Wish You Were Here

33

For some reason, I screamed as I jumped out. I'm not sure if I thought it would make me seem more intimidating or if it was from fear. It was probably a little of both. The sound of my voice pierced through my ears as I shrieked and jumped out from behind my tree. Grant ran forward, aaa his arms bent in front of his chest, gripping his knife.

Grant and I both shared the same shocked expression and came to a halt.

"Will?" Grant asked in surprise.

"Beth!" I screamed and started running again.

Will stood in front of us, Beth clinging to his back. She saw me and shimmied down, Will carefully planting her onto the dirt. I rushed to her and we embraced, both of us in tears.

"Dude!" Will exclaimed to Grant.

"Oh, man!" Grant laughed. "Is it good to see you!"

I was elated to see Beth. I didn't want to stop hugging her, but I knew she wouldn't be able to stand for very long, so I parted with her and helped her sit down.

"I can't believe we found each other!" I cried.

"I know! I was so worried about you." She grabbed my hand.

"You were worried about me?" I laughed. "The cabin was on fire! We didn't know-"

I got choked up and had to stop talking. She squeezed my hand tighter.

"I know." She frowned. "Will told me. I'm so sorry. You probably thought Cal and I..."

My eyes widened. "Cal! Where is she? Is she okay?"

"Neither one of us were in the cabin when it was on fire," she said. "But, I don't know how she is...or where she is. They have her."

Her eyes filled with tears again and I stared at her. "They have her? Who? What do you mean?"

"I'll tell you everything I know." She stared at me intensely.

I looked over at Grant and Will. They were quietly talking about something, both wearing matching serious expressions. Will pointed off into the distance behind us and then Grant nodded. They started walking over towards Beth and me, and I looked up expectantly.

"Hey, you!" Grant ruffled Beth's hair and she smiled up at him.

"Will says there are fish in the stream up over that way," he told me, pointing behind Beth. "Are you girls okay staying here if we try to catch some fish? I promise we won't be long."

He stared at me. I smiled and grabbed Beth's hand. "That would be amazing actually! It would sure beat granola bars."

"And berries, huh?" He smiled at me.

"No, I have no complaints about those," I told him sheepishly. He smiled at me.

"Will!" Grant called him over. "Let's do it!"

They quickly looked over our supplies, taking whatever they hoped would be useful. Waving, we watched them walk away.

"Are you hungry? Thirsty?" I asked her.

She laughed. "I'm okay. Will made sure I stayed hydrated and we ate a little. Hopefully they'll catch some fish!"

"Yeah, that would be so great!" I agreed.

"I heard you got Aaron out. That's good." she said quietly.

I nodded. "Yeah, but then we lost him again. I hope he's okay."

"Me too," she nodded. "Ryleigh, I'm sorry I don't know where Cal is. I feel so bad."

"It's not your fault," I told her. "Tell me what happened."

Beth told me that she had been with Cal in the cabin while Grant, Will, and I had gone to rescue Aaron. Cal went outside for a few minutes, and when she returned, she'd been frantic.

"She heard voices," Beth said. "And we both got nervous about staying in the cabin. I mean, considering the last time we heard voices, guys came inside!"

"So, what did you do?" I asked.

"We decided to leave the cabin and just hide behind it. The bushes were pretty thick and we thought they wouldn't be able to see us. Cal helped me outside and we hid. She saved my life, Ryleigh." Her eyes welled up.

She went on to tell me that while she and Cal had been hiding, they saw two people go to the cabin. Just as they thought it was safe to get up, a third person came around the corner, much too close to where they were hiding.

"Cal told me to stay hidden and she wanted to sneak over to the cabin. She had the matches and she lit the cabin on fire. I think she hoped it would distract them so she and I could get away. Because I'm so slow, you know what I mean? It's not like we could crawl away or run. Not me, anyway." She looked away.

"She could've left me there. She didn't have to stay with me, but she did. Cal promised she wouldn't leave me alone. She risked her own safety for me!" She started to cry and wiped a tear from her cheek.

"I tried to peek out of the bushes, but I couldn't see much. After she set the cabin on fire, I saw her coming back toward me and then something must have happened because I heard her scream. The third guy grabbed her, I think. I could only see the top of his head and hear her yelling," she said and took a deep breath.

I tried to console Beth, but in my head I was desperately hoping Cal was okay. If she had been taken by some group, who knows what could happen to her? I'd have to tell Grant what happened and hope that he'd agree with me in wanting to go find her. I was sure he would want to, but just in case he said no for some reason, I prepared myself to go at it alone.

Beth told me that she had crawled out from the bushes, using a large branch as a crutch. She didn't make it very far when Will found her. He had backtracked, heading back across the stream toward the cabin, using the fire's smoke for direction.

"How's it been with Will?" I asked. "He can be...kind of aggressive."

She laughed. "I know! But you know what I noticed? He's only like that whenever Aaron is around. Something about him just gets under Will's skin. But by himself, he's actually really sweet."

Sweet? Will?

"Are you feeling okay? Is the heat making you crazy?" I joked.

She smiled. "I'm serious! He's been carrying me on his back almost this entire time. He got us food and water; he even found us someplace safe to sleep. I honestly don't know what I would've done without him."

Her face grew somber. I smiled and said, "Then I owe him a huge amount of gratitude. I was so worried about you and Cal."

I could tell she didn't know what to say about Cal. It looked like she wanted to burst into tears at the sound of her name.

"Well, at least the four of us are back together," I said.

"That's for sure! Speaking of...you and Grant, huh?" She raised her eyebrows.

My cheeks flushed. "What? No! We just ended up together because we lost Aaron and Will, that's all."

She narrowed her eyes. "Yeah, right! I totally saw how he looked at you."

I laughed. "Okay, now I know the heat is making you crazy!"

She was laughing and then yawned loudly.
I had her lie down and put her head in my lap. I leaned up against the rocks and nodded off myself as well. We both woke up shortly afterwards to the sound of Grant and Will returning, fish in hand.