AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Are you sure?” Asher snaps.
“Yes,” Finn snaps back. “I locked the door. I know I did. Can you unlock a door while sleepwalking?”
A round of uncertain shrugs follows. No one knows the answer.
“It doesn’t matter right now,” Asher remarks. “Emma could be out there and we have to find her.”
“And we have to call the police or something, right?” I say, trying to work out how they would even get here.
Finn is already moving outside, flashlight in hand, so we both follow him.
“Emma!” Finn yells, his voice booming through the night air. Animals chitter and screech in the distance but that’s his only reply.
“What do we do?” Asher turns to Finn. “You were in the army. What do we do?”
“I fought in a war, I didn’t find missing people in a forest,” Finn snaps. “But she can’t have gone far. We split up, we walk in one direction and make sure you walk in a straight line, okay? We keep yelling and make sure you can hear each other. One sweep, and then we call the mountain rescue. Sound good?”
I’m not sure if it’s the fact we’re doing something or that Finn sounds so sure of himself while issuing these instructions, but the tight band of panic eases in my chest slightly.
“Got it.” I drag one hand through my hair, pulling slightly at the end of the strands.
“Twenty minutes,” Finn says. “We search for twenty then we call someone.”
Exchanging worried glances, we each share a nod and then we split up. I head toward where I saw the shadow. If I’m lucky, maybe I can find whatever it was that I saw.
Heading deeper into the forest with the high beam to lead the way, I weave the safest path I can find through the trees. Twigs and foliage crunch under my boots and like clockwork, Finn and Asher’s voices drift to me in the dark.
“Emma!”
“Where are you?!”
“Emma, can you hear me?”
“Emma!”
Like a runaway wagon, my mind takes on a mind of its own as I walk through the forest calling to her. What if she walked too far and fell down a ravine, breaking all the bones in her body? What if she wandered into the path of a really hungry bear or mountain lion that saw her as a threat to her cubs? What if she just kept walking, endlessly lost in the forest with no hope of ever making it back to civilization?
Those thoughts and more send chills down my spine, creating a cold tingle that doesn’t leave. Weaving through the trees, I scan the light back and forth but in truth, I have no idea what I’m looking for. I don’t know how to tell if a human or an animal has walked past here.
Finn and Asher’s voices gradually grow fainter as we all walk deeper into the forest. The longer Emma is missing, the more scared I get. And underneath the fear is a rising anger at Finn. Clearly, he didn’t lock the door properly and now poor Emma is out here, lost and alone.
“Emma!” I yell, coming to a stop above a small incline. Using the flashlight, I scan the area back and forth, but there’s no sign of any kind of disturbance or a person, and no sign of the shadow either.
Suddenly, twigs snap to my left. I spin around, aiming in the direction I’m sure I heard the noise but there’s nothing there. My heart kicks up a gear and begins to pound while I scan the trees. There’s nothing. No Emma, nothing.
It must have been an animal.
“I found her!” comes a distant cry that sends a pulse of warm, static relief through my entire chest. “I’ve found her!”
It sounds like Asher, so I turn and sprint back the way I came. There’s a moment while running where the darkness seems to stretch on forever, and I fear I’ve taken a wrong turn or gone off course accidentally. Thankfully the glow of the cabin comes into view within a few minutes of that scary thought entering my mind, and I sprint gratefully inside.
“Emma!”
Dropping to my knees in front of her, I clasp her bare calf. She sits on the couch next to Asher who has his arm around her. A blanket drapes over her shoulders, and Finn appears with a steaming cup of tea.
“Are you alright? Are you hurt? What happened?” I ask, scanning every inch of her.
“I’m so sorry,” Finn says, handing Emma the tea. “I was so sure I locked the door.”
