A Forest

[Ohm]

((Sal Bonaventura continued from The Incredible Adventures of Butt Donkey))

Time went on as Sal and Manuel waited for Yuka and her sister to return from their talk.They talked about a few things of interest from and around them, pointing at a few things around them to continue. Songs were exchanged and sung in a low tone to not attract attention. It was a nice distraction from everything around them.

However, Yuka didn’t return, neither did Yuki and it was not long before it started getting late and the two set out to see what was happening.

It was difficult to search in the woods and the fear of nasty surprises quelled Sal from calling out to them. But for Manuel, It didn't. He made the call outs to either of the sisters on the occasion. In a way, Sal could feel jealous over the way he could do that without the fear, but at the same time anger at the danger it could put them in.

A thought that should put him to shame, but that feeling of cold from earlier had stayed with him this entire time, as if someone was running their hand along his spine nails digging in.

The two were soon seated again as darkness came and surrounded them. Finding a spot away for them to hide away for the night.

It did not take long for Manuel to sleep after his shift. The same could not be said for Sal who laid awake with closed eyes before his turn.

As Sal sat there underneath a tree and stared at the sky. Since he got here he‘d seen things he hadn’t seen before. Noticed after years of disinterest, above him this entire time. Weird how an experience like this could bring that forth. The stars shone bright for him at that moment.

One of the few positives that he could think of before his mind moved on to something else. Brief spurts of activity where his thoughts made their way down the yellow brick road to a sign that said “Why did Yuka not come back?”

No answer his mind came up with felt satisfactory. Did she forget? Did she get lost? Or did she simply get rid of them once she had her sister back?

Hours passed as these thoughts bounced around in his head and his eyes grew tired looking at the sky before Manuel woke up to take another shift and back to the ground his head lay with closed eyes and bated breath.

A question echoed in his mind as he curled together on the ground and tried his best to keep his eyes dry.

Why did she leave?

Eventually light batted his closed eyelids and he forced himself up to continue the trek.

Day 4 was worse for them as rain pelted down on them from up high. Small droplets at first as if some warning before starting in full. Drenching the two. Emergency adjustments were made using blankets inside their bags, but it wasn’t perfect cover. Sal hoped neither would get sick from this as the last thing they needed.

Still, they kept up their search for the sisters. To see if they were safe and possibly, some answers from them. Any would be good.

It was hard to say what the rest of the day involved as it started to blur together for Sal. They barely managed to get out of the forest under the cover of rain. Their wandering had him focused most of all on keeping his feet steady as much as they ached. His eyes drooped and looking towards the sky blackened his vision if only for a bit to clear up again.

The announcements played at some point, but Sal struggled to keep focused on what the man was saying.

And worst of all, Sal had no idea where they were going. Scanning the map didn't help as he struggled to maintain any details so he handed it over to Manuel to deal with.

As night approached on their fourth day here, Sal yawned to himself as he laid down on the ground. Same procedure as last time.

Manuel stand guard, try to sleep. Shift and repeat.

It all sounded so easy in his head. It was in his thoughts throughout the day to the point of day dreaming of pillows falling down on him. A few seconds ago he thought he'd seen a bed out in the woods. Somehow looking back at him.

If only it were so easy.

His eyes would occasionally pass back down to look into the darkness permeating the woods around them after getting bored of his skywatching. Sometimes his mind would see things in it. People he knew, people he’d seen in school. whether they were there or not, Sal did not dare find out.

Instead he kept himself seated and his guard up.

Hours went by and nothing still. The worst part of him stayed throughout, as if to taunt him as his mind continued past that sign and down the road. To the side he could see her the day she learned her other sister had died. She had used him as a punching bag of sorts in tears as he stood there, unable to do anything but some feeble words of comfort.

Is that why she left?

The faint drops of salt cascaded down his face as he tried to think back to one of the songs Manuel had told him about.

How did it go?

Salvation army, salvation army. You can-

((Sal Bonaventura continued in...))