Nightfall ✓

Chapter 6

• chapter six •

"Great, now it's raining, too," Liam said. Raindrops sieved through the thick leaves of the trees and started the gradual process of drenching us.

"I should've brought a map. I should have known that Liam would be too stupid," Ash mumbled so that Liam could hear.

Liam looked up at her. "Oh yeah, I was the one who went into the forest and got lost, right?"

She shot him a glare and sat on a grassy patch. All four of us were quiet for what felt like a long time, staring at each other's faces, maybe waiting for a miracle to happen.

Finally, Zack sighed and rested his hand on Liam's shoulder. "Hey. I'm sorry."

Liam didn't reply, but after another minute or so, he stood up and hugged Zack. "I really shouldn't forgive an asshole like you, but I do."

"Thanks," he said with a tiny smile. "Is there anything to eat? I haven't eaten anything since breakfast apart from one sandwich."

"Yeah." I took out the sandwiches and what was left of the lemonade, and Ash and Zack snatched them from me and gobbled them up before I had time to blink.

Then Zack looked at us. "We should do something instead of sitting here."

"Like what'?" Liam asked.

"Anything. Maybe we should look for those trees marked with chalk."

Ash bit her lip. "It's raining. The chalk probably got washed off."

"It's not raining that much in the forest," I said. "The leaves are blocking most of the rain. So maybe that chalk is still alive. We should look for those trees before the chalk does get washed off."

"Yeah, I think we should," Liam agreed. "We can use our phones to light up our path."

"No, I've got two torches," I said. I'd put everything I could in my backpack, from sandwiches to torches to binoculars to a jacket to paper and pen, hoping someone would ask for something and I'd say, You want paper? I have paper. You want binoculars? I have binoculars. I really wanted these guys to like me. I couldn't stand the thought of spending this year alone like I had in India. I took out the torches from my bag and gave them to Liam.

"Thanks." He smiled. "We'll walk in a single file. Let the girls walk in between, we guys can be at the ends. Zack and I will take the torches. That's okay with everyone?"

"Yeah," we all replied and stood up, slapping our butts to brush off the dust.

"I think you guys came running from that side." Zack pointed somewhere. "Let's walk in that direction."

"Alright," Liam said and took out a piece of chalk, and drew an arrow on the half-dry, half-wet trunk of a tree, pointing in the direction in which we were to start walking. "Let's go."

We walked in a single file, as straight as we could. The dark was making me uncomfortable, even though we had two torches. I had never liked the dark.

∞

"That's it. If I walk another step I'll die," Ash exclaimed. Lightning cracked, and she jumped and grabbed my arm. "Let's sit down somewhere and rest for a while. Please."

We all stopped walking. According to my watch, it had been precisely one hour two minutes since we had left that spot where Liam and Zack fought. We hadn't come across any tree with a huge white 'X', and we were absolutely drenched, and it was cold, and one torch seemed like it would die any moment.