Chapter 30 Soraya

My eyes weren’t even open, but they hurt from the light hitting my lids. I went to move my arm over my face, but it felt like lead. Moving it even a little bit, hurt my muscles.

What the heck?

I finally got my arm over my eyes and peeked out from under it. The sun was high in the sky.

Trying to sit up hurt everywhere; so, I went little by little. It felt like it took hours, but I had nothing to tell me how long it really took.

My limbs protested and my head throbbed.

I finally made it upright and leaned back against one of those massive trees.

I was in one of those sun pockets, where the leaf canopy didn’t provide much shade.

The warmth from the sun seeped into my bones. It helped me relax a little, but I still hurt.

It hurt to swallow, my throat was parched, my lips felt chapped. On top of that, my mouth was drier than a desert and tasted like someone dumped a load of rotten food in it.

I fought the urge to heave. My breaths came slow and shallow, slowly moving to slow and deep.

I closed my eyes again when the world canted. I knew I wasn’t moving, but everything around me started spinning.

Closing my eyes didn’t help. My equilibrium didn’t know which end was up.

My stomach turned and roiled. Swallowing repeatedly, I tried to keep everything down.

But I was losing the battle.

I tried and tried.

Until I lost the battle, and despite my body feeling like a ton of bricks, quickly turned onto my knees and heaved and heaved.

My body screamed at the sudden movement, but I wasn’t about to sit there and puke all over myself.

With nothing in my stomach, it hurt more than it should.

Cramping and more heaving followed instantly.

Wiping the bile from my mouth on my sleeve, I slowly pushed up onto my feet.

Inch by pain staking inch, one hand on the tree for security, the other outstretched for balance.

I quickly realized this was yet another task I was quickly failing. The earth called to me to lie back down.

The river called to me to go rinse my mouth and get some fresh water into my system.

One foot in front of the other.

Nope. Not happening. The trees were too far apart to use as support.

Instead, I crawled to the river bank and scooped up water with a hand.

The water soothed going down.

But in seconds it came right back up again.

I wanted to cry, but I had nothing left. No hope, no anger, no sadness.

I just heaved every ounce of liquid my body held.

A few deep breaths and I tried again with some water. This time just a few sips.

I waited for my insides to decide whether that needed to be expelled.

Evidently, it did.

Completely deflated, I crawled back up to my tree, trying to remember the last twenty-four hours.

Everything came up blank.

I looked for the safehouse bag, and dug it out of my pack.

There were a few berries left in a bag in it, but there was a lot of juice.

I tried one and nibbled on that.

My stomach seemed to accept it.

I drank the delicious juice. Knowing I couldn’t gulp it down, I tried a few sips, letting it settle.

I closed my eyes; happy I could keep something down.

I leaned back against the tree and closed my eyes, taking this as a little win.

Drops falling on my face woke me from a dream about the moon.

“You’re not alone,” she told me.

“Hah,” I chuckled to myself and looked around the clearing. I didn’t see anyone else here. Only me.

I sipped a little more juice.

The sun was still shining, but the trees were weeping.

Poor trees. I suddenly felt sorry for them. They were sad. I didn’t want the trees to be sad.

I wish I could make you happy big trees.

The forest started playing its steady beat, the drops hitting the ground with a thump.

A nice calming rhythm, pulling me to my feet.

Luna’s dream fresh in my head, telling me to follow my wolf.

Silly Moon, I didn’t have my wolf anymore.

“Ori.” I hollered, hearing an echo.

Flashes of light and glimpses of silver spun before my eyes.

Just out of reach.

Humming to the forest’s music, I started following the pulses of colored lights.

Winding through the big sad crying trees.

“Ori,” I hollered again? “Where are you wolf?”

It became a game, running to where I saw silver, but then I saw some black, then gold.

I stopped, dead in my tracks. My jaw fell open, and tears welled in my eyes.

Beautiful rainbow of jeweled colors.

Not like the faery confetti.

Oh! Faery confetti.

I remembered dancing last night. The pretty lightning bugs.

“I wonder if I’ll see them again tonight,” I murmured as I walked along.

“Luna.” I called. “Where’s my wolf?”

I needed to follow my wolf she said, but how can I follow a dead wolf?”

The drops came faster, the once bright sky now very dark grey.

A clap of thunder made me jump.

Rain soaked me to the bone.

I reached for my pack to grab a jacket.

Wait, where’s my pack?

I stood in the middle of the trees. No idea where I just came from. Every tree looked like the rest, and there was no trail for me to follow.

I tried to follow my scent, sure I had it… I started to jog.

My stomach started churning again.

“No!” I screamed, dropping to my knees. My back arched with the force of the heaves, leaving me breathless and weaker than before.

My pack was lost.

I laughed at the irony of that statement. My pack, they weren’t lost.

I wasn’t lost.

I was dead.