CHAPTER 0 – PART IV

Again, I wake to the night. A cold lazy wind blows weakly through the open windows. I'm already chilled to the bone, even though the air is still heavy and humid.

I'm very groggy.

I gulp down the last of my now iced tea. Pulling a mildly disgusted face at how bitter it's gotten from the few stray leaves left at the bottom.

My parents didn't wake me up. Maybe they let me sleep more and had themselves an intimate evening together. They can't just leave me to snooze away this entire holiday. Cheapskates!

I stagger to my feet, then do some quick callisthenics to regain some flexibility. Sleeping on a bare floor with a breeze on you is a sure-fire way to get joint pain and stiff muscles. What am I, 17 going on 70?!.

I close all the windows and curtains, and head along the landing to check the other big room. I don't knock in case I wake my parents, and take a moment to listen for any snoring or sounds of things I shouldn't interrupt. Well, I say that, but to get them back for all this, maybe I should interrupt if they are being naughty.

I don't hear a thing. I hold my breath and listen for a little longer in case they're awake and waiting for the silence to break too. Still nothing.

Delicately, I take hold of the handle, but realise upon contact that the door is already slightly open. Guess they were in a bit of a hurry to get up here. Time to play the unaware child. The door moves silently as I try to peep through the gap into the darkness. The curtains and windows are all still open like I had left them earlier. The room is empty.

"Huh?!."

I go in and close everything again to try and keep some heat in. I'm surprised that I hadn't noticed any before now, but a little buzz and a small prick later, I'm bitten by my first mosquito of the summer. Great. I don't bother trying to find it in the dark, and just finish locking up quickly. I duck my head into the two small rooms, locking windows as I go, but I wasn't expecting to find my parents sleeping in separate single beds anyway. They've got a pretty good relationship for a middle aged couple. Can't even think of a time they've fought, other than when they've not been clear about work/life commitments with each other. Must have just crashed out in the lounge with drinks and snacks.

A warm scent rises up the stairwell to me as I make my way down. At first I think they must have brought back something from town, or actually set about making dinner, but I realise from the glow of the embers in the kitchen, their faint light just enough to illuminate the far side of the lounge, that no one is there. I'd left the fire burning in the grate after making tea. My parents never came back.

My legs give out.

I crumple to the ground, all feeling draining from my body. I go completely numb.

Adrenaline ploughing through my veins, as my heart pounds in my head, and I frantically gasp for breath.

Like drowning on air.

Then I guess I fainted.

I must have rolled onto my side at some point too, because I wake up with my cheek stuck to the floor from drool. I get to my knees, rub my face, and check my phone. I've still got no signal, so no notifications from my parents. I can't even call an emergency number to check if they've been in an accident. It's a little after 2am and I've got about 10% battery left. Godamnit... it's not like there's any way for me to charge the thing here. I decide to go to bed for now and walk into town in the morning to find a place to make calls. Find out what's happened. Hell, maybe they just got too drunk and crashed out at an inn for the night, rather than risk getting stopped by the cops or ending up in a crash. I hope they're okay...

I force myself back up the stairs and head to my room. My stomach aches a little from the unresolved fight or flight. It's so full of chemicals chasing and combating each other. I put my jacket on the now right side up chair and bury myself under the covers, clinging to and curling around the pillow. A few deep breaths steady my nerves again and I let the emotional exhaustion take me off to sleep. Not that I could actually relax.

When morning proper finally comes, a few hours of fitful sleep later, I'm no less tired. I pull myself out of bed, put my jacket back on, and check all the rooms again. Empty.

I trudge downstairs, pour some of the cold water into the cup I brought down from last night, gulp it down and have a second helping, because there's nothing else to fill my stomach with. Then I go to the entrance hall to find my shoes. Turns out I'd stuffed them into the bottom of the shoe cabinet without much thought. It's more like a just tossed them in there. They haven't been placed together and are mucky as heck. Like I was wading through a bog or something. Laces still tied and now caked together in dried mud. I go out the front door, crouch on the step, and bang my shoes against the flagstones. Dry flakes of dirt fly off in every direction. I get as much off as I can be bothered, put them on, and start walking to the front gate of the walled compound.

As I reach the wooden doorway in the middle of the white washed walls, I finally step out of the shadow caused by the house obscuring the sun. It's a nice morning now that the sun is on my back. Hopefully, I won't have to deal with it getting in my eyes until the return trip, and that should be by car.

"Hhhhhhh..." a long weary sigh escapes my throat.

I shake my head to dispel some more of my tiredness and fear. Take some deep breaths to fill my lungs with the cool morning air. Well, it's not that cool, it's already pretty warm in the sun, but it's not as hot as it'll get later when the summer sun has had half a day to heat everything to unreasonable levels.

