We ran the entire way to the lake. And I'm not in shape. At all. Soooooo, I am wheezing to the point where Odette has given in and told me to take a break.

"Get out some water," she orders.

She doesn't have to ask me twice. I chuck my backpack on the ground and yank out one of the water bottles. I open it up and start chugging it. Odette smacks my shoulder and says, "Dude, you have to lace yourself. We don't want to run out of clean water. Preferably we should have enough to give Ayana some clean water when we find her."

When. She's so confident that she knows what she's doing. But let's be real. Even if Ayana went this way, she was probably booking it to get away from the creep. I'm convinced it's a wild goose chase.

"Alright, come on Chris. Keep your water out but we have to keep going."

She starts walking around the lake. I inwardly groan but follow anyway.

"Odette... We're gonna get lost if you go too far."

She groans. "You need to stop being so antsy. We need to keep going so we catch up with Ayana before we get 'too far.'"

"I need to stop being antsy," I mumble. "We're in the middle of nowhere Uganda and I need to stop being antsy."

She shoots me a glare. I can practically see her struggle to bite back a smart alec response.

I'm suddenly really scared. I don't want this little adventure to be the thing that rips out friendship apart. I glance toward Odette as we stomp away at a quick pace. Her face is set in that determined expression that has seemed to be frozen on her face since she rushed out of the school this morning.

I swallow a lump in my throat as if swallowing my own pride. "Look," I start. "I'm sorry."

She glances at me out of  the corner of her eye. Then she looks at the ground and her lips twitch upward as she rolls her eyes. "Whatever..." she mumbles.

She takes in a shaky breath.

Crap. I made her cry.

Her steps slow a little. I see the tears spill out as much as she tries to hide them, quickly wiping each one away.

"Odette," I say, awkwardly laughing.

"Forget it. I owe you an apology too. But we have to find her. Come on."

And she's speeding off again.

I sigh. I guess I can only pray that we actually find this girl.

When we're on the other side of the lake, there's nothing and no one as far as the eye can see. I at least expected to see some people coming for water from the lake but... I guess... Not?

"It's quiet," Odette says. "Too quiet."

I don't even try to tell her that there's nothing eerie about the emptiness of the place. I'm too busy trying to convince myself of that very thing.

"Ummm... Where to go from here?" I ask.

She shakes her head and bites her lip. "I... I don't know."

She turns her head and looks to her right and then to her left. Her back is to me as she turns slightly to the left. I come over to her side and look at her. She's squinting hard. I follow her gaze.

"Do you see that?"

I squint. And actually find what she's looking at. A little child. He... She? A child, barely a dot in the distance, but a child for sure. If the kid were to take another step, she'd be lost to our eyes. But that's the thing. She doesn't move.

"Chris. Could it be her?"

She brings her hands to her eyes and wipes quickly as she begins laughing and crying all at the same time. She offhandedly waves her arm at me and says, "Get some food out."

I laugh at how overwhelmed she is. I just hope she's right; that the kid is actually Ayana.

As if she's reading my mind, Odette says, "Even if it's not Ayana, it's a kid in the middle of nowhere, who's probably hungry."

She starts to walk again before I can even get the food out of my backpack. Laughing, I pull out a bag of Chex mix and jig to catch up with her. She keeps praying out loud, thanking "The Lord above" that we were able to come upon her so quickly, or at least help whoever it is. I wrap her on a side hug real quick, while still keeping the pace up.

As we get closer a notice more figures in the far distance in front of the child. Odette begins to run, laughing hysterically.

"It is her! It's Ayana!" she squeals.

But then she skids to a sudden stop.

I run up to her and bring her towards me. "Odette?" Her hysterical laughter has turned into hysterical tears in no time flat.

Ayana has turned back toward us and is sprinting our way. She's left her jug. She's just running. Running as fast as her little legs could carry her as shouts come from behind her.