said the policemen "for us too, hop on we're going" but all sounds were muffled, the only jarring sound in Samuel's ears was his name spoken by that stranger and his mocking eyes. He shook his head slowly, with an inhuman strength he succeded in pointing his eyes at the cobblestone road and headed uncertainly for the ambulance.