Lost

LOST

Moonlight cascaded through the knitted branches of the pine trees. The
sound of the undergrowth shifting for the sprinting bodies whistled
through the forest. The air was thick with fear.

The ferns and brambles ripped into the flesh on her legs and face as
she ran. She was so tired, her whole body ached. Her face burned with
fear and desperation. 'Can't stop.'

Her foot twisted around a root, as she toppled, collapsed, to the
frozen earth. Her body gave in as it found a temporary place of rest.
'Gotta get up, can't stop'. She battled against her exhausted
body.

He could still hear her; she can't be far away now.

Tears, sweat, blood poured from her face as she scrambled up and
onwards 'Got to keep going.'

Her body pumped and strained with each step as she persevered through
the undergrowth and with one sudden drop and final stumble she rolled.
Head first plummeting through the bushes, down, until she finally came
to rest in the wake of a fallen tree.

The upturned roots created a fan of shelter above her. She stared
blankly up as the moonlight shone through on her torn face. She
couldn't resist any longer, she finally yielded to her body, collapsing
down, motionless, stopped.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

The sunlight crept over the horizon. There was a sharp stillness in the
air. A wave of people silently swept across the woodland, step-by-step,
carefully searching.

"There's no hope now, we've been out here for hours, the men are
tired."

"I know."

"It's just so dense out there."

"But where else could she be?"

"We've had definite confirmation that this is where she went, she was
chased for a long time, she can't have got far."

She awoke as a glistening teardrop of dew collapsed on her cheek. Her
body shook with fear and cold. Her clothes were soaked through. She
couldn't remember much, everything was a blur. There had been an
accident though, she was sure of that, some dreadful accident.

She had a feeling of incompleteness, a burning in her stomach that
wouldn't stop. She felt unwhole as though part of her was missing. She
searched her mind with frustration.

She felt her touch with the real world drifting like a thread on a
jumper pulling slowly unraveling until it was no more.

"Gotta get back!"

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

He Knocked on the door and entered, not waiting for an answer. There
was a small man hunched over his cluttered desk scribbling frantically
on a scrap of paper. He looked up.

"Ahh Detective Smith I presume? Take a seat."

"Hello...yes...umm...Dr...I was wondering if you could give me some
information on Sandy Harris the girl that went missing."

" Of course Mr. Smith." He rummaged through a tower of papers on his
desk.

"Ah yes a sad case. She was diagnosed with schizophrenia at a young
age, which was controlled by drugs effectively till the age of 15 when
her sister committed suicide. Unfortunately Sandy developed chronic
depression which severely worsened her condition. Her schizophrenia
developed into a state where now her sense of reality is somewhat
distorted. She is coherent but does not perceive the world in the same
way as you or I. Are you ok, Mr. Smith?"

"Yes, of course... Is she still on medication?

"She is and I am afraid the longer she is off it, the worse her
condition will become. She will be in a very fragile state."

"Thank you Doctor, you have been very helpful."

As he walked back down the corridor he was met by two men, a security
guard from the hospital and the Sergeant from the forest search.

"Detective, we have a statement now from the security guard
here"

"What happened then?" questioned Smith.

"We still don't know how she got out, but all I know was there was a
reported escape, so I ran to the gate and saw the patient climbing the
fence, I gave chase but she was surprisingly fast, and was over the
fence and into the woods before I could get to her. I chased her
through the woods for quite some time, until I slowly lost track of
her, they're just so dense you see. I could hear her for quite some
time and so tried to track her down but it was hopeless so I thought it
would be best to go back for help."

"Thank you very much Mr...?"

"Mr. Bates" the guard replied.

"It's very worrying having some dangerous lunatic running round the
place. Who knows what could happen?" said the Sergeant

"I wouldn't exactly classify her as dangerous," replied Smith.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

That evening Smith sat in his Ikea-furnished apartment with the TV on,
flicking through the channels, his feet up on his coffee table. He
couldn't stop thinking about the girl, lonely, scared in the forest. He
yawned and shut off the TV. His eyes strayed to a small photo on the
mantle piece. He stared at the two young children smiling broadly for
the camera. She had been ten, he had been twelve. The images came
flooding back. All day he'd been trying to avoid them - his mother
weeping, the pictures of his sister in the papers, her empty room. This
was all too similar; he couldn't let it happen again. It had taken them
a week to find her body, the longest week of his life. He switched the
TV back on and started flicking through the channels once more. He gave
up and turned in for the night. Laying in bed, awake, thinking.
Thinking of the girl.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Dawn struck, the search continued, Mr. Smith and the sergeant pulled up
at the end of the dirt track.

"Let's get started then, It can't be far"

"What exactly can't be far?" the sergeant groaned

"Whatever we've missed"

They made their way down a steep slope to some footprints.

"This is where she was last seen." said the sergeant

"What's over the hill, over there?"

"Nothing much, that we could see. We followed the tracks as far as we
could."

"Lets take a look."

She wandered back and forth through the patches of ferns weaving
between the trees, searching intently. "It's gotta be here, gotta be,"
she mumbled to herself. Her stomach ached now. Her body was still
shaking "Gotta go back soon" she thought to herself "I'll have to come
back, after they sort me out, I'll find it then"

She continued her search. Her eyes swept across the grass under her
feet.
Her head was bloody; her legs were bruised. She continued, oblivious to
the pain.

They both heard the faint sound of rustling from across the forest. The
pair cautiously made their way over to the direction of the noise and
as they approached they caught a glimpse of the girl from between the
trees. They both shouted to her to stop but she proceeded through the
trees, steadily increasing pace.

"No, not yet" she whispered to herself as she started to run through
the wood. Her body was weak now, and she knew she couldn't keep going
for long. She had to find it though.

From the corner of her eye she saw something glistening in the sunlight
right ahead of her. She could hear the men coming; she would have to be
quick. She lunged her whole body forward, arms outstretched towards it.
Her fists clenched around it as her body fell to the ground. She
couldn't move. Her head throbbed but she felt whole.

The men saw her fall and rushed over to her beaten body. Smith looked
into her weeping eyes. She pushed her hand into his and the glistening
object was thrust into his palm. The jumper in her mind slowly knitted
itself back together becoming whole once more, her grip on reality
tightened as she squeezed, clenching refusing to let go.

Her eyes wrinkled as she smiled at him, tears still running down her
face. Her body slowly grew limp in his arms. Her eyelids dropped
peacefully together and the tears stopped.