Chapter 5: Silent Water

I jolted awake with a sudden strike of panic. A millisecond later, all of my senses went haywire trying to process where I was.

It slowly occurred to me that I was still out in the woods, surrounded by darkness and potential threats that I wasn’t even able to see. Not right now, at least, since it obviously was in the middle of the night.

My eyes fell on the weakly glowing embers from the bonfire, and my heart raced when I remembered a bear had attacked me.

Automatically, my hand went up to my face and touched the places where the bear’s teeth had dug themselves into my flesh behind my ear and at my temple. It was swollen and sore. I could only hope it wouldn’t get infected.

I started thinking about the two men who had rescued me, and I drew a shaking sigh of relief. But I didn’t even think the thought through before I felt something crawling on my foot, and I acted on pure survival instinct.

With a loud scream, I jumped up and used my hands to brush off whatever it was that was about to claim me as their main dish. Or at least, that’s what I felt as fear flushed through me.

Everything in this forest wanted to kill me or eat me, or just scare the bones out of my body for pure amusement. And I hated this place just as much as it hated me.

In the chaos of blankets thrown blindly around me, and me jumping up and down, screaming for my bare life, I tripped on a little rope and fell over the corner of one of the men’s tents.

That silenced me, and I immediately got embarrassed. There was no way I hadn’t woken them up, acting the way I did.

And seconds later, I heard the sound of zippers opening the tents, and I heard them grunt and growl a bit before I heard Jared’s voice.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m terribly sorry!” I exclaimed and felt like a massive idiot. It didn’t help that everything else I said was a whole lot of stuttering that didn’t make much sense.

“I didn’t mean to wake you up. I’m so…I just…There was something on my leg, and I freaked out and…I…I’m so sorry, I can’t…”

“Hey, hey! Relax! It’s okay,” Jared said and chuckled a bit.

I still couldn’t see much of either Buck or him because it was so dark so I couldn’t tell if he was mocking me or not, but it felt comforting just to know they were there.

“There’s nothing dangerous here,” Buck mumbled and joined Jared with his dry, barking laughter, and I felt more embarrassed than ever.

I heard one of them move and could vaguely make out Jared’s silhouette when he walked up in front of me. Then he handed me the two blankets I’d had when I slept.

How in the world did he find them? I could barely see four feet in front of me, and he had obviously no problem finding his way around without as much as a flashlight!

~There must be something wrong with my eyes.~

“Let’s go to sleep again. You can have my tent,” he said.

“I can’t take your tent!”

“No, seriously,” he said sternly. “It’s no problem. I’ll be right outside if you need me.”

I swallowed heavily and wanted so badly to say yes to his offer. At least I would be safe from all the spiders and other bugs there.

“It’s no problem at all. Let me just get my sleeping bag.”

He disappeared into the darkness again and did what he’d said. And after putting it down on the ground in front of the tent, he guided me inside, leaving me with no possibility of objecting.

I heard the sound of the zipper on the other tent again, and figured Buck was going back to sleep.

“Thank you, Jared,” I whispered shyly and hoped that he heard the gratitude in my voice.

“My pleasure,” he said, and I could hear in his voice that he was smiling.

Then I went inside and got comfortable, or at least as comfortable as you can get in a tent. I giggled quietly.

His smell was more distinct in there. It was the same smell as from his clothes that I borrowed, and it wasn’t exactly a good smell. But it was bearable.

And while my brain tried to figure out whether it smelled like sweaty man or wet dog, I fell asleep with a tiny smile on my face.

***

I woke up to the sound of hushed conversation outside the tent. I couldn’t hear more than short parts and single words of what they said, and I realized it was daytime. I had no idea what time it was, though.

“No, I mean it. She’s not any different than the others.” That was Buck’s voice, and they were clearly talking about me.

“…but we can’t…”

“…when the moon…”

“…then maybe she will…”

It was only mumbling and hard to tell who said what, until Jared spoke up in a rather harsh manner.

“Seriously? You can’t say that. She’s only a…”

The rest of the sentence was incoherent, but Buck’s response was a scoff.

“Who cares?”

“I care.”

There was a moment of silence between the two, and I felt my cheeks grow warm. Jared was obviously defending me for some reason. Why, I didn’t know. I only knew I appreciated it.

“You’re such a fuck up,” Buck grumbled, then proceeded to hold a short monologue where I only picked up bits and pieces.

“…I warn you…”

“…can’t promise anything, because…”

I suddenly sneezed, and the two men went silent. Great. Way to draw attention when you didn’t want any.

“Good morning, sleepyhead,” Jared said with a smile when I eventually crawled out of the tent, and I noticed Buck rolled his eyes at him.

“Good morning. Nice weather.”

