Forbidden

"You have got to be kidding me right now," I said, in a very panicked tone, trying to pull on a paddle to help Nate turn back. But the boat went way too fast and before I knew it, the calm river we were just on changed into a rapidly, running water currents with a bunch of bumpy rocks blocking the way.

These rocks had the canoe flying up and back down, and neither Nate and I had control of the boat anymore.

My heart began racing very quickly and it didn't help when Nate increased the tone of his voice, "Janie."

"Huh?" I replied, in complete shock and panic.

"We have to get out of this canoe."

"What?!"

"If we stay here, we're not gonna be able to go back. The least we can do is swim."

Nate threw the paddle out of the boat and into the water, which made me so confused. This was all happening too fast, and I had to no idea what to do.

He began standing up, but I reached out to grab the fabric of his jeans, exclaiming, "What are you doing?!"

"You have to trust me."

I narrowed my eyes at him in confusion, but as the water became even harder, I had no idea what to do.

I took Nate's camera that was hanging off my neck, and threw it at the nearest rock, in order to save his pictures.

"Sorry," I mouthed at him, but before I knew it, he jumped out of the boat and into the rapid, rushing water.

"Nate," I said, quietly, slightly in panicking mode.

After five seconds, his head popped back out and he was floating, but the water was also taking his body through the currents.

"Janie!" He yelled. "Get out of the boat!"

I turned back around to get a very clear view of the rapid currents, and all I could see at this moment was white water because the waves were very, very hard.

What the hell do I do?

I began placing my hands on both sides of the canoe and forced myself to stand up. I gulped, looking behind me again to see Nate had already grabbed onto the rock and he was fighting against the water.

I tripped again, falling on my legs, because the canoe bumped into a rock and that caused pain to come to my legs.

Okay, I have to do this.

I stood up again, but before I could even jump out, the canoe hit a huge rock that was placed in the middle of the river and the boat flipped over, bringing me down into the water.

I couldn't see anything, because my eyes were shut and I could feel the force of the water dragging me, so all I knew was that I had to come back up before the water filled up my entire lungs.

Within a few seconds, I came back up, taking a huge breath, with the rapid water currents pushing me towards the waterfall.

I hit another rock on the way, so I tried holding onto it as hard as I could. I tried looking back to see if Nate was okay, but my vision was all fogged up from the water but I did hear him call my name.

As I tried looking back, I lost my grip on the rock and the water current took me again.

"Janie!" I heard again.

I began losing my breath, forcing myself to swim to a rock on the side so I could hold onto it. It felt like an hour getting there, but I finally did and grabbed on with both hands.

Spitting water out of my mouth, I saw Nate from a distance and he only told me to hold on tightly.

I nodded, looking back, and became even more panicked.

When I saw, that the waterfall was right at the bottom of me.

If I let go, this would be the end of me.

The canoe that Nate and I were on just a few minutes ago, fell off the waterfall cliff which made me panic, because my legs were hanging on the edge of waterfall.

That was where I tried pulling myself up so I didn't have to fall off, but the current was too hard, pushing one of the arms off the rock. When I ascended my arm back, I realized that one of my gloves had fallen off, but I still held on with one of my bare hands.

I got a clear view of Nate trying to get out of the water, but the currents were pushing pretty hard as well.

Oh god, if I fell off this waterfall, I would die.

I didn't wanna die now.

Please Nate, please make it back up onto the rock so you can help me from falling off this waterfall.

I think I started crying when the only hand that I was gripping onto the rock, began slipping little by little.

I couldn't really feel the tears, but I could feel my heart pumping extremely fast, and the temperature of my cheeks bursting up.

I was on the edge of a waterfall cliff.

What else could be worse?

Come on Janie, you have to hang on. Hang on the best you can. Get your other arm up there.

Get up.

Get up.

Get up.



I saw Nate swimming towards me, and my eyes grew large, "Are you crazy?! What are you doing?!"

I kept yelling that until I brought my other hand to hold on to the rock, but that was a bad mistake.

I completely tripped, and both of my hands slipped off the rock, and the water current took me quickly.

But before I knew it, someone grabbed onto my left hand and that someone was Nate. We made eye contact and he had the most concerned, and scared face that I had never seen before. He was holding my left hand, the one that was not occupied with gloves, and he was grabbing them very tightly.

And despite the cold temperature of my hands, I could feel the warmth of his hands.

