Chapter Four

                      Wanderers

‘’Wha-wha- how?’’ I stammered. 

Lydia put her hand to her mouth. ‘’I don’t know how this happened,’’ she said, ‘’but we need to get out of here!’’ And, before we can reply, she grabbed our hands and yanked us out of there.

    We wandered in the cold, dark woods.

    Suddenly, Lydia tripped over a root. ‘’Whoa!’’ she yelled. 

    ‘’Lydia!’’ I said.

    Rocky reached out and grabbed her. 

    ‘’Thanks,’’ she said.

    ‘’Where’s home?’’ Tobit moaned.

    I thought about it. It seemed as if we’d been wandering for hours. 

    Meanwhile with Kendra’s mom…

    ‘’Where could they be?’’ Bethany (Kendra’s mom) asked. 

    Rebecca (Tobit’s mom) sighed. ‘’I don’t know… I don’t know…’’ she moaned.

    Bethany pulled out her phone.

It’s time to call the police.

    We walked on and on. It seemed as if the trail would never end. 

    Suddenly, Lydia tripped again. This time Rocky wasn’t quick enough to catch her.

    ‘’OOOOWWWW!’’ she cried in pain.

    ‘’Lydia!’’ Within a few seconds, Rocky whipped off his jacket and put pressure on Lydia’s wound. 

    ‘’How bad is it?’’ she cried.

    ‘’Bad enough that if it gets exposed it can become infected,’’ Rocky said worriedly.

    ‘’Come on, we need to keep going,’’ Lydia said with clenched teeth. With determination, she stood up, and took a step. ‘’Ow, ow, ow!’’ she yelled. She slipped to the ground. 

    ‘’Guys, I brought two blankets, two small pillows, and a pack of food. We can camp out for the night,’’ Tobit said. 

    Rocky spread out the blankets on the dirt floor. He placed the pillows on the blanket.

    ‘’It’ll have to do,’’ he said. 

    ‘’No… we must keep going,’’Lydia said.

    ‘’We must stay,’’ Rocky said.

     Lydia finally agreed.

                Chapter Six

                  A Place to Stay

    The next morning, we woke up and ate a simple meal- Apples and bread. 

    ‘’Let’s keep going,’’ Rocky said, leaning Lydia on his shoulder. 

We kept walking until we reached a tiny white house.    

    ‘’Should we knock?’’ Tobit asked.        

    ‘’Umm…’’ Lydia and Rocky stared at the house. It must be hard for them.     

    They’re the oldest in the situation, and in the end, they’re making the decision. If something goes wrong, it would be their mistake.

    ‘’I’ll go see if anyone lives there. Tobit can come with me. You girls can stay here,’’ Rocky said.

    ‘’O-okay Rocky,’’ Lydia said uncertainly.

    ‘’Be safe,’’ I said.

    ‘’Jao hooku,’’ he promised-his foreign language for, ‘I

will be safe.’

    For ten minutes me and Lydia anxiously waited for Rocky and Tobit.

    ‘’Should we go check on them?’’ I asked.

Before Lydia could answer, Rocky and Tobit came back with happy faces. 

    ‘’Who lives there?’’ Lydia and I asked excitedly.

    ‘’Kendra, do you remember Michael and his twin sister Moronica?’’ 

    ‘’Yeah…’’

    ‘’They live in that house! They said we can stay for the

night.’’

    I jumped for joy. 

     ‘’Who’s Micheal and Moronica?’’ Lydia asked.

    ‘’They were Rocky’s gym teachers. They’re really nice. Mom is friends with them.’’

    ‘’That’s nice. At least we have somewhere to go,’’ Lydia replied.

    So we walked to the pretty little white house, ecstatic to have a place to stay.

    ‘’And that’s how you got hurt?’’ Moronica said, inspecting Lydia’s cut. I looked at it and gasped. It looked

very infected.

    ‘’Oh, dear,’’ Moronica said, touching it lightly. Lydia flinched. 

    ‘’Can you help her?’’ Rocky asked.

    ‘’I’ll get my first aid kit,’’ Michel promised.

    In a few minutes, Michel returned with the kit.

    ‘’Careful, careful,’’ Lydia winced as Michel treated the leg.

    ‘’There, all set,’’ Michel said.

    ‘’Now how about y'all get some rest. There’s a busy day tomorrow to try to get you back home,’’ Moronica said.

    ‘’I agree,’’ Rocky said. ‘’Thank you for your generosity.’’

    ‘’It was nothin’, honey,’’ Moronica said.

    So me, Rocky, Lydia, and Tobit went to bed.

    ‘’Good night,’’ we said to each other.

The plan was to go home the next day. Until... Lydia get sick...

TO BE CONTINUED!