Flight 118: A Woman’s Future
Chapter Twenty-Three

“If the forest has a day of fire and the heat of the flames does not consume a special tree, it will still be changed; charred, but still standing.”

Dan Groat

As I stumbled through the forest in the dark, I continued to hope I was going the right way.

Branches kept hitting me everywhere my skin was exposed; my face and my arms even more so. I just knew I was going to end up looking like someone used my body as a cat’s scratching post or a human pin cushion. But it could not be helped. I could not see anything.

Great. Just my luck. The first time I’m about to confess my love to someone and I’ll look like someone tried to murder me with paper and leaves.

It was all I could do to keep rubbing my hands along the tree bark to try and keep walking in a straight line. Even though I could feel the bark digging into my palms, tearing at the skin that had begun to go numb from the cold night air.

They said when you take away one of the senses, in my case my ability to see in the dark, that the other senses become stronger. I began to question if I believed that as I stumbled through the black of night, continuing to trip on tree roots and scratch myself on branches.

Just then I tripped over a raised tree root and caught myself on a tree branch with nothing but my hair.

I could not control the pain-filled scream which ripped from my throat as my full body weight, assisted by gravity, went hurtling to the ground while my hair was firmly stuck on whatever it was caught on. My scalp practically screamed just as loud as I did. My hands flew up to grab the base of my hair, where it met my scalp, to try to release pressure on my head and keep my hair from ripping out.

What did I do to deserve this?! I screamed in my mind. I mean, really. I had never had so much bad luck in my life as I seemed to be having recently.

As I managed to get my body pulled up under me so I could stand, I started the tedious task of untangling my increasingly frizzy hair from my sweat, in the dark. It was a process because my curly hair naturally tangled itself badly, but now it had dirt, leaves, and blood caked into it as well. The entire time I tried to untangle my hair enough to get it off the branch I mumbled aloud to myself in frustration. If someone was watching me they would probably think I was crazy.

“What did I ever do to have this much bad luck?”

“‘Take a trip on a plane,’ they said. ‘It’ll be fun,’ they said.”

“Then I get the wonderful opportunity of being kidnapped. Not once, but twice! Three times if you consider being bought against my will. Then again, I felt like I would have chosen my buyers over the sellers.”

My chuckle was a bit deranged at the thought, I’m sure. Especially considering one of the said buyers was, as I now knew him, my mate. I shook my head a little, shivered at the cold that was getting worse now that I had stopped moving, and continued talking.

“Now look at me... in the dark, in the woods, bleeding, with my head stuck on a tree.”

I sighed and blinked away the tears threatening to fall from irritation and from the pain my entire body was now in. After ranting for what seemed like ages, I finally managed to get all of my hair free from the branch. From what I could tell, at least.

Sighing, I brushed my hands against my pant legs, stood up straight, and smiled. No pain. That must mean I got it all. Taking a step forward, I once more felt my body topple forward. Simultaneously I felt the sharp sting from a few strands of hair being torn from my head and my ankles hitting a hard thing sticking out of the ground. My eyes filled with water at the small burn on my scalp even as I scrambled to catch my falling body. My body did not stop once it hit the ground and instead continued to roll with me both yelling and grunting along for the ride. When my body finally stopped, it was aided by slamming into a gigantic tree trunk.

I groaned in pain as I laid there against the tree. There was now no place on my body untouched by the intense hurt I now had coursing inside. I could feel my muscles starting to bruise and I didn’t even want to think about it. Those were the worst because they took the longest to heal, hurt the worst, and you never even saw them until days later.

Eyes closed, I took a deep breath and realized that not only did I probably get tripped by the same tree root that had gotten me the first time, I also clearly did not manage to get all of my hair untangled from the branch.

Slowly I raised my hand to my head, groaning at the movement. Every shift caused sharp pain in my stiff, aching muscles and a feeling of tingling running through me that felt just like those you got when a body part fell asleep. Despite how much it ached to move, though, part of me needed to make sure I did not have a bald spot. Call me superficial but there’s only so much a girl could take.

After learning I somehow had lucked out in one area at least, I sighed in relief. Which reminded me of every other part of my body. I groaned and rested my head against the tree bark that my body was wrapped around like it was a pole I was trying to climb.

It hurt so much to breathe, let alone move, but I needed to get up. Lest I end up staying here throughout the night and being eaten by whatever other predator was stalking through the woods.

That would be just par for the course now, I guess.

Taking a few points to breathe deep and give myself a pep talk, I nodded to myself. Then I pushed up off the forest floor with a groan from moving my body and from the fact I found pine cones to use as a placemat for my hands. Forcing myself up, I took a moment to lean against the tree. A tear slipped from my eye, probably leaving a streak through the grime undoubtedly covering my face. I brushed it off in defiance and said aloud, “Show no fear Em. You’re almost there. Keep it together just a little while longer.”

What fear I wasn’t showing? I didn’t know. At this point I was just saying whatever I needed to say to not completely fall apart; apparently using the nickname Jonah’s Beta gave me even in my head now.

Nodding to myself I pushed off the tree with a grunt, using my body to do so since my arms were beginning to feel like noodles. Then I began to shuffle forward, hoping the direction I was going in was still right.

After who knows how long, but probably only a few minutes later, I began to see a light.

Just like that, adrenaline shot through my body, giving me another wave of energy to go with my excitement. I must be close to the pack!

Beginning to half shuffle, half stumble forward faster, I felt the smile on my face growing and hope fluttering in my chest. Until I broke through a set of trees.

I could see the light just ahead and, of course, that’s when I tripped over a vine of a root. I wasn’t sure but I guess it didn’t really matter. In my gaining pursuit of freedom, I failed to pay attention to my surroundings. A lesson I thought I had just learned but apparently had not.

My body once more went flying through the air. Like a punch to the chest, my breath and the excitement I just had were ripped from me. As I laid there, I managed to roll over onto my back but it took everything I had. So much so, that I felt the energy practically draining from my limbs with each moment. I was so tired. Laying there, as each second passed and I listened to crickets chirping in the night, I grew more tired and colder. Staring up into the blackness, I wondered if it wouldn’t be too bad to just lay there and take a quick nap. Just long enough to be able to get more energy to move again.

Despite knowing it was a dumb idea, my body began to shut down anyway.

As my eyes began to close a rustling from the trees startled me. My eyes flew open and I looked in the direction from which it came. I realized it was the same direction the light had been in. In fact, the light was getting closer.

Renewed hope surged through me and gave me the power to raise my head and yell for help. “Hello! Who’s there? Can you help me?”

There was some more rustling and then the person with the light came towards me.

My whole body sighed in relief and my head fell back to the ground. “Thank you for coming.” My eyes closed in silent thanks and exhaustion. “I was worried I’d never get out of these woods.”

Looking back at the person, I frowned at them still holding the light in front of their face.

“I’m afraid I can barely move right now. It’s weird like all my energy has been zapped. If you can just give me a few moments I should be able to and then we can be on our way.”

The person walked towards me and knelt at my side, finally lowering the lantern to the ground at the same time she spoke. “Are you okay? Why can’t you move? What happened to you?”

In shock, I stared at her. Then anger filled me. Fisting my hands into the dirt at my side, I struggled to a semi-reclined position. I didn’t want to be laying down with her above me and completely useless. Through narrowed eyes I stared at her and responded through gritted teeth. “You should know. You’re the reason I’m out here in the first place.”

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