He was holding onto me because he was trying to save me.

He was holding onto me because he was concerned about me.

"Hang on tightly," He said, calmly, making me see his soft side. He held onto my left hand with his right hand, and used his left hand to help pull himself up.

He is a really strong person for holding onto the rock with one hand, holding my hand which was carrying my weight and pulling himself up.

I could feel my legs still hanging off the edge, but after struggling for a few minutes, Nate finally pulled himself up on the rock and the water was dripping all over his body.

He bent his knees down, trying his hardest to pull me up.

"Hang on," He insisted. I used all of my strength to hang out and pull myself up to help him halfway but I really couldn't do it anymore.

I breathed heavily, while he literally compressed his body with force, trying to pull me up. I began shifting towards him, helping him so all the weight wasn't on him.

He used both of his hands to cover both of mine, when I finally felt that I was getting away from the edge of the cliff.

I began using the strength that I had left, forcing myself to push up.

Set yourself.

Was what came into my head from volleyball at this moment.

"Set yourself," I said to myself, as I pushed myself towards Nate, and he began pulling me up.

After five minutes of struggling, my entire body was on the rock and I immediately fell on my butt.

Panting heavily, I saw the view of the entire view from the top of the waterfall, to see how high and steep this thing was.

My breathing made me realize how tired I was, but I still was curious to see how far the bottom of the waterfall would be, so I nudged my head over, in complete shock.

If I were really to fall off, I would've died.

But then I looked at the person who saved me.

Which was Nate.

Nate was panting heavily as well, and his face look absolutely exhausted. He sat right next to me, with his arms behind me, but they weren't touching my back.

"Are you okay?" I managed to ask to overlap the sound of rapid currents.

He looked over at me, which made us meet eyes and there was this sort of strange spark that flew around when we did. I saw him gulp and quickly nodded, saying, quietly, "I'm fine."

He bought his hands up to pat my arm a little and looked around my body, "You hurt anywhere?"

I looked at him again because he was concerned about me. I've only seen the side of him that was ignorant, so solemn, so careless; but today, I saw something completely different. All I could do was smile, as he was trying to see if I was injured anywhere.

Something really good.

I grinned, shaking my head, mouthing, "I'm fine."

He gulped again, looking around. I just sat there, trying to calm myself down, catching a breath.

After a while, he stood up, so I looked up and he sighed, "We should try and go back."

I slightly nodded, trying to get up by the help of my arms but he reached his hand out for me to grab. I looked at him, grinning, then pushed myself up by the help of him pulling me. I got up and he still held onto my hand, repeating, "You okay?"

I fake smiled, because my leg was in so much pain, but I didn't want him helping me any more than this. It was already too much for risking his life.

He grinned at me, putting his hands on my back to help me walk.

"Go slowly," he told me, as his hands were placed on the middle of my back, helping me walk.

He then stopped, telling me to wait, as he ran over to the other rock to grab his camera that I roughly thew back before it got wet, and before I fell off the waterfall.

He ran back over to me, nodding his head, so I pretended that I could walk normally, going in front of him.

It was weird that I complained all the way getting here, so what was stopping me now?



"So we have to wait for a canoe or a kayak to pass by?" I asked Nate, as we were walking in the woods, trying to make our way back.

"I don't see any other options."

"Can't we just use your phone or something?"

He looked at me, snickering, "Oh yeah sure. Give me a second. I'll jump off the waterfall to go get it."

I stopped speaking after his sarcastic remark as I tripped on a small piece of rock. I lost my balance, almost falling, but Nate quickly ran up to me and grabbed my arm, bringing me back.

We didn't only meet eyes, but I had a strange feeling in my stomach as our faces were so close, that our noses were close to touching.

I blinked a variety of times, but pulled away before anything else could happen.

"I was just asking," I sighed, crossing my arms and turning the other way.

When I began walking again, every step that I took began hurting and stinging at my ankles so I complained, "Ow."

When I walked slower, trying to see if it would go away, I took every step, but it kept hurting more and more.

"Are you okay?"

I sat down against the nearest tree, grabbing my ankle to see what was stinging. I pulled my socks down a little to reveal a huge cut right near the bone and I clenched my teeth together, seeing the blood all over the fabric of my white socks.

"Very ow?"

Nate's eyes widened, and he quickly bent down, grabbing my ankles.

