Chapter One
The woods seem to be creeping in on me, and I shudder. Who knows what could be hidden around here? I wrap my arms around myself and cautiously take a few steps forward. I don’t know where I am, where camp is, or how this happened. About ten minutes ago, I was hiking with my friends, and now I’m lost. Just lost. I have never felt so worried. I stop for a moment and notice myself shivering. It’s cold. I need to get back.
“Hello?” I yell, not even caring who hears me, “Hello, I need help! Alison!” I walk for five minutes, screaming ‘help’ as loud as I can. At some point, I just give up. How am I supposed to get anywhere in the dark? I’m lost in the woods at Glacier National Park, and I still don’t understand what I can do to get back. A chill runs down my spine as I listen to small, scurrying feet. Squirrels. The one animal that bothers me the most. Their furry tails, small feet, big eyes. Everything about them makes me shake. I am not a fan of rodents.
I imagine it’s about 6:00 now, and my group is probably having dinner, chatting away like little birds. Meanwhile, I am getting myself even more lost, shaking and shivering. Did Alison and Reagan even tell anyone that I’m missing? Did they even care? I haven’t gotten anywhere or figured out anything in the past 30 minutes. Maybe they’re still heading back, but I seriously doubt that. Those two can scale any distance in the blink of an eye. They’re both on the track team, while I can hardly run to the end of my street without stopping to catch my breath.
Suddenly, I hear fast, loud footsteps. Crashing footsteps, it seems like.
“Sydney! Sydney!” I whip around to see Alison racing towards me, tears streaming down her face. Why isn’t she back at camp? More importantly, why is she here? How is she here? She runs over and wraps her arms around me.
“You’re not back at camp! Why?” I ask frantically. She releases me and wipes her eyes.
“Me and Reagan never went back. We went searching for you! One minute you’re right there, the next, you’re gone! I don’t know what happened!” I stare at her. I know exactly why I got lost.
“You guys wanted to race up the hill, and I stayed back, since I can not run fast. You know that. When I reached the spot where there were two paths, I took the one on the left, since that was the one I thought you were on. I wandered for a bit and eventually, the trail stopped, so I knew something was wrong.” She looks at me for a moment.
“We ran up the trail on the right, Sydney.”
“Well, that explains our problem. Do you know where Reagan is?” I ask.
“No, we went in different directions looking for you.” I sigh. Why would they split up?
“Do you know the way back to camp?”
“Uh, not exactly. I wasn’t really paying much attention. I say we should head down the mountain.” She states. I look around. We are standing on flat ground.
“Alison, the ground is flat. How do we know which way is ‘down the mountain’?” I snap.
“I don’t know, but I thought it would be a good idea since we’re stuck in the middle of a huge forest!” She yells.
“Okay, okay! I get it, you’re scared! I’m scared too, alright? We just have to stay calm and get back.” I explain. I glance around and spot a tree that seems to have enough sturdy branches for me to climb it.
“I’m gonna’ climb that tree and see if I can spot which way is down,” I tell her, heading for the tree.
“Sydney, don’t you think we should look for Reagan first?” Alison wonders aloud.
“The last time you tried searching for someone didn’t end up too well, so I think we should make our way down and get help. Then we will find her. She might have already found her way down, so it would be a waste of time anyway.” I hoist myself up onto a low branch and pull my legs in. Alison breathes out, and I notice her breath is shaky.
“We’ll be fine, okay?” I say.
“Yeah.”
The woods seem to be creeping in on me, and I shudder. Who knows what could be hidden around here? I wrap my arms around myself and cautiously take a few steps forward. I don’t know where I am, where camp is, or how this happened. About ten minutes ago, I was hiking with my friends, and now I’m lost. Just lost. I have never felt so worried. I stop for a moment and notice myself shivering. It’s cold. I need to get back.
“Hello?” I yell, not even caring who hears me, “Hello, I need help! Alison!” I walk for five minutes, screaming ‘help’ as loud as I can. At some point, I just give up. How am I supposed to get anywhere in the dark? I’m lost in the woods at Glacier National Park, and I still don’t understand what I can do to get back. A chill runs down my spine as I listen to small, scurrying feet. Squirrels. The one animal that bothers me the most. Their furry tails, small feet, big eyes. Everything about them makes me shake. I am not a fan of rodents.
I imagine it’s about 6:00 now, and my group is probably having dinner, chatting away like little birds. Meanwhile, I am getting myself even more lost, shaking and shivering. Did Alison and Reagan even tell anyone that I’m missing? Did they even care? I haven’t gotten anywhere or figured out anything in the past 30 minutes. Maybe they’re still heading back, but I seriously doubt that. Those two can scale any distance in the blink of an eye. They’re both on the track team, while I can hardly run to the end of my street without stopping to catch my breath.
Suddenly, I hear fast, loud footsteps. Crashing footsteps, it seems like.
“Sydney! Sydney!” I whip around to see Alison racing towards me, tears streaming down her face. Why isn’t she back at camp? More importantly, why is she here? How is she here? She runs over and wraps her arms around me.
“You’re not back at camp! Why?” I ask frantically. She releases me and wipes her eyes.
“Me and Reagan never went back. We went searching for you! One minute you’re right there, the next, you’re gone! I don’t know what happened!” I stare at her. I know exactly why I got lost.
“You guys wanted to race up the hill, and I stayed back, since I can not run fast. You know that. When I reached the spot where there were two paths, I took the one on the left, since that was the one I thought you were on. I wandered for a bit and eventually, the trail stopped, so I knew something was wrong.” She looks at me for a moment.
“We ran up the trail on the right, Sydney.”
“Well, that explains our problem. Do you know where Reagan is?” I ask.
“No, we went in different directions looking for you.” I sigh. Why would they split up?
“Do you know the way back to camp?”
“Uh, not exactly. I wasn’t really paying much attention. I say we should head down the mountain.” She states. I look around. We are standing on flat ground.
“Alison, the ground is flat. How do we know which way is ‘down the mountain’?” I snap.
“I don’t know, but I thought it would be a good idea since we’re stuck in the middle of a huge forest!” She yells.
“Okay, okay! I get it, you’re scared! I’m scared too, alright? We just have to stay calm and get back.” I explain. I glance around and spot a tree that seems to have enough sturdy branches for me to climb it.
“I’m gonna’ climb that tree and see if I can spot which way is down,” I tell her, heading for the tree.
“Sydney, don’t you think we should look for Reagan first?” Alison wonders aloud.
“The last time you tried searching for someone didn’t end up too well, so I think we should make our way down and get help. Then we will find her. She might have already found her way down, so it would be a waste of time anyway.” I hoist myself up onto a low branch and pull my legs in. Alison breathes out, and I notice her breath is shaky.
“We’ll be fine, okay?” I say.
“Yeah.”
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