Chapter Ten: My Life HereAfter by Rosaline Saul

“Wait.”

I turn around sharply toward the voice behind us while Mark pulls on my hand. “We have to go.”

Carly is running down the hill. The hill is steep and for a moment I fear she might stumble, but she manages to stay upright and almost slide into us. “Where are you going,” she whispers loudly. Her voice bounces off the tree trunks behind us as if the row of trees is a solid wall.

“Be quiet,” Mark hisses.

“Where are you going?” She asks in a softer whisper.

“I’m going to help Mark find his brother.”

“His brother?” She asks, confused. Her brows pull up sharply.

“He was sent to the other side, and you have to go back.” Mark insists.

“No, I want to go with.”

Mark sighs loudly. I feel the gush of wind brush across my cheek. “No.”

“I’ll worry.” She looks at me concerned. “Don’t leave me here all alone.”

“Don’t you want to go back, though? To help your mum?” I ask her.

“I do.” She is starting to look unsure.

“Then you have to go back.”

“I’d rather go with to help you. Even though I want the training, I doubt I’ll ever be allowed near my mum again. I won’t be able to help her anyhow.” She reaches her hand to mine. “Let me go with. You might need me.”

I turn to look at Mark. “I think Carly should come with.”

He shakes his head adamantly. “I don’t think it’s a good idea, Sunel.”

“Why not?” Carly asks.

“It just isn’t,” he says to her.

“I really think she should. I have this weird feeling Carly must come with us.”

He scoffs. “What weird feeling. There’s no such thing.”

“Well, I’m saying I think it’s a good idea for Carly to come with.”

His shoulders slump as he gives in. “Fine. Let’s just get going, before we have a whole entourage or before someone discovers we’re gone.”

Carly hooks her arm through the crook of my elbow. “So, what are we waiting for? Let’s go.”

We take a step forward together. “Yeah. Let’s do this.”

It is like stepping from light into dark. There is no grey, eye-adjusting period. It is an immediate transition from white to black. Immediately I hear faint scratching noises, like something scraping its nails against a blackboard.

Carly grips her arm around mine tightly and I almost stumble. Panic grips my heart. There is no way I want to fall. I cannot see in front of me. I am only aware of Carly to my side, and Mark’s hand fumbling against my leg, looking for my hand.

I feel my hair lift as if it is filled with static electricity and a breath of air on the nape of my neck. “Mark is that you?”

“Huh?” His voice comes from the side of me.

Who just blew on my neck?!

“I don’t like this. We should turn back and wait for daylight.” I am frozen in one spot.

“We won’t be able to get away during the day,” Mark says softly from the side of me.

“Then what are we going to do?” Carly asks.

There is another gush of air on the nape of my neck and I swing around fast. Ready to smack whatever is standing behind me.

There is nothing behind me, or maybe there is, and I just cannot see it. Afraid I say, “We have only taken a step into the forest, yet there is no sign of the hill. There is only darkness.”

I sense Mark and Carly turn around. Carly has my arm in a vice-grip.

“Shit,” Mark curses under his breath.

“I agree,” Carly says. I can hear a tremor of fear in her voice.

“So, what do we do now?” I let a long breath blow out over my bottom lip. The sensation of the wind on my skin comforts me, in some bizarre kind of way.

“Now we don’t have a choice, but to go the other way.”

“But we cannot see a thing, Mark. I thought at least we’d be able to see by moonlight, but this forest is too dense.” I crane my head to look up and I cannot even see a glimpse of the moonlit sky above the treetops.

“Let’s just sit here, until daylight,” Carly suggests.

“Ugh! I don’t know if I want to sit down. The ground feels squishy under my shoes.”

Mark offers, “I’ll sit first and let you know if it’s okay. Carly’s right, we cannot see where we are or where we need to go, we’ll get lost or fall down a cliff or even over a fallen tree trunk, and hurt ourselves, then we won’t ever be able to find my brother.”

I feel him lower himself as his hand pulls on mine.

He is quiet for a long time.

“So?” I ask apprehensively.

“I’m trying to decide what this is. It kind of feels like jelly or something.”

I cringe. “Do you think it’s safe, though?”

“It’s not burning my skin or anything, so I think you’ll be okay sitting down.”

Awkwardly Carly and I sit down together, pulling this way, and half stumbling that way while at the same time Mark is holding onto my hand tightly.

I sit down hard, and my hand automatically pushes down to steady me. My hand squelches on or in something and I feel like screaming and running. Both the feelings overwhelm me.

“It’s okay, Sunel. Calm down.” Mark rubs his thumb over the top of my hand, which is still in his.

“What is this? It’s gross.” Carly makes a gagging sound.

Gagging is contagious because now I also feel like chucking my supper and adding it to whatever substance below me.

“We should see if we can sleep,” Mark suggests.

“Are you crazy?” I ask him.

“We don’t know how far we need to go.”

“Uh-no. I don’t think we need any sleep.”

“Mark’s right,” Carly agrees.

Should not have brought her with if she’s going to keep agreeing with Mark.

For once, I agree with the little man on my shoulder.

“Okay, we don’t have to sleep, but I think we should say a prayer, in case we do.”

“What prayer?” I almost laugh out loud.

“I’ll do it. Close your eyes.”

“Do I have to close my eyes, if I cannot see a thing anyway?”

Mark insists, “Just close your eyes already, Sunel.”

I close them, which really makes absolutely no difference.

Mark’s voice is soft. “As I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord, my soul, to keep.”

I know this prayer, so I join in. I hear Carly beside me also join in. Our voices mingle like a chorus and I hear a scattering of soft whispers move away from us. “And should I die before I wake; I pray the Lord, my soul, to take. Amen.”

I must have fallen asleep because the next thing I am aware of is Mark gently nudging me against my shoulder. I open my eyes slowly, afraid of what I might see.

Surrounding me is a normal forest. Thousands of tree trunks, green ferns and moss, and plants are growing in abundance on the ground. The ground beneath my fingers is covered in moss and sand.

“Good morning,” I mumble as I turn my face away from his. Morning breath is not a good thing and not something I want to share with Mark.

Carly groans next to me and straightens up. We had fallen asleep sitting up, somehow supporting each other. Now, my neck feels stiff and my buttocks feel numb.

Mark settles down across from us and pulls his legs up to his chest as he balances his forearms on his knees.

I pull a piece of moss out of the ground and laugh as I toss it at him. “Is this your jelly substance? You had me seriously grossed out.”

He grabs the moss as it flies through the sky and then squeezes it between his fingers. “It felt different last night. Yuckier.”

“In the pitch dark, your mind can convince you of anything.”

Carly says from beside me, “Now what?” The worried tone in her voice is back.

“Now we find David.”

Continue reading Chapter 11/25

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