Chapter VII:

This couldn’t keep up. I need to know what I am going to do now. I don’t know where I am going to go now. First, I need to get into town. From there, I had to figure out what to do. Who could I tell what happened? Has anyone even noticed by now? Surely, they must have. Surely, they must.

I sneezed as a gust of wind blew over my body. How long have I been walking out here? Looking at my watch would just be an insult to injury. Time was a weird thing. It chooses whether to go first or go slow. Sometimes, it doesn’t move at all. Nowadays, it means nothing to me. Back then in those woods, it didn’t mean time to me either. It didn’t help that I could feel my hands or feet. They could’ve fallen off and I wouldn’t have noticed. Still I would need my hands to keep and catch something to eat. I have been able to find little fish in the stream. They weren’t enough but I will take anything at this point. Town would have something better to eat anyway.

The footsteps have stopped. Somehow that did little to ease me. It’s like the calm before the storm. I half-expected someone to jump out and attack me. I doubted whoever followed me who given up. I shook the thought from my head. I should be nearly out of the woods by now.

I looked up at the sky. There were still no clouds. The sun was still weak too. I did hear a bird in the trees. I about jumped back in the snow. Whoa! What was that? For some reason, I felt at ease. There were sounds other than footsteps in the snow. Still, I had to keep going. I dug into my memories about how to get to the road from here. Father, Nathanael, and I took this path in the summer. Father said that the stream led all the way to the road. All I would have to do is turn right further up and I would be there. It was then I heard the footsteps behind me in the woods. I held my path and started running again. I couldn’t take this anymore. I hated being toyed with. By then, I just wanted to get out of this cold.

By the time I ran out of strength again, I had made it out of the woods. The tip of my nose touched the snow on the edge of the road. Everything went silent again. No footsteps. No birds. I was close to civilization. But it wasn’t over yet. I still needed to get into town. I needed real food. I needed a change of clothes. I needed money. I needed somewhere to go.

I looked down the road to my right. There were no carriages coming. I pulled out my watch. Heh. It was still morning. I felt so tired. But still I fought to stay away. I couldn’t fall asleep out here. That would not be good. I couldn’t die yet for some reason.

Wait… Was that a buggy?