15

It doesn't take long for them to get lost.

It's doesn't take long for the night to begin to fall. Daylight slips out from their fingers like sand, sunlight reduced to rays peeking through the trees and then lesser and then none at all.

It takes the least amount of time for Valeria to start losing it.

She has always been cautious in the dark because she is afraid of being lost with no ray of sunshine, quite literally, and of feeling helpless. She is terrified, as she feels the worry sinking into her bones, deeper, until it's a constant heavy weight she's carrying along with herself.

Valeria sits with Nick, side by side, leaning against a tree trunk. They are tired and worn out, both physically and mentally. Holding on to Nicholas' hand with all her might, Val wills her thoughts to remain focused solely on this physical connection and to not to wander near concerns such as safety and food and shelter and the unpredictable weather.

She chances to lay her head on Nick's shoulder, hoping that he won't pull away. When he doesn't, she closes her eyes and tries to shut away the dark beyond her eyelids.

"It," Nicholas begins to say, but then stops. He sighs. Val feels him shift his head as if he's looking down at her and then he shifts again, but this time so as to rest his head on top of hers. "It'll be okay," he says after a while.

Valeria isn't sure if he's trying to convince himself or her.

Probably both, she decides. Either way, she breathes in deeply, doing her best to keep a hold on the hysteria beginning to turn in her stomach. It'll be okay, she repeats to herself in her head.

A few minutes pass in silence and then—

"It's all your fault!" Stella yells. "You just had to go and run after her, you dim-witted tosser!"

Val opens her eyes a crack to see Stella facing Richard, the both of them fighting.

"What do you even mean why did I run after her? She's Keithia!" says Richard.

"Yes, she's Keithia. Keithia, the woman whom we met merely a month ago. Keithia, the woman who has been strange from day one. Keithia," her voice increases a few decibels, "the woman who's not a woman but something else, something which glows and shoots light from her hands and—"

"And heals animals," Nick speaks up from beside Valeria in a resigned tone of voice. "We don't know who she is, Stella, but she is good. And she is our friend. And she has helped us a lot in this one month. Richard didn't do anything wrong in going after her."

"Thankyou." Richard says.

In return, Nicholas gives him a scalding look. "Doesn't mean you had to go running blindly behind her though. Probably could've given the lot of us some warning too. Probably could've also brought some supplies from the camp when you'd decided to follow us."

Richard frowns at Nick's words, and then looks down, shuffling from one foot to the other. With him being so tall, the scene would've been funny, Val thinks, had he not been painting such a forlorn picture.

Val knows that he's worried for Keithia, frustrated and heartbroken, too. The bloke had just exclaimed his love for her when she'd run away.

She also knows that he's ashamed most probably, guilty of having lead the rest of the group further off track and then completely lost. But then she feels the pressure of Nick's hand held in hers, and she thinks Richard isn't fully at fault. He can't be.

He did what he had to do.

And Valeria understands this.

She may be used to taking the path of least resistance, but once in every blue moon, she has fought for some things in her life. May be not often enough, but still.

So, when Richard finally looks up, she gives him a smile. She hopes it doesn't look as sad and small as it feels on her lips. He smiles back.

Stella seems to pick up on the notion, realising the truth of the situation, because she stomps her foot on the ground and then walks off, situating herself under the canopy of another tree near-by. She doesn't say anything further, though. Neither good, nor bad.

A couple of moments later, Richard goes to lie down, too. He mutters an apology before leaving, his voice sounding small and beaten.

Val closes her eyes again, resuming to focus on Nicholas' body warmth and the slight pressure of his body beside hers, the touch of his hand, so as to distract herself from the darkness surrounding them. A while later, when Valeria thinks that she has almost drifted off to sleep, she feels Nick squeeze her hand. "It will all be okay, I promise you this," he says, softly, quietly, his words meant for her ears alone.

She thinks she lifts the side of her lips in a smile at that, but she can't be sure. She's just too tired.