Lennon had, admittedly, found herself turned around in Blackpine’s woods. All the years she had spent traipsing through them with her mother, eager to glimpse an owl, or a stray toad, had done little to guide her through its dense trees tonight. While she had salvaged most memories of her childhood, indulging on each and every fond detail, her adolescent direction had been misplaced. But just where was the question. Had she misstepped ten minutes ago? Or thirty?
The needling realization she may have gotten herself lost had bubbled up almost immediately. But, ever stubborn, she had ignored her minds pleas. It’s Abigail, she had warned her anxiety, you’re only paranoid because of Abigail. But was that not ample reason? Perhaps, she too, would dissipate, only to be found in the dreams of her abandoned lover. The thought tugs at Lennon’s lips. She could imagine worse fates.
But no amount of daydreaming could lead her from the confusion that had gathered. It ensnared her mind like a web, tugging her in one direction, and then the next. Eventually she resorted to stomping across a make-shift path, frustration painting her cheeks pink in the chill as she roamed a seemingly endless trail. Lennon had become so immersed in her own futile determination that the echo of a voice other than her own catches her off guard.
Her boots freeze in place, gaze jumping to asses the figure before her. She has to catch herself, a brief flash of relief peeking beyond the facade, before she’s able to, again, veil that stubborn surprise. “I could get lost?” Lennon begins to argue, careful to omit the fact that she is, agonizingly, lost already. “How is it I have to be careful out here but you don’t?” Her words are without venom, the slightest lilt of amusement coating every syllable if you know to look for them.Â
“No better time to go missing than during a search party, I’d argue,” Lennon shrugs, brow quirking as she takes a step forward, the tension in her shoulders abated. “Everyone’s already out looking, no?” she continues, a wry smile twisting her lips as she pulls her sweater nearer to warm shivering bones.Â
Matty gave Lennon a big smile when she tried to argue with him and he motioned around themselves. "Because I know where I am. I've been all over this place all the time!" Never mind that was like over ten years ago. That part he kept to himself. But it wasn't like the trees were going to move around and rearrange themselves.
He cast a suspicious look around, before looking back at Lennon and laughing at her comment. "That's true. I'll give you that," he said with an amused look. "Someone could even probably get away with pretending they weren't lost in the first place when they were eventually found. If that's the case you're free to stick around me. I promise I'm not actually lost and pretending I'm not." Matty paused and gave a grimace, "I know the more I insist that's not the case, the more it sounds like it is. But I promise..."
There was another suspicious look cast around the at the trees, and then back over to the creek, before he gave a sigh. Nothing. Unfortunately. What happened Abigail?
"It's good to see you, by the way," Matty added turning back to Lennon with a smile. "I mean ... it could probably be under better circumstances. But I hope things have been doing okay, anyway. We should catch up sometime." It would probably be inappropriate to do that right at this very moment.