"You've been bleeding this entire time?"

"I didn't know until I tripped again."

He sighed heavily, looking around the woods as I tried some blood around the cut to make the wound look smaller.

Nate groaned, then grabbed the bottom of his light dark and green plaided, buttoned down shirt, tearing a long, thin piece off.

"What are you doing?"

"Just stay still," he answered, as I pressed my lips against each other and waited to see what he would do.

He took off my sneakers, and placed my ankles on his leg. He pulled a little part of my socks down further, wiping the blood that was surrounding my cut. He wiped it very gently, until all the blood surrounding it was gone and the only thing left was the cut.

I looked at him, very pleasantly, and smiled as he ripped off another piece of his shirt to wrap around my cut.

Was he doing all of this because he had to?

Or was he doing it because he wanted to?

Was he that concerned that he had to rip out pieces of his shirt to help me.

He almost risked his life just to save me and it made realize that he may be a quiet and ignorant person, but the guy actually has a heart.

He probably realized I was looking at him, so his eyes moved towards me then back down at my ankle, "What?"

I snickered, "You act like you're so careless and that you hate the world. But as a matter of fact, you actually do have a heart."

He smirked, tying his cloth around and placing his arms on my leg, "Are you complaining?"

"Maybe," I replied. "But you haven't gotten used to it yet?"

He came very close to my face and I slightly moved my head back. He grinned, "Have you gotten used to me yet?" He came very close to my face as if our noses were going to touch, but then he then pulled something out of my hair, throwing it on the ground. "You had a twig in your hair."

I let out a laugh and he smiled at me as well, and it was the first time I had ever seen a real smile from him.

I saw all of his teeth, and they were very white and he was very charming when he did smile. He sighed and slapped his knees, gently placing my ankles back down on the ground. He stood up, saying, "We're probably going to be here for a while. So we should make some effort to call for help."

"I'm in," I said, smiling and standing up.

I looked down at my gloves, which were ripped on three fingers so I took it off, throwing it on the dirt ground.

"No use in that anymore."

I began following him, as I was limping, but he constantly held on to me every time I lost my balance.

A near death experience for someone could fall under the category of the worst day ever, but for some reason, I wasn't all that upset.

What was supposed to be a really bad day actually turned out to be a decent day for me.

"Hey," I called Nate, reaching up to him.

He stopped walking and turned around to look at me.

"Thank you," I finally said to him, for the first time ever. "Thanks for saving my life. I would be screwed if I didn't have you."

He wandered his eyes around and smiled again, showing his sincerity. "I'll be right back."

"Heh?"

"I'll be right back," He repeated and walked back to where we had come from, giving me his camera.

I nodded, and started walking ahead of him, because I know he'll probably catch up very soon.

I smiled to myself, thinking about how he was actually a decent person.

Even though I'll be stuck for god knows how many hours, I'm glad it was with someone like my stepbrother.



The sky was already a dark blue color, and the sun had gone down just a few minutes ago.

"Mom and Michael are gonna be so freaked out," I said, as Nate and I were sitting down against a tree, next to each other.

I heard him say something. "Your mom would."

He actually mumbled it, but the other words I wouldn't hear clearly were "My dad..."

"What'd you just say?" I asked.

He turned around, looking at me, and shook his head, "It's nothing."

"Do you get along with Michael?" I suddenly asked. I don't know what brought me up to ask that, but I just had to.

He looked away from me, having his back towards me, and didn't answer.

I only sighed, realizing maybe I shouldn't have asked that.

If the answer was no, then he probably didn't wanna talk about it.

"It's hard to explain," He finally said.

I looked at him, as he turned his face back to me and continued, "It's really hard to explain."

"Why? Michael seems so perfect."

"Just like you?" He asked back.

I narrowed my eyes at him and smirked, "I'm not that perfect."

"There's no one perfect in this world, remember that."

"What does that have to do with Michael?"

He gave me a small grin and replied, "Maybe one day you'll see. But if not, then it'll be a huge mystery."

He smiled widely again, which made me smile, and so I turned away.

I massaged the upper part of my legs again with my fist and looked up into the sky, almost seeing the moon.

"Are we gonna be stuck here for long?"

"Who knows?"

"This is great," I said, sarcastically. "The first day we arrive on our family trip, we almost fall off a huge waterfall and get stuck in the woods. Wonder what's gonna happen tomorrow."

