Chapter 2 - Slippery Slope

Days passed after the incident. The news was covered in stories of a man driving his new car into a wall and nearly killing ten people - 5 children, 2 elderly people, a man and his wife, and me. According to reports of the incident, the driver was questioned after making a full recovery in hospital. He claimed that he, suddenly, completely lost control of his car after only driving it for about half an hour. He said that he had just bought the car with money he had saved up since he started working at his job of 25 years. It was a brand new car and it had worked perfectly when he took it for a test-drive. The mechanics where all satisfied after checking the car before he left the dealership. How was it possible?

After the accident, investigation of the car proved to be no use because it was too damaged to see what caused the car to have such a fatal malfunction.

No mention was made of the mysterious man in black, who saved my life. No one saw him. Even Kai - who spoke directly with him that day - suddenly could not remember him. Kai now said that he saw me jump out of the way by myself. No one rescued me.

Was I going even more crazy? Why was I the only person to remember the man with the long ponytail?

"It's still amazing how you made it out of that accident alive," Kai said from behind me as I sat by our little kitchen island. I was scrolling through another news report on the incident. "I'm glad none of the children were hurt. They were so close... If the car turned only a little to the left..." Kai placed a cup of coffee in front of me and hugged me from behind. "They weren't hurt and that's what counts. Don't dwell on the 'what-if's." I nodded and put the tablet down.

I wonder what Kai was feeling now. He must still feel the relief of not losing me during that accident. I wonder if he felt any regret for not being the one to push me out of the way.

Kai pulled away from me and turned me so that I could face him. "Enough of this gloominess. Let's get out of here." My left eyebrow rose in confusion, "Out where?"

Kai smiled and mimicked what looked like walking. "We're going for a stroll in the park?" I ask. He shook his head, "Nope. You're close, but think bigger." I scratch my head. What was he trying to say?

He couldn't contain his excitement and blurted it out, "Hiking! We're going hiking!"

"Oh wow! We haven't gone in forever!" I grinned. I loved being in nature and having fresh air fill my lungs. Kai always knew just what I needed.

But wait--

"What about work? Don't we have to go to work today?" Was he so excited that he completely forgot about work?

He chuckled, "Don't worry. I've made arrangements. Your boss also thought you deserved some fresh air. One day off wouldn't be the end of the world, miss Alien."

"Not you too! My coworkers always call me that!" Or at least they used to. These days they all treated me like a ticking bomb that would explode if they got to close to me.

Kai sprinted off to our room, yelling, "Come on! We have to get ready!"

Three hours later we were hiking on a hiking trail we used to hike a lot when we were in college. The birds were chirping, bugs were flying around, and the sweet aroma of nature enveloped us. I felt so at home I almost wanted to cry.

"Careful where you step. The recent rain made some parts of the forest a bit slippery," Kai said and held out his hand for me to hold on to. "Stay close, okay?" I smile up at him, "Okay."

As we walked, I examined him. He seemed to be less deep in thought than he had been the past few days. Maybe he needed this as much as I did. I was so busy thinking about myself that I forgot about him a bit. He loved the outdoors as much as I did; I should have suggested this a long time ago. And here he was, being on top of things as usual. I was so lucky to have him.

Kai was the most honorable, responsible person that you could possibly know. And he was very handsome. Back in high school and college, the girls used to stare at him and leave him notes in his locker. There were even some guys that would sell pictures of him to girls and make loads of money... Until they were caught and suspended from school. I never really looked at him the way the other girls did though. I guess it was because we grew up together and I was used to him.

It was only after I realized that I liked him that he started to look different to me. His short dark hair was always messy, and his mono-lidded eyes reminded me of a cat, and that only later turned out to be attractive to me. He used to be shorter than me when we were little, but in high school he suddenly started to grow taller and taller until he reached almost 6 feet, leaving me much shorter than him. On top of all that, he did a lot of sports, which left him with a well-shaped athletic body.

He still enjoyed playing basketball and soccer with his friends on some weekends, and he went to the gym almost every day. He enjoyed having good physical health and loved maintaining it.

But recently, he was too busy worrying and caring about me and my deteriorating health that he didn't do all the things he loved as much. He hadn't been out playing basketball or soccer with his friends in ages, and he only goes to the gym twice a week now.

"Thank you," I say as I squeeze his hand in mine. He looked at me with a confused smile, "For what?" There was sweat dripping down his brow and his breaths were deep.

"Everything."

"Why is my Mei-Mei suddenly so sentimental, huh?" He chuckled. I could hear the love he felt towards me in his voice. It made my heart ache. He rubbed the back of my hand with his thumb.

"Help! Please! Someone!" A female voice echoed.

Kai and I looked at each other. "She sounds like she's close. Let's go help her," I said, pointing in the direction of the voice. Kai nodded curtly and we started running towards where the voice came from.

The voice turned out to be coming from a young woman with long hair that was tied back in a braided ponytail. Her foot seemed to be stuck beneath a tree root that was growing out of the ground. Kai slipped a bit when he knelt down beside her.

