Stay Away from Pleasure

Chapter Twenty-Eight

23:20PM

Walking through the woods was not planned.

Leonard takes the lead in front of me. He still makes sure I'm close by and occasionally flips his head back to check that I'm directly behind him. Although we didn't really plan to go roaming the woods, Leonard still has a torch on him, which is incredibly convenient. This helps since its pitch black out here and apart from his torch, the only light we have is the moon that's ahead of us.

The trees loom high above us and the darkness is very much evident. It's a cavernous warp of darkness and only the cold glow of the moon springs light into this land. There doesn't seem to be any serial killers or wolves around, so I'm sure Leonard and I will be just fine.

"What exactly are we looking for?" Leonard says.

"Anything. I don't know if she's here, but—"

"Shh!" Leonard puts his index finger on my lips to stop me from talking.

In the distance, a few voices are heard. They're deep and it sounds like there's about two other people in this area. Soon, it's not only voices heard.

Leonard pushes me back behind a huge tree. He holds me against his rock body and puts his hand over my mouth. I try to lean over slightly so I can see what's going on, but he pulls me in tighter. Feet crunch twigs and sticks as they walk around. They suddenly stops and I hear someone take a deep breath.

"I think we should tell the boys to head back." A familiar voice says, "there's nothing here but trees."

Is that Ace?

"Sure thing Clarke." Another voice calls.

Yep that's Ace.

I hear footsteps again and they begin to fade into the distance until there's nothing left. Leonard's grip around my waist slowly loosens and then he lets me go.

"Sorry about that." He breathes.

I shake my head. "It's fine. Did you hear that? They said there's nothing here."

"So what! Cops never look well enough."

"What? So we're meant to stay out here looking?"

He nods, "of course we are. The difference between us and them is that we're willing to stay out here all night. They all have families to go to or empty beds that they'd rather be in. Claire is your family. And we're gonna find her."

Thank the Lord for creating this man. I really need him right now. I actually think every friend needs a Leonard for when times get tough. He's just there for everyone. The fact that he has never met Claire or even had a conversation with her and he's going to all these lengths, really proves that he's a good person and makes me so grateful. Thank the Lord for creating this man.

"You're right. Let's keep looking." I smile.

"Right. So they just came from there so maybe we should go left."

I giggle, "where the hell is left?"

We're in the middle of the woods and there's hardly any clear paths to follow. There are only trees and a few more trees.

"Closer to the moon." He says.

I turn my head left and see the moon boldly beaming its light.

"Lead the way." I smile.

Leonard smiles at me and begins walking in that direction. He pulls me by my jacket to keep me closer to him and I try to keep up with him. He stops.