Where had he vanished to anyway?
“Peter!” I tried again, louder this time, but I got no response. It was quiet and then I heard a noise like a branch break, it made me jump.
“Who’s there?” I said as I looked into the dark forest, but there was no reply. I held my breath for a couple of seconds, then shook my head. It was probably nothing, just some animal or something.
I took a couple of steps back and then turned and walked away, not knowing where I was going, but not wanting to stay where I was either. The ground felt damp and it felt tough to walk on. I kept hurting myself on stones and twigs. As I couldn’t really see where I was going I walked into a branch, which hit me straight in the face. It felt like a pine tree, the harshness of the needles hitting my cheeks, nose and eyelids like a slap. I stumbled and put my hands to my face rubbing it, trying to numb the pain. I felt like hitting the branch back, but what good would that do? And all I wanted was to get out of there.
As I passed another bigger tree a shadow of a person walked straight out and I screamed and fell back, landing with my palms on wet leaves.
“Alex?”
I looked up squinting my eyes in the dark as I recognized the silhouette of the person standing before me.
“Peter?”
He bent down putting out his hand for me to take and smiled. I felt a large lump in my throat, tears welling up. I felt so happy to see him. Taking his hand I pulled myself up and we embraced each other. I held on to him like he was a lifeboat coming to rescue me and if I let go I might die.