"Are you okay? What happened?" He asked the lady. Her face was red and wet with tears. "I was walking by here when I saw a necklace lying here by the tree," -she hickuped- "and I know that we were told not to stray from the path because it's slippery... but-but I thought that what if it was a special necklace that someone lost that held a lot of sentimental value... I-I mean I lost a necklace that my late mother gave me and it broke my heart. So I thought that maybe - you know -" -she hickuped again- "maybe there was someone in the same type of situation... so I wanted to pick it up and leave it at the lost-and-found... but then I SLIPPED and waaaahhh my foot slid under this giant root and I can't get it out!"

Kai and I looked at each other, both thinking that this lady sure enjoyed the sound of her own voice.

"Okay, ma'am? It's going to be okay," Kai said. "Just turn your foot sideways, like this," he demonstrated with his own foot, "and then slowly pull your leg out, okay?" The lady did as he instructed and then yelled out in pain, "OW! OW!" I looked at Kai, "Maybe she sprained her ankle when she slipped?" He nodded in agreement.

"Miss, may I touch your foot?" Kai asked politely. She nodded. Kai gently took hold of her foot and then told her to breathe as he slowly turned it. "Okay, now slowly pull your leg out," Kai instructed her. She shook her head, "I can't, I can't do it on my own." Kai glanced at me, "Maybe you should try helping her pull out her leg."

I nodded, knelt down and followed Kai's instructions. But her foot was completely stuck. And there was no way to dig it out since it was between a rock and the tree root.

"Her foot isn't budging. We might need someone who can saw through the tree root." Kai said as he examined the situation.

I remembered that we passed one of the forest rangers' towers not too long ago. "Kai, we passed a forest ranger tower about twenty minutes ago. If one of us hurries and finds help there, they might be there in fifteen minutes," I said. Kai nodded, "Yeah, I remember."

"I can go while you stay here with her," I suggested. Kai had more first aid experience than me and would be able to try and keep the lady stable. It would be better if he stayed.

"No," he shook his head. "It would be better if I went and you stayed. I'm much faster and I can handle the slippery terrain better. If you slip and get hurt... We can't have that."

My eyes studied his for a long moment. What if HE fell and got hurt? But he did have a point. He knew how to handle the terrein and he was faster than me.

I sighed and nodded, "Alright, you have a point. You should go." Kai smiled reassuringly and patted my head. "I'll be alright. Don't worry."

"Please, Kai. Be careful."

He grinned and did a thumbs-up, before he got up and left.

I turned my attention from his retreating figure to the lady who was growing more silent by the minute. I hope he hadn't hit her head.

Sure enough, my question was answered before I even asked it as a little trail of blood dripped down her brow.

She noticed and wiped at it and when she saw the red blood on her hand she screamed, "AHH! I'M DYING!"

"No, no, calm down, miss. You must just have hit your head when you fell. It must not have been that bad since you are only bleeding a little," I smile a smile that I hoped looked as reassuring as Kai's did.

The lady sniffed, "Really? Are you sure?" I nodded, "Yes, you will be fine."

Maybe I should get her to drink some water. "Why don't you have a sip of water? Where is your bottle?"

She reached to touch the side of her backpack, where a water bottle should be. She frowned and touched the other side of her bag. "That's weird. I'm sure it was here."

"It must have fallen out. It's okay, you can use mine," I said.

Then I remembered that Kai carried the backpack with the water bottles in. He must have forgotten to leave my bottle here because he was in a hurry.

"Sorry, it seems that it's with my boyfriend." I covered my face with my hands in shame. She shook her head, "Oh, that's no problem. He will probably be back soon anyway." I hummed in agreement.

I looked around, just in case, to see if her bottle fell close to us. And sure enough it wasn't that far away. It was just a little distance from where we sat, down a slope.

"There! Your bottle!"

The lady followed my gaze, "Oh! You're right! It was close after all."

"Maybe I can get it. It might only be another hour before my boyfriend comes back. I don't want you to dehydrate." I explained to her while pointing to the water bottle.

She hesitated. "I don't think that is a good idea. It is very slippery here and you might fall down the slope if you slip there. Let's rather wait."

It really was not that far down the slope. I could almost reach out to grab it. "It's fine," I reassure her. "I won't slip."

She reluctantly agreed.

I slowly and carefully crawled closer to the slope. The ground didn't seem as slippery as I thought and I felt relieved. I reached out to grab the bottle, only to find it just out of reach. I edged closer to the edge of the slope.

"Be careful," I hear the lady say in a weak shaky voice.

I reached for the bottle again and my fingers barely touched the top of it.

I strained. Almost there!

"Did I just feel a drop of rain?" The lady asked in a panic. It wasn't supposed to rain today.

I, too, started feeling droplets falling on my head, and suddenly rain poured down in the matter of seconds.

The dirt beneath me gave way and I tumbled down the slope.