CHAPTER 8: THE OPENING OF THE FOREST

I woke up with a start, gasping for air as if I had held my breath for hours. My vision was blurry, and I saw in front of me two dark shapes. "Sela, you ok?" came a voice. I tried to answer but for some reason, I found myself unable to speak.

Gradually, everything started to clear. It was as if a large storm had wandered into my mind during the night and was now clearing away. Slowly, I started to remember.

It was a dream. Or was it? I saw myself in a snow-capped opening of the vast forest. I was alone, hungry, scared and barely clinging to life. I remember seeing a brown pack a few feet away from me with nothing but a notebook inside. I had collapsed into a heap on the frozen forest floor, almost unable to move.

I told my companions about what I had seen in my vision-like dream. I told them about the pack, about the opening in the forest and about the cold emptiness I had felt rushing through my veins.

"But- you're here," Tula said, "you're right here, you've been here all night!"

"She's right," added Chester, "I'd have known if you left…"

"What if-" started Matt, "what if it wasn't you? What if you subconsciously used your power during the night, and that was Karl freezing there all alone?"

"The Sun is coming," Morgan called out, peering out at the mouth of the cave. "We should go as soon as we can."

Chester grabbed his pack and used his remaining matches to relight the fire, which had died out during the night. Morgan produced from her pack a small ration of fruit, bread and sausages, which she placed onto a large flat stone near the fire. We each grabbed a sausage and a Matt passed out small skewer sticks for us to use. Just as I reached out for the water flasks, Tula grabbed my hands. "Not too much," she said, "we have to leave some for your brother."

I took out two of the flasks and we each took a small sip of water, Chester, Tula and I sharing one flask and the twins sharing the other.

After we finished our Morning Meal, Matt used the remaining water in his flask to put out the fire, then we began clearing up and gathering our things into our packs so we could resume our perilous journey through the frostbitten forest.

"Hey, kid," said Chester, his teeth chattering and his breath coming out in small white puffs of air, "did Karl, by any chance, tell you which way to go?"

I shook my head sadly, for I had not heard Karl's voice at all during the vision. All we had was a trail of footprints that were slowly starting to disappear under the growing sheet of snow.

After what seemed like endless hours trudging through the thick snow, we had come to what looked like the end of the forest. There were no trees ahead of us, just a flat, boundless, frozen field of thick, white snow. "C-could th-this b-be it?" asked Matt, his face red from the frost, "c-could th-this be the b-big opening y-you s-saw?"

I looked around. It certainly looked familiar. The sky was fogged up with tiny little snowflakes that rode down on the sharp, icy breezes. There were no trees for miles and miles, all I could see was snow. This was definitely what I saw last night.

Suddenly, I felt it: The fear, the crippling hunger, the sudden shortness of breath, as if an elephant had stepped on my chest. Letting out a faint cry, I felt myself fall down onto the soft new blanket of snow. "Sela!" I heard Morgan cry. I gasped and spluttered, a sharp, throbbing pain shooting through my stomach. I groaned and rolled myself into a ball, my arms wrapped around my tender belly. I suddenly felt a large hand turn me onto my back, "No..." I moaned, wanting to roll back onto my side.

"Sela, are you ok? What's happening to you?" Chester asked, his voice trembling in panic.

"Karl," I croaked, "here… dying… feel his pain…"

Matt scooped me up into his arms, "You are not dying here," he said adamantly.

All of a sudden, we heard a cry from the distance. It was Tula.

"GUYS!" she screamed, "HE'S HERE!"

Chester and Morgan exchanged glances and sped off in the direction of Tula's cries, Matt, still holding me in his arms, tried to follow them as fast as he could.

As Matt ran, I could see the shapes of Tula, Chester and Morgan kneeling on the floor around a fourth shape that was sprawled in between them. Matt gasped as we arrived at Morgan's side. I was gently laid onto the floor beside Morgan and I managed to sit myself up and then I saw what the others had been staring at: Lying there, limp as a noodle, eyes closed and barely breathing, was my brother, fighting for his life. He was dangerously thin; his cheeks were sagging, his lips were covered in dry blood and dead skin, a thin layer covering his long, broad cheeks, the muscles on his body had all but shrunk away and his hands looked like bones with skin stuck on top. His clothes barely staying on him, he looked like a small child wrapped up in its father's giant coat.

"We found you," I cried, my head in his thin, hard chest, "we actually found you!"