"OK!"

With my thoughts already complaining about the future heat, I push open the gate, closing it respectfully behind me, and start walking. There's a bit of a driveway from the compound's walls to the mainroad; this thing really is set back quite a ways. I can't even see where the junction is because the path bends a little to the left further down, the curve cutting off the view from a distance. The mildness of the morning is lovely though. I actually feel refreshed from all my time being lazy and just enjoying the weather, albeit through a fog of sleep medication and intermittent panic attacks. Man, I really can't wait to hit up a family diner in town. Have myparents get me something real greasy and filling to make up for abandoning me.

I smirk as I plod along, daydreaming about all the food options I could guilt my parents into buying. If they have a convenience store I would happily grab some fried chicken and soda on the way back too. Free brunch and snacks? Hells yeah!

The forest, at no point, stops being any less dense. It just keeps going on every side, except for the road cleaved through the middle, like a dry riverbed at the bottom of a wooden canyon. But, the ominous drone of midges and crickets still makes it sound like there's white water rapids tearing their way along beside me, just out of sight. I can see clouds of them hovering here and there by the roadside, and they're drawn to me like I'm the first food source they've seen in weeks. I know the feeling guys, I'm starving myself, but there's not much on me right now. Y'see, I'll be back in a couple of hours, and I'll have fed then, so I'll let you get a taste later if you just leave me alone for now, okay? Deal?! PLEASE!!!

Swatting the damn bugs away basically becomes a full time thing, and combined with the increasing heat from the sun, I start to sweat terribly. I try using my jacket as a hood to keep the light and insects off me, but it just conducts the heat onto my head and funnels the biting towards my face. I throw it over my shoulder instead and wave one hand at a time in front of my face, my arms tiring and tagging each other out over and over. The little breeze it creates is nice, and focusing on fanning myself, and the resultant arm ache, helps distract me from the damn bug bites elsewhere.

I eventually reach what passes for a main road.

It's not much bigger than the path I was already on. There's no sign to indicate which way to go, or even that there's a place to stay back the way I came. This really must be a prestigious place to afford that much privacy. There's a slight slope to the road, so I decide to go downhill to the left. Gonna be getting a lift back up anyway. Plus, who'd build a major town all the way up a mountain? They're always in the valleys near rivers and stuff. At least, I think that's what I remember from Geography class. Sounds about right.

Come to think of it, I haven't heard a river anywhere, but it must be down this way. Unless there's one back towards the direction of the house and I'm walking parallel to it now? What with the well we had back there, there must be an underground stream that becomes a river further along, or joins up with one crossing in front of it, which means I'll reach it at the bottom of the valley. Why am I even thinking about this?!.

"IT'S SO BORING OUT HERE!!!"

My shout doesn't carry far. The noise is quickly muffled by the forest. Like the trees are eating up sound itself. Just like when, in the dead of winter, the snow creates a sound barrier. I wish that the trees would mute the bloody bugs though. I WISH IT WERE WINTER!!!

The main road ends up joining another road, basically identical in appearance, except this one has a stream burbling along side it. Guess the well must be an underground tributary after all. I go right to follow the flow of water and the slope of the land. Still no signposts, but I went left then right to get here, so it's not a complicated route. There's no other side streets to get mixed up with. No other houses along the way too. What is with this level of seclusion?

Talk about wanting to get away from things. I haven't even seen a single telegraph pole with phone-lines or electrical wires as well. Must all be petrol generators round here. Real survivalist kinda place. Oh shiiii... I hope there aren't any bears! I had no idea about the plans for this trip, but I doubt we'd go that far up north, but I wouldn't have thought we'd go this rural either. What with the complete lack of infrastructure, this place feels scary rural! No, I really doubt they'd risk bears for a good price on a holiday home like that. They're not that tight. We're not that poor!

The trees have thinned quite a bit by this point down the mountain, it's really starting to open up. Well, comparatively. The road is wider and better maintained, but it's still only really a one lane deal. I can see across to the other side of the stream, which is slowly becoming a full on river too, as more tributaries have joined up. I've even had to mentally note that there's been two whole other roads connect along the way, so my turning going back will be the third so far. Ugh... when there's nothing to do your mind wanders to the most boring stuff...

Admittedly, the scenery is sooooo picturesque, but once you've seen your ten thousandth tree for the day, you've seen 'em all.

The sun's real high and beating down pretty relentless now too. The heat is absolutely merciless, which only seems to make the mosquitoes and cicadas louder and more aggressive. We're really going to have to get some repellent and whatever that cream is called you use to relieve the itchiness and swelling from bug bites.

With my irritation at new heights, I finally make it to the edge of town.