"Don't even talk about tomorrow," He replied. "Do you see the sky? It's filled with clouds. That means rain."

"Are you always sarcastic?"

He sniffled a little, then replied, "I'm not being sarcastic. Look."

I rolled my eyes up, looking at the clouds, and that exact moment, I felt a raindrop go down my face.

You have got to be kidding me.

I literally glared at the sky, begging God not to make it rain right now, because I wasn't even dry from falling the water yet.

Then all of a sudden, thunder sounds bolted and it began rain began pouring on my head, gradually getting wet.

Again.

I let out a fake grin at Nate, and giggled, "Hmm... I think that completes the definition of the worst day ever."

"Let's find somewhere better to stay under." He said, then we walked towards a huge tree with a bunch of branches and leaves on them, so we hid under there.

It wasn't really helping preventing us from getting wet, but the rain wasn't pouring down on us. So it was better than nothing. We leaned against the tree and I only groaned, "Anything worse?"

When Nate began to open his mouth, I immediately shut him up before it actually came true.

He laughed again, and stayed quiet. I crossed my arms together, rubbing my hand on the upper part, because it was getting cold, and I was beginning to shiver a little. I looked around the scene, seeing no possible way out of here.

Nate and I had been walking so far, that we couldn't even find our way back towards the river we originally came from.

"What are we gonna do for tonight?" I began asking.

He turned around to look at me, sighing, "You tired?"

I didn't say anything, but looked to the ground massaging my legs. He then slightly tapped me on the shoulders, nodding at me, "You can sleep."

"I don't think I can fall asleep leaning against a tree." I said, plaintively, showing him what I meant.

He chuckled again, patting his legs, so I gave him a puzzled look.

"It may not be a bed," He continued. "But it's the best I can give you."

"The best?" I asked, correctly. "Dude! That's way over the top. I can't use your legs as sleeping material."

He suddenly grabbed my head, pulling me down onto his lap, and I complained as I flipped over to look up at him. "Okay ow?"

"Just sleep. I can tell you're tired."

"And you're not?"

"I'm not picky like you. I can sleep on whatever."

I sighed once, smiling at him, "Why are you being so nice? I mean, why weren't you like this the first day we met?"

"I haven't changed," He told me with a smile. "I'm always myself. But it's your choice if you want to make the effort to get to know me or not."

I narrowed my eyes, replying, "Oh? First day you arrive, cough cough, Janie. Is there a lock on this thing?"

He chuckled a bit but then answered, "Why don't you answer your own question for once?"

He finally shut his eyes, shifting his head against the tree and I pulled on his shirt, "You're sleeping already?"

He didn't answer me so I stopped tugging on him. I pouted my mouth, whispering, "This kid is so bizarre sometimes."

I sighed to myself loudly, noticing his arm was placed gently on my stomach, with his hand clinging off to the left of me.

I smiled, looking at him sleeping again. "Answer my own question, huh?But the answer isn't even in the question."

With that, I quickly dozed off, and everything went black within a second.



As I flickered my eyes opened, the sun was shining brightly in my face, and when I fully opened them, I realized it was already morning.

What caught my attention the most, was Nate sleeping in the exact same position he was in last night, but he was only his white t-shirt without his buttoned down shirt. When I looked down at myself again, I saw it was on me, used as a blanket.

I grinned to myself, slowly scratching my head.

"When did he put that on me?" I whispered to myself.

Since his arm was placed on my shoulders, it took me a while to get it off of me without waking him up.

When I sat up, with his arms to his side, I took his plaid green shirt and put it on him as a blanket.

Standing up, I wiped all the dirt off my legs and butt, scratching my head. I looked at him once more, seeing his arms on his legs so I couldn't help but smile.

I saw his camera with the lens facing down and I picked it up to make it sit up straightly. I studied the scratches that were new when I threw it on the rock, and frowned. But then I let go of it again, hoping that it didn't do too much damage.

I could tell this camera was like his life.

My stomach began growling, when I realized I hadn't eaten anything since yesterday. And my hunger doubled because I was extra tired, and exhausted.

I began walking around to see if there was a way out, because I had to go to the bathroom, and it was killing me that I had to hold it inside.

Crossing my arms while walking, I thought about how Mom and Michael were probably worried to death about us right now. Then I tried to make out what Nate said last night, where he said Mom was worried and his Dad...

With a mumble.