I squinted into the sunlight and stretched carefully before I covered my eyes from the sharp sunbeams.

“Yeah. Your clothes will probably dry pretty fast when the sun gets a little higher.”

“Hopefully. I’m sorry I had to borrow your clothes.”

Jared was quick to shake his head.

“Not at all! You look great in them.”

I noticed he blushed before he looked away and cleared his voice.

“Are you hungry? We’re about to make breakfast.”

At the thought of food, my stomach growled loudly in response, and both of us giggled.

“I take that as a yes. How about eggs and beans?”

I nodded and smiled before I sat down in front of the bonfire that was devouring new pieces of wood with vigorous flames. I felt sore all over, and my head ached, but at least it was better than yesterday.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t say the same about my ribs. They were even more painful than yesterday, and the wound felt warm and itchy.

And when I examined it closer, I could feel that it was quite swollen too. Then I noticed Buck staring at me, and I quickly removed my hand from under my sweater. Why couldn’t he mind his own business?

“We’re heading back to the river today. We’re going to take care of the bear and catch some fish for dinner. You can join us if you’d like.”

Jared talked while he stirred the beans and moved a kettle over to the side of the bonfire. He was abnormally tall and actually quite handsome.

Nevertheless, all I could think of was how repelling the idea of going back to the dead bear was.

“Oh, I forgot. Would you like some coffee?”

“Yes, please,” I answered, but I was a bit hesitant since I wasn’t really sure if I liked coffee or not. And after taking the first sip, I had my answer. I didn’t like coffee.

How crazy was it not to remember that? But the food tasted nice, and even though I wasn’t especially fond of beans, it calmed my gnawing hunger.

“Is there somewhere I can take a bath?” I asked when I was done. I still had dried blood in between my fingers and underneath my fingernails. “Somewhere other than the river?”

“Oh, yeah. There’s a lake in that direction.”

Jared pointed out the direction, and I spotted the narrow trail in between the tents. I nodded slowly and wondered if it was rude to ask for something else. Unfortunately, I didn’t have any choice.

“Uhm…Is it possible to borrow your clothes a little longer? My own clothes are still full of blood, even though I rinsed them.”

“Sure. No problem. So, you’ll stay for dinner then?” he asked with a charming smirk, and I blushed tremendously when I realized that I’d literally invited myself to stay longer.

“Well…I guess so. If it’s okay for you guys.”

“Of course. It’s nice to have some company. Buck’s not especially social, as you’ve probably noticed.”

“Shut up,” Buck grumbled, half annoyed, half grinning.

“And it’s been a while since we had a woman here,” Jared continued and held my gaze just enough to make me blush like crazy.

I didn’t quite know what to say, so I ended up biting my lip while I fiddled with a couple of straws that tickled my bare feet. Then neither of us said anything for a while.

And about half an hour later, they decided to take off just like they’d said they would, and I was left at the camp alone.

I removed my clothes from the rope they were hanging on and headed down the trail Jared had pointed out.

And not even ten minutes later, I discovered a beautiful lake, surrounded by trees in different sizes, dressed in yellow, red, and brown gowns that trembled in their last attempt to cling on to their branches.

Birds chirped and sang in the treetops, and I could see two swans gliding elegantly through the silent water. It was completely breathtaking.

I slowly took Jared’s clothes off and looked around to see if anybody saw me. But since Buck and Jared were at the river, I felt pretty sure I was alone.

However, I wasn’t comfortable being naked, so I clutched my dirty clothes in my arms and stepped into the cold water.

Goosebumps stung my skin, and I shivered a bit as I forced myself farther into the dark water. And when the water reached my waist, I started washing them with a bar of soap Jared had given me.

Even though they were awfully dirty when I started, I was quite satisfied when I twisted the water out of them.

And to make sure they didn’t get dirt on them, I folded them into a ball and placed them on the moss next to a little tree. Then I dived into the water to clean myself.

I cursed silently from the pain in my ribs and was shocked to see the many bruises all over my body.

Especially the large black one on my ribs that was accompanied by four red stripes from the bear’s paw. I cleaned the wounds both on my ear and temple, and also the one on the back of my head and over my eye.

And it hurt like crazy when I tried to wash my hair. Then I got concerned when I realized that the wound behind my ear felt even more swollen than last night and wished I could see a doctor about it.

I was cold and my muscles trembled when I sat down on a stone to dry in the sun. I gently squeezed the water out of my hair, but it still trickled in rivers down my back.

I sighed and looked at the swans. If only I could get my memory back, then maybe I wouldn’t feel so lost and helpless. And the exhaustion was simply overwhelming.

That’s why I fell asleep on a blanket next to the bonfire half an hour later. Just like the night before.