The air’s thick with the earthy scent of moss and pine. Twigs snap under our boots as Chloe, Amari, Levi, and I stop a few yards away from the derelict party building.
Chloe decided this is where we should start our search, and none of us argued since this whole endeavor is pointless.
There’s no way we’ll find Jensen, even if he is lost. I still think he’s partying in town, or went home, but Chloe’s been sniffling since she came to get me, so I’m keeping my tongue in check.
I pull out a stick of white chalk I stole from the theater—Rhys is the only professor who still uses a blackboard. Handing one to Amari, I step forward, drawing a big X on a nearby tree.
“Okay, explain,” Chloe mutters, shifting her weight from one foot to another. “We’ll be walking in a straight line, so what’s the point in marking the trees?”
“There’s no such thing as walking in a straight line through the woods,” Amari pipes in. “We’ll be curving round fallen branches, holes, and trees. Leaving a trail is smart.”
“Yeah, the forest is huge, sis. You wouldn’t want to get lost here, would you?”
“No, of course not,” she mutters. “Do your thing.”
“Once you run out of chalk, stop and turn back,” I tell Amari. “Mark the trees every fifteen to twenty yards.”
She nods, and ten minutes later, Chloe and I are deep enough that we can’t see the building anymore.
“Jensen!” she calls out.
His name echoes in the near distance as Amari and Levi pick up Chloe’s idea. Rachel stayed on campus, saying someone who knows what we’re doing should stay behind.
We keep going, venturing deeper. Tall trees reach the sky, blocking the sunlight. The terrain is mostly an even tangle of undergrowth with the occasional ditch or small hill. Every step we take starts a rustling echo, sometimes startling a few birds from their perches above.
More than an hour goes by before we’re far away enough that Amari’s Jensens fade to nothing.
I pull my phone out, checking we can stay in touch. I’m not surprised when I find there’s no service. The closest tower is in town. The reception at Lakeside isn’t great, but it’s there. Here, the trees obscure the signal.
Even though Chloe’s with me, an eerie chill whispers over the back of my neck.
Shaking the stiffness off my limbs, I tell myself the chill is from the weather, not fear. Good thing I slipped into Nash’s hoodie, or I’d be freezing right now.
Once I can do some clothes shopping, I’m never wearing another cardigan or flimsy little dress again. Knowing I only changed my style so drastically for Alex makes me sick whenever I open the closet.
Thankfully, I have a collection of Nash’s clothes I can hide behind: black hoodies and gray tracksuit bottoms. And there’s the added bonus that they all smell like him. I may or may not have buried my face in there once.
Or twice.
Or too many times to count.
Another hour goes by. Maybe more.
“Jensen!” Chloe yells, her voice breaking like she doesn’t have the strength to keep yelling.
“Are you okay?” I ask, leveling my step with her. “Should we take a break?”
“No, I’m fine.” She wipes her pink nose with the sleeve of her jean jacket. “It’s just… I’m scared we won’t find him. He’s been there for me since middle school. He’s like my brother, Hailey. Levi’s older, so he wasn’t around that much, but Jensen…” She trails off, her eyes welling up.
Wrapping my arms around her, I pull her into a hug, muttering everything she wants to hear. “If he’s here, we’ll find him, and I’ll kick his ass for making you worry.”
She chuckles into my shoulder, a sad kind of humor. She takes a deep breath, wipes her nose again, and peels away like she’s ripping off a Band-Aid.
“Okay, let’s keep going. I’m fine. He’s fine.”
I almost collide with her back not even ten yards later. “What—?”
“Shhh!” She clasps her hand over my mouth.
My eyebrows meet in the middle when, ten seconds later, her eyes near pop out.
“Did you hear that?”
“What?”
“That sound!”
“What sound, Chloe? The leaves? The wind?”
She shakes her head. “Listen.”
With a roll of my eyes I indulge her, even though I can’t hear anything you wouldn’t expect in the middle of nowhere: wind, leaves, birds.
“There!” Chloe whisper-shouts. “Did you hear?!”
“I heard,” I sigh, realizing what’s got her so excited. “It’s a bird, Chloe.”
“A bird?” she mouths, her shoulders slumping. “Are you sure? It doesn’t sound like a bird. It sounds like wailing.”
