the mysterious walk

Tania was panting uncontrollably as she ran and ran with all her might. With a broken compass in one hand and a crumpled note in the other, she desperately searched for her way out of this jungle. Every day she is closer to a mystery that is impossible to decipher. She wasn’t sure if everything she had before her eyes was real. She questioned her sanity. But one thing is for sure: she wasn’t alone when she first arrived…

Day D

Tania met Robin at the local coffee shop and they had an omelette for lunch before heading out. Tania asked the owner if she had done a jungle trek before.

“Yes,” he said. “And I always come back a different person.”

Robin didn’t pay attention to her words while Tania felt that something was wrong. But she refrained from inquiring further. The owner gave each of them two energy bars in the house and told them to come back to visit when they got back.

“How long does it take to complete the walk, Tania?” Robin asked, twenty minutes into her trip.

“Four hours,” Tania said. “What? Are you already tired?”

“Are you kidding!”

Every time they covered a significant distance, Tania would tie a blue silk ribbon to a tree branch to mark their path so that they could follow the path back later. They were greeted with tall and massive pine trees that made their jaws drop as they progressed on their hike. Somehow mesmerized, they would stop and stare at the pine trees that seemed to overshadow their existence. They also found strange flowers that rejuvenated their exhaustion. Robin plucked a striking yellow daisy and tucked it behind Tania’s ear and told her how happy he was to be with her on this walk.

It was the first time Robin had said something like that to Tania. They have known each other for five years and Robin never expresses his feelings directly about her. Tania backed away from her, but she felt the same way and told her, “Me too.”

“I don’t want this walk to end,” Robin said as they moved deeper into the jungle body.

They took a break by the gushing waterfall and listened to the birdsong and inhaled nature bestowed on them.

Robin never came back. She told Tania that she wanted to see the view from the cliff of the waterfall and take some photos while she was there. She watched him go up, but as she went up, the mist above prevented her from seeing. And before she could blink, he had evaporated into thin air, becoming one with the clouds.

He waited and waited and waited. She bit her nails and tapped her feet as time passed. Robin should be back twenty-five minutes ago, she thought. She fixed her eyes on the waterfall, desperately seeking her presence but to no avail. More than 40 minutes have passed and there were three more hours until the sun set. Tania couldn’t sit still and wait any longer. She stood up with her backpack and noticed Robin’s backpack behind her. She picked it up and energy bars fell from it; they were empty wrappers and she left them behind.

He followed Robin’s steps to the cliff of the waterfall. It was the sight of a lifetime of hers and it made her forget about everything else for a moment. She wished that time could pause and that the sight of her before her eyes would never fade and that Robin could magically resurface.

Tania went back down and searched the water. She didn’t hear a splash, but she wanted to make sure and take the chance when she had nothing left and no one left. She gasped and gasped at the sight of Robin’s camera floating up. She dragged her feet in the water and fell to her knees, clutching the camera with shaking hands.

She collected herself after several deep breaths and kept clear of the water. She sat on a huge rock and looked through the camera. She was empty. But that shouldn’t be the case. They took several photos during the walk and her memory card was still intact. She put the camera in her backpack and decided to go back. Because what he urgently needed to do was find Robin.

DX

Tania lost count of the days. She doesn’t know how long she’s been running around in the jungle. It seemed that the day never ends because it never gets dark. But according to her instinct, she believes that today is the third day. She couldn’t find the blue silk ribbons she tied on her branches, not even a single one. Someone or something must have followed them earlier and she got rid of him. As a result, she was unable to find her way back despite following the path nor did she successfully find Robin. She hadn’t slept either. She is hungrier and hungrier with each passing day. She finished most of the food she brought in two days and has survived on fruits and nuts in the wild. But it wasn’t enough to satisfy her insatiable appetite for hers.

It was then that he remembered the two energy bars that the owner of the local coffee shop had given him. Fortunately, she hasn’t eaten them yet. She found solace in the energy bars until she opened both wrappers, only to find sand everywhere, slipping through her fingers and out of her grasp. This must be a nightmare, she thought.

The camera in his backpack caught his eye and he decided to check it one more time. Her face paled and she froze. She was flipping through photos of herself that someone had taken from various angles. She fucked with his mind and she wasn’t able to think of any rational explanation for this. She just wanted to get away from here. Then, she heard a familiar voice: Robin. “Run, Tania,” she whispered from behind, but there was no one except a crumpled note on the floor.

The note read: “They are everywhere. R.”

Tania knew that ‘R’ was the initial of Robin’s name, but where is it? It was then that the trees began to rustle in unison and the wind howled loudly. Tania took out her hand compass but the wind rose turned in all directions. She had to be broken now of all time.

She ran where her footsteps led, but it felt like she was running instead. Her body was heavier than before and she began to pant and sweat profusely. But it was too late. They were going for her later.

And there was no escape.