• Chapter 2 - Into the Wild

    My body ached, all I wanted right now was to crawl into my warm bed and sleep. I had been hiking all night, trying to get away from the chaos of my life. I stood at the top of the hill, staring at the small town below me. I felt like a bird, being able to see the entire city; the school, the town hall… even though I was miles and miles away by now.
    On the horizon, the sky changed from a dank gray to a pale blue, getting deeper and deeper as it spread across the sky. Is it six a.m.? I thought to myself, remembering that today was July 2nd. The days came early, and the nights were shorter than in the winter times.

    The tiny town below me was still asleep, but I couldn’t afford to stop walking. I was still too close. I turned my back on everything behind me, ready to start anew.

    I continued to walk into the unknown, never had I been this far out before. Just down this hill was the forest—we had always been warned never to go there. I thought that maybe, just maybe, if I went down into the forest I would be able to either continue walking, or make refuge there. From the knowledge I had gained from earlier years when we were learning about our town, the forest stretched hundreds of miles deep, and most of it had been untouched by humans. The occasional run away would try to make it into the forest, but most people didn’t even make it to the edge of the forest. The police would always drag them back to their families.

    With those thoughts alone I kept walking, I felt the hope of starting a new life, no matter how rediculous it sounded.

    I stepped into the forest, immediately tripping over logs and branches—making as much noise as possible. “Once I find a clearing I’ll rest…” I kept telling myself. Sweat beaded on my forehead and cheeks as I walked. “Once I find a clearing I’ll rest…” I groaned. Was there even a clearing out here? My legs felt like they were rubber carrying the weight of my body, and I was still aching from last night’s beating.



    My body shook with fatigue. “No… I have to keep going.” I said gingerly to myself as I grabbed a branch to support my weight. Nothing in the scenery around me had changed since I had started walking into the forest. Everything seemed the same as it always was. Every step I took seemed like a miracle, and it was beyond me on how I managed to do it.
    I stopped, the forest crushing my hopes. It hadn’t been more than three hours, and the forest seemed to hold the heat in. I sat down on a moss covered log, putting my bag down I grabbed the apple on the side and devoured it, eating the core as well. I grabbed one of my water bottles and poured it into my mouth as slowly as I could.

    The crystal liquid splashed down my throat. I drank it—all of it, and placed the plastic bottle back into my bag, hoping to use it later on. I unzipped my bag, pulling out my sleeping bag and staring at the ground, gnarled with tree roots and bushes. I stared at what I needed to clear out and sighed. I do NOT want to do this… I whimpered to myself as I pulled out a big, ragged knife. I grabbed at the bottom—or what I thought was the bottom—of the bush and started to cut away at the base.

    I ripped the bush loose from the ground, still as exhausted as I was before. I sat up and looked at my awful progress. Is it really worth the effort? Absolutely not. I reached into my bag and took out my sleeping bag. I rolled it out on the ground and put the knife back into the bag. Almost in relief, I took off my long sleeved shirt and shoved in into my bag. I changed into black spandex that I used to wear for volleyball and slipped into my sleeping bag.

    Normally, I would’ve just laid ontop of the sleeping bag, but I was half naked and I was also in unknown areas. There could be a colony of radioactive spiders out here for all I knew.

    I closed my eyes, and without being able to realize how lumpy the ground was, or how I had a rock under my head, I fell asleep.