The sun rested above the treetops when she decided to go back. She had already gathered enough wood for a nights warmth by the fire and was also getting hungry. She looked at the bundle in her arms and wondered if they had already started setting up dinner, waiting only for the wood to fuel the fire. Shrugging she picked up one more piece and turned to face the way she came, looking for the track that led back to the camp.
She wondered why she had agreed to come to this outing, protesting that she would get hurt or ruin her cloths in the thick bush. She wasn't much of an outdoor girl, preferring to either stay indoor and listen to her music or to go out with her close friends and shop. She also wondered why her friend had begged to come along as well.
Rouquie wasn't much of a friend in her eyes, but she found him enjoyable to be with and a good listener. Although she never actually went out with him, she found him to be the best boyfriend since she had started dating. He was silent, but knew what to say, most of the time, and had a gentleness in him that she found cute. His voice was low for the age of 19, having matured earlier then normal, and a laugh as enigmatic as his nature. His background was slightly vague, saying he was born from the cluster of islands called the Philippines, but he never spoke a word of his native language. He also acted like 'one of the guys' when he was around his friends, cursing, taunting and rough-housing with them. She noticed many times that he never did that around her, instead he was almost a perfect gentleman.
She stopped then, looking out into the growing shadows cast by the late-afternoon sun. Her mind started to work, replaying what she had just thought and what she just discovered about her friend.
"He likes me?" She said to herself, not really trusting the words as they ran through her mind. She now understood why her friend acted the way he does around her, she understood now why he begged to come along to this outing. Her friend Rouquie had a crush on her.
She laughed suddenly then, almost dropping the bundle as the information took hold on her conscious thinking.
"Oh this is going to be fun!" she chuckled as she hurried her way up the path. She was planning on taunting her friend Rouquie and finding out if her suspicions were true. She also wondered what it would be like if she actually took that step into having a relationship with him. With that in mind she quickened her step, impatience setting in as she wanted to put her plan into action.
Afternoon turned to night very quickly and she found herself now completely lost. The distant rumbling told her of an oncoming storm and she wondered if she could find any sort of shelter before it hits.
Her legs were sore and her arms ached with the firewood and she wondered why she still carried the heavy bundle. She soon decided that if she couldn't find her friends fast she would have to use the fuel herself to keep warm for the night.
The shadows had grown darker with each passing moment as she picked her way through the undergrowth and shrubs. She had somehow managed to turn herself around and cursed herself for doing so.
"Your own fault," She grumbled to herself as she sat on a dry log, placing the bundle at her feet, "If you had stopped thinking of him you wouldn't have got yourself lost."
She sat there for a moment, looking towards the storm clouds as they quickly rolled towards her. She wondered how much time she had left before the rain hit. Shrugging her shoulders she stood up and brushed herself off.
A low sound froze her in a stooping position as she made to pick up the bundle of firewood. Looking around she peered into the darkness as the storm rumbled through the air.
"Just the storm," she told herself as she set the bundle in the nook of her arm.
With that she went in search for shelter for the night.
The sound followed.
She first thought it was her mind playing tricks on her, but cast that thought aside when she saw the gleaming eyes that followed her from the shadows.
Eyes that were bright with hunger and determination, eyes that tracked her wherever she looked, eyes that spelt her doom.
But what frightened her more then those glowing orbs was what they might have belonged to. The large shape that silently tracked her from all sides, the looming shadow that followed her every move, coming close enough to breath down her neck, then slipping away to become a silhouette against a background of lightning.
Through all this she held on to her fear with tremendous strength of will, stating in her mind that if she ignored it enough it would leave her be. But she wondered what 'it' was.
The shadow seemed to change each time she looked at it. At first she thought it was a type of large dog, maybe a stray or a wolf. But wolves were not known to live in this part of the world, except in zoos, and the shadow seemed bigger to be a full grown man.
Hours passed as she quickly made her way blindly through the trees, tumbling through branches or tripping over exposed roots as she kept her mind on a set object in front of her, getting up as fast as she had fallen. Her bundle lay dropped and forgotten a long way behind her, loosing her burden to gain speed and agility in the dark. Her jeans were wet, dirty and torn in various places and her shirt was even worst. She had forgotten about her jacket, wondering when she had lost it in her flight to get away.
But she had grown tired of the game with her stalker and decided to finally end it. If it was someone who though this game was fun she would face them and if it was some animal she would fight it with whatever she could find.
She stopped suddenly at a leafy clearing and searched for anything she could use for a weapon as the storm rumbled around her. The clouds only brought thunder and a freaky light show, but no rain, which worried her for the constant flashing and loud noise confused her and upset her sense of direction, which had gotten her even more lost with each step.
Picking up a length of dry wood she looked around her, searching for her stalker.
"Who are you?!" She cried out over the rumbling thunder, "Show yourself or I'll kick your arse!"