2 — Out of The Forest

Despite the tumultuous roar of thunder, Tiana's resolve to rescue her wrongly arrested father remained unshaken. She stepped forward, still in tears, while she made her way through the muddy field and the heavy rain.

A grip tightened around her wrist, halting her from moving forward. Confused and anguished, with furrowed brows, she swiftly turned her head and fixed an intense gaze upon the individual standing before her.

"Let me go, Issac."

"I can't do that. Your father told me to protect you, no matter what."

"And I need to go and protect him!" She yelled.

Issac's grip tightened. No matter how hard Tiana tried to push his arms off her, she couldn't. She was too weak compared to him.

"Issac! It hurts..."

Her tears ran down her cheeks even faster.

Issac gave up, her tears melting his heart, and he released her.

"Tia... I'm sorry... I'm just as lost as you are... Your dad texted me to come here. I happened to be in the area because I finished work late tonight so I came here as soon as possible. On the way here, I saw a car. Burning. It seemed like an accident. You don't know how scared I was!"

The brown-haired man embraced Tiana into his arms. He held her tight enough that the anxiousness within her had gradually calmed down. Her tears and wet hair soaked his already drenched t-shirt by the rain.

She felt at ease. She felt secure in his arms. If he was with her, nothing bad could happen to her. She knew it. He always protected her.

Either it was now, from the police, or when she first went to work, when that spoiled girl made her lose her job because she touched a simple dress.

However, those memories didn't last long until the flashbacks where her father was being taken away by the police came to her mind.

She pulled herself back away from his embrace.

Issac had loosened up his grip around her waist by then, making it easy for her to get away from him.

"Issac, I gotta go. My dad needs me. I can't just let him be taken away without any proper explanation from those policemen! I'm sure there's a huge misunderstanding."

Issac, again, held her hand, stopping her from making another step.

"Issac!"

"Tia! What are you even gonna do? You can't do anything, ok? You need to make a plan first. And for that, we need to know who is behind all these. They seem very powerful too." he explained, hoping she would understand despite her stubbornness.

"Fine," she agreed, leaving the brown-haired man shocked while she walked against a tree, crossing her arms. She concluded perhaps she could listen to Issac and he might have a plan like he always did.

"I'm listening. Spill your plan."

"I... I don't have any for now. But we need to move from here as soon as possible in case those policemen are still looking for you."

The shadows gradually became darker, blending into one as the night turned darker. An owl could be heard in the distance as the full moon was barely visible between the foliage of the oak trees. In the meantime, the rain had ceased.

The surrounding trees and the formerly parched ground were left glistening with moisture. The cessation of rainfall had drenched the vegetation and turned the previously dry landscape into a moist, muddy mess.

"Stay here," Issac pointed at a dry log that wasn't excessively affected by the rain because of the shadow of a large oak tree.

Issac examined the location to make sure that the police had left. "It's late and I need to make some fire. Hopefully, I can find some wood dry enough to start a fire. We need to be careful, we are probably being watched. Do you have anything dry that I can place beneath to put under the woods?"

"We can use rocks as a surface to put the woods on and somehow use rocks to strike fire often enough to dry wood. Once a few are dried up, we can start the fire and dry more wood. Problem solved!"

"That's... smart." Issac blurted, surprised. He didn't know Tiana could be smart at times. Sometimes she was the most innocent girl he ever met. Other times, she would be the most mature and wise girl he could ever meet.

"But who's watching us?" Tianna asked, perplexed. She had no idea what was going on and Issac spitting out only bits and pieces of information wasn't helping her understand any better of her situation. "You should be able to tell me this much at least, no?"

She walked towards the dry log, sat down and stared at him squarely at his face as she picked up a branch inside the log, holding it. She played with it for a second then pointed it at him.

"I'm just as confused as you, Tia. I only know the little bit your father told me. Oh, right! He told me this over the call earlier too... Something like... no matter what happens or what anyone says, you are his daughter and that is the truth no one can ever change." He quickly explained looking around as if someone might overhear them.

Tiana was having a hard time believing any of this was even happening. Just earlier, she was having a good day with her friends and Issac. They hung out, ate ice cream, and just had fun, like any other teenagers. However, her father's behaviour changed drastically as soon as she arrived home.

She was forced into a car without a single word of explanation. Not to mention she didn't even know where the car came from because they were too poor to even get a taxi in general.

Then, her father, Aziel, drove her away from her current home, forcing her to leave the city. And then, a while ago, her father was practically arrested by some police officers. Everything that was going on felt absurd to her.

"Tia. Are you sure your father didn't do anything wrong?" Isaac hesitantly questioned.

Tiana turned her gaze to face him as he stood, collecting some dry wood, bent down. She frowned as she abruptly walked towards him, pulling him up.

"W-what's wrong?" Issac nervously asked.

"How could you? My dad trusted you and told you to take care of me and here you are, doubting him?!"

"Th-that's not my point, Tia." He sighed. "It's just... if he is innocent, why would the police even take him? Isn't that weird? Or maybe even if he didn't do anything wrong, maybe he made a mistake and..."

Tiana pushed Issac away, hard enough for him to lose balance and fall to the ground.

When he looked up, Tiana's eyes were filled with rage.

"Tia..." He tried to stand up but his ankle seemed to have been sprained.

He groaned in pain and fell back on the ground in an attempt to stand up.

When he looked in front, Tiana had already disappeared from his sight. Although he looked around and walked around over and over a few times, he couldn't find the shadow of her presence, leaving him anguished. He sighed and sat on a rock, trying to fix his sprained ankle.

"Tia... Why are you acting like this?" He sighed.

***

Tiana sprinted vigorously away from Issac before he could catch her.

"I know you love me but I gotta face this on my own, Issac. Knowing you, you wouldn't let me do anything myself," She mumbled to herself, desperately looking for a way out of the forest.

Her gaze fell on the car she travelled in and in which her father was. Although the passage of time seemed hazy, the surroundings appeared to be cloaked in midnight darkness.

She gulped, as she felt chills down her spine due to cold but also because of the fears embracing her mind. However, she gathered up her courage and sneakily followed the path leading towards the highway from the broken car.

There were no cars in sight, prompting her decision to walk further in case any car came into her field of vision.

After a few minutes of walking, it didn't take her long to see a truck driving toward her. She quickly ran behind the vehicle that had just passed by her right.

"Mister!"

The driver didn't hear her and kept driving.

She sprinted with all her might and screamed louder.

"MISTER!"

The driver quickly pulled over the car to a side when he saw a young girl running behind his truck.

Tiana reached the truck, panting.

"Can you... drive me back to... the city mister? My... dad needs... me. I need to save him..." She panted, desperately gasping for air as her body bent over.

The driver scanned her from head to toe . It was uncommon to see a young lady drenched in the rain this late at night. A sense of pity towards her developed within him.

"Get on." He smiled, giving her a sign to get inside the truck.

Tiana's face brightened in a way that her happiness could no longer be hidden. She hurriedly took a seat beside the driver.

"Thank you so much!"

"Don't worry young lady. I will make you reach the city in no time."