“There’s plenty of birds with creepy calls. I went camping with Dad a lot. Trust me. It’s a bird.” I nudge her along. “Come on, let’s keep moving.”
Reluctantly, she takes the first step. I mark a nearby tree, and follow suit, my steps rushed as if speed will end the search sooner.
We walk, and walk, and walk until the hours bleed into one another. My chalk is barely one inch long now, the Xs progressively smaller to extend its life.
We must’ve covered at least five miles and the deeper into the forest we sink, the worse the terrain. My legs ache, my water bottles are empty, I’m hungry, tired, and not even Nash’s hoodie can keep me warm anymore.
I hold out as long as I can, scared of Chloe’s reaction, but once the sky above the leaves is smeared with orange, we’re out of time. We won’t make it back before sunset, and my skin crawls at the thought of five miles through the darkness.
“Chloe…” I press my index finger to the tree, drawing a faint line with the last of the chalk. “It’s getting late. We should head back.”
She spins around, her cheeks and nose pink from the biting cold, eyes hooded like she’s not far off falling asleep. “We haven’t found him yet.”
“I know, I know but… Amari and Levi are out here too. Maybe they found him.”
She glances over her shoulder. “Just a little further? Please, ten more minutes.”
“We’re already pushing our luck staying out so late and I’m all out of chalk.”
Her eyes drop to my hands, resignation marring her face. “Okay, let’s go back.” She inhales a deep breath, letting one last Jensen! thunder across the forest.
The echoes are her only answer, carrying the word far away. Silence falls again like fine dust and Chloe’s shoulders slump. Slowly, dragging her feet, she starts toward me, and we head back, retracing our steps.
Sunset comes and goes. Darkness settles upon us, nothing but the flashlight on my phone illuminating the Xs marking the trees.
I’m exhausted, thirsty, my thigh muscles are on fire, and I’m beyond annoyed that I let Chloe talk me into this. I don’t even like Jensen.
I lose track of time, chasing my own thoughts, and this time I do collide with Chloe’s suddenly stationary back.
“Did you hear that?”
“The bird?” I clip, leaning against a tree, my patience hanging by a thread. “Yeah, I did.”
I know she wants to find him; I know she’s scared that he’s injured, but if she doesn’t get a move on, we’ll be navigating in complete darkness.
“It’s not a bird, Hailey! It’s the same place we heard that wail before!” She shines a light at the ground, where an empty bottle of water’s lying beside my foot. “I dropped it here to see if we’d hear the bird again. Birds don’t stay in the same place so long, do they?!”
“Chlo—” I fall silent when I hear the sound again. “Maybe it’s a different animal.”
“Or maybe it’s Jensen!”
Another wail hits my ears, sending my pulse soaring. It sounds like a whimper now, loud, strained… like someone in a great deal of pain. Like someone who can’t make his vocal cords work.
My heart rams against my ribs while I rationalize. “You’re tired. You hear what you want—”
She breaks into a sprint, darting among the trees with newfound strength, my arguments chasing deaf ears.
“Chloe! Stop! You can’t—” I cut myself off because she’s not listening. I can barely see her in the darkness. “You’ll get us killed,” I mutter, throwing a few fucks at nothing, and…
I hare after her, only dodging half the low-hanging branches. The rest scratch my arms, neck, and face, but I don’t slow down. The whimpering grows louder, more desperate, agonizing. Like he can hear us coming and tries his best to keep making noises even though it costs him so much pain.
“Jensen!” Chloe shouts, her voice as desperate as her moves. She runs so fast her feet hardly touch the ground.
I barely keep up with her, dashing deeper into the woods, but force my tired legs to push harder, chasing the whimpers and Chloe, adrenaline spurring me on.
Every few seconds, her voice pierces the air, growing louder and more desperate with each cry.
And then, as fast as she was running, she suddenly stops. I catch up seconds later, painfully aware that we’ve raced God knows how far without marking a single tree.
A sinking feeling settles over me, mixing with shock, fear, and a gut-twisting feeling brought on by Chloe’s choked-back sobs. The towering trees look identical whichever way I turn, and the almost-gone sunlight and low battery on my phone only make things worse.
“We’re lost,” I whisper.
