Wilderness

Soon enough, we were safely out of the town, in a moderately dense woodland. From where we were, only the last small buildings at the northernmost outskirts of the town could be seen as dark silhouettes... barely. They also disappeared in a short while as we travelled further.

*pant* *pant*

"Let's stop here." said Sena. We were both tired.

"Did we really make it out?" I asked her.

"We did, don't worry, we did."

"What now?" I asked her.

"I don't know, I've never been here alone, in dark." she said. "Guess we won't take our chances and just stay here until morning."

"You've been here in the daytime?" I asked.

"I used to come here with my mother sometimes, to collect mushrooms... Tasty mushrooms." She was surprisingly not showing any signs of longing about these memories. "But at night? No. Especially not during one of these nights."

A silence followed. I would normally expect to hear the sounds of crickets or other animals who are active at night, but there was no sound at all... except for the occassional pleasant breeze.

I heard some footsteps by me.

"What is that?" I asked in a bit of panic.

"What is? Me?" Sena replied. Apparently, they were her footsteps. It was almost impossible to see anything, making it difficult to stay together in this unfamiliar territory.

"Don't walk away, we are going to lose each other." I said.

She walked closer to me, and held my hand.

"This way." she said and started pulling me with her.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"I don't know, exploring!" she said. "We are going to be here for a while, I am going to get bored."

"Won't you sleep?" I asked her. "It is getting late."

"The sun has set less than a couple hours ago." Sena argued. "And no, I don't want to sleep on wet grass and dirt, thank you."

Wet grass and dirt... She had a point.

While we were walking, I had a weird feeling. The number of footsteps I was hearing have been increased. I stopped and pulled her back.

"Stop." I said.

"What is wrong?" she asked.

"Shh!" I gestured her to be silent, unaware of the fact that she couldn't see my gestures.

She waited for a few seconds. I waited for a few seconds too. I couldn't hear anything now.

"What is it?" Sena whispered this time.

"I don't know, I guess nothing." I said. "Sorry."

After that, Sena began pulling me with her again. We walked around the woodland, often running head-first into some trees in the blackness. The layer of tree leaves above us were pretty good at blocking even the tiniest bits of starlight which could guide us.

"We can light a fire." I said. "We are out of the town, so it should work."

"You can light a fire in a forest?" Sena asked in amazement.

"Uhh... No." I said. "But we don't have anything to lose by trying."

"If you lose my patience, you are not going to get it back." she said. "Lighting fires isn't easy. I don't want to hang around watching you try for hours."

"Ugh, fine." I said. We kept walking.

I had that weird feeling again. This time, it was like the sound of the footsteps were doubled. I pulled Sena back to stop her again.

"Shh, stop!"

Yes, it wasn't my imagination. I could still hear some very faint footsteps.

"Hear that?" I asked Sena.

"Yeah." she said.

"Do you think someone followed us?" I asked her.

"No, it may just be the wolves."

I froze.

"The... The what!?"

"Wolves." she said. "There are wolves and bees and snakes and mice and squirrels..."

"Isn't this... dangerous?" I asked her.

"It is." she said with a plain tone, without minding the 'danger' part at all.

"And, so... what are we doing out in the open, all weak and vulnerable?" I asked.

"Go climb a tree, wolves can only jump so high." she said. "Seriously, would you like to return to the cute little town instead?"

"Are you even taking this seriously?" I said.

"Look, wolves won't do anything unless you provoke them." she said. "Or unless they are, like... REALLY hungry. I would worry more about stepping on a wasp nest."

"There are wasp nests on ground!?"

"Is this your first time in the wilderness?" she asked me in return. I shut up.

The sounds were much closer now. I could also hear breathing... like those of a dog's. The wolves were definitely close by.

"I honestly want to climb a tree." I whispered.

"Good luck." Sena said.

With it's superior sensory organs, a wolf had detected us and came very close. It was feeling like if I strecthed my arm forward, I could touch the wolf. However, nothing happened. The wolf just ignored us and ran to some other place. I was expecting a whole wolf pack to follow it, but it seemed like that particular wolf was alone.

"It is okay, you can release your breath now." Sena said. I couldn't even notice myself holding my breath until then.

"How can you keep so cool?" I asked her.

"If you feel so uneasy, we can go a little further north. If we can get a little higher, trees get scarce. The empty mountain slope may make you feel safer." she said.

"Isn't the mountain itself-" I was not going to complete my question, but Sena guessed my intention anyway.

"We aren't climbing all the way up to where the light is." she said. "We are just going to get to the point where trees no longer grow, and animals don't visit."

"Okay, okay." I said. "Let's go that way. To be honest, it would feel much safer up there."

Sena held my hand again.

"Okay..." she said. "So... which way is north?"

"I don't know." I said. "If only I could see the stars..."

"You can figure it out using stars?" she asked.

"Yeah." I said. "If I can identify just one constellation, I can figure out the rest; but the leaves are blocking the vision."

"Go climb a tree." Sena said. "There are trees everywhere. Go climb. I will wait here."

"Are you sure?" I asked.

"Sure, please just do."

I held a random tree and started pushing and pulling myself up.

"Can you see the stars yet?" Sena asked from below. I looked up.

"Not yet." I said and held on a branch above me.

"Okay, keep going." she replied.

"Yeah, I know."

I pulled myself a little higher and stepped on the sturdy branch. I could see some stars now, but it wasn't enough. I tried to hold another branch overhead.

I grabbed something, but then instantly regretted it. The 'thing' crumpled in my hand and covered my arm with a sticky substance.

"Eww!"

"What are you doing up there?" Sena asked.

I ignored the awful feeling for a moment and looked up.

"Ursa Minor, Ursa Minor... Where are you?" I started watching the sky. "There! The north is that way!"

"Which way, I can't see you between the leaves!" Sena shouted.

That was right... I had to get down and lead the way.

Just then, I heard something over my right ear... a flying insect. I tried to chase it away, but accidentally hit it with the back of my hand. Perhaps both of us couldn't see much in the dark.

That insect went away, but I started hearing a couple more of them. Waving my hand around, I was now trying to get down as quickly as possible.

"Looks like I made some friends up here." I said.

"Don't mess with me, what do you mean?" Sena asked.

"Those bugs won't leave me alone!" I yelled.

"Oh no." was the last thing I heard when I slipped from the branch, falling down to the ground from an unknown height.