What was he trying to say?

All of a sudden, I heard a strange scraping sound from a distant, so I began narrowing my eyes to see if I could see it.

Maybe it was someone.

If it was someone, they could definitely help us.

I was tired.

I was hungry.

I was thirsty.

I was in pain.

I need some help right now.

I walked quickly towards where I could hear the sounds, and as I stepped closer, it became even louder and louder.

When I walked towards it, I finally saw who it was.

Or what it was.

And it was not a good image.

It wasn't a person or anything.

It was an animal.

A very big animal.

With dark brown fur.

Four legs.

Barely no tail.

With a small lump on the upper part.

It was bending down sniffing something on the ground, so I took the moment to slowly walk back.

It was...

It was a bear...

A bear.

What the hell do I do now?

My eyes were widened, my heart was racing very fast and I was shaking like crazy. I continued stepping back slowly, thinking about stories I've heard about bears.

How they can attack when their hungry.

How they can kill any other animals.

So I took that moment to just run for my life.

After running for a little bit, I tripped over a root from a tree, closing my eyes to relieve the pain, but it didn't help a lot.

I stood up again, in panic mode, so I continued running, looking back to see if that bear was still in the same place. On the way, I bumped into Nate, who was wide awake and he immediately held onto my arms.

"Nate!" I exclaimed.

"What's wrong? Where'd you go?"

I was shaking to much to actually say anything, but I pointed to the bear's direction and stuttered, "B-B-B-Be-Be-Bea-Bea-Bear..."

"What?"

"B-B-Be-Be-Bea-Bea-Bear!" I stuttered more, raising my voice.

His eyes widened and looked at the direction I was at, while still holding onto to half of my arms.

"There was only one, right?"

I nodded quickly and he nodded, still looking a little worried. He grabbed my hands and we began walking the other direction.

After walking for another five minutes, Nate stopped at his tracks, when he had a frightened look on his eyes. I looked towards what he was looking at and my eyes immediately widened, seeing another bear.

And this time, it was closer to us.

I held his hand tighter, tugging onto it, trying to drag him to another direction. He shook his head and said, "Have you ever heard what you have to do around bears?"

"What?" I asked. I grabbed his hand again and when I tried walking, I only tripped, and I couldn't be in more pain than this. "Ow?"

"Janie," He said quietly.

I slightly stood up, with him grabbing onto my hands and he continued.

"You have to stay still, come on," He grabbed me to the nearest tree, and pulled me to duck down with him. I watched the bear every step that it took, seeing what direction they were headed in.

As I was even more worried, I could feel Nate looking at me so I leaped my eyes at him, and it was exactly how I guessed.

We made eye contact for a while, and his eyes wandered around my face while I didn't move a muscle.

I noticed him gulp, but his eyes didn't move anywhere.

Why am I feeling sparks for this kid?

I snapped back to reality, blinking multiple times, and pulling my head back.

When I looked back again, the bear was gone and I shifted my head both left and right.

"It's gone." He stated, letting go of my hand.

He puckered his mouth, shifting his head like I did and answered, "Told you to stay still."

I crookedly smiled at him, massaging my legs again, while we were both bending down.

"You ready to find a way out of here?"

"If I can walk..." I answered.

He grabbed my ankles, seeing my cut, sighing, "Your cut is bleeding again."

I pressed my lips against each other and guiltily nodded my head again. He sighed loudly, thinking about what to do.

I tried getting up, to see if I could walk, but I fell back down. He immediately grabbed me and sighed, "Here."

He bent down, patting his shoulders, and telling me to jump on his back.

"Piggy back?"

He nodded and smiled, continued to pat his back. I stood there, afraid that a bear would catch up to me but he grabbed my hand again. I stumbled towards his direction and he nodded, "Just get on."

"Don't you think you've done too much already?"

He didn't reply, but just gave me a mocking face, "I'm sure your boyfriend has given you piggy back rides before. So I don't need to tell you how to get on."

I grinned a little, but then puckered my mouth.

Well...

If he insisted.

I let go of his hand, and then placed both of my hands on his shoulders then grabbing his back with both of my legs. He quickly grabbed my legs and then stood up, and threw me up one more time to make sure I was fully on his back. His hands were holding onto my legs very tightly, to reassure that I wasn't going to fall down. And I couldn't help but smile, for some particular reason.

I linked my hands with each other looking down at his dirty blonde hair. I sighed, "You good?"

"Couldn't be better." He joked.

I rolled my eyes and he proceeded to walking, in order to find a way out.

While I was praying to God not to have another bear sneak up on us.



"I am doing the best I can," I answered Nate, loudly, as he was complaining to me about how he was afraid I was going to make his pictures look bad.

I offered to take more pictures with his camera after he offered...

Well, not offered.

It was more like he forced to carry me.

But I wasn't complaining.

"It's not everyday we can see this view," He said, plaintively. "I need good pictures."

"And you will see my amazing skills when you go develop them."

He laughed as I continued taking pictures, as I was being carried by him on his back.

After taking the twentieth picture, he began asking, "So I take it you don't like bears."

"Hmm," I replied, bringing the camera down. "How does it occur to you that I don't like bears?"

"You were practically crying when we bumped into each other. It's not everyday you become speechless."

I shrugged, "Bears attack. I don't like anything that attacks."

"Bears usually attacked when they feel like they're being harmed."

"Hmm," I answered. "I can consider myself a bear then."

"How?"

"Attack when being harmed."

"You can attack more than this?" He asked, jokingly. "I'd like to see that."

I slightly used his lens to hit him in the forehead, linking my hands together again. He pulled me up again, to make sure I wasn't falling down his back, and continued walking.

"You're heavier than you look." He said, trying to put on a funny mood.

"Hey... We're not discussing my weight." I said, bringing the camera up to take pictures again.

Despite my hunger.

Despite my thirst.

Despite my pain.

I was actually having a decent time.

Except for the heat.

And I didn't know about Nate carrying me, but he offered, so it's not my fault if he's not having fun.

"Excuse me!" I heard a familiar voice, at a distance. Nate looked up at me, with a questioning look and I only shrugged.

"Excuse me!" I heard again, and the sound got closer.

Nate turned his body around and I caught a glimpse of that Texas Ranger dude that greeted us yesterday.

My face automatically brightened up, seeing him as he ran up to us.

I think Daniel was his name.

"Oh yes!" Daniel exclaimed, while coming closer to us and jumping up and down. "It is the two of you!"

Nate looked up at me again and grinned. "Saved."

"By the angel," I whispered back.

Daniel stood in front of us, panting, and started, "Your parents have been worried sick about the two of you. Did you get lost or something?"

"Umm, we encountered a few problems, " I replied, giggling.

A few.

Total lie.

"What happened here?" Daniel asked.

"It's a long story." Nate and I replied in unison. Then Nate continued, "You can take us back right?"

"Oh yes, of course!" He said, with one clap. "But we have to ride a canoe back. Follow me."

Daniel took out his compass and then began leading the way. Nate smiled and I only clapped my hands against his camera.

Nate caught up with Daniel, who was ranting about Mom and Michael have been searching for us all night, and they were going to call the cops if we weren't back by daylight.

Mom doesn't need to worry.

If I have this kid, I'll be fine.



"Oh thank heavens!!!!!!!" Mom screamed as Nate stepped out of the trail of the woods, going back to the tent site.

I smiled at her as she came up to us and she immediately asked, "What happened?!"

I gulped once, patting Nate a little, telling him to put me down.

"You sure you okay?"

I nodded quickly, as he began letting go of me slowly and I immediately jumped off to go hug Mom. After a few seconds, my legs began losing strength again so I collapsed, but Nate quickly grabbed me by the waist.

Mom couldn't even catch up with him.

I looked at Nate and smiled, who only shook his head at me, giving me a why did I put you down face.

Mom grabbed my hands, "Explain now."

"Nate!" I heard Michael's voice from afar and we all turned around. When he came up to us, he saw me and his face completely changed. "Janie?"

"Yes?" I said, with a chuckle. "I'm alive."

"Yeah, you are... Very alive..." He said, drifting off his words.

I looked at him a little as he saw Nate's hands on my waist, and he glared at Nate. Nate looked at me so I only patted his hand to let go of me. After he did, Mom held onto me and Michael looked a bit moody today.

"Nate, can we talk?"

Nate nodded his head, then Michael leaded the way. Nate looked at me once more, smiled at both Mom and I, then followed his Dad.

After they vanished, I turned to Daniel and sighed, "Thank you so much. If no one was able to find us, I don't know how long we would be there. There were bears too. I had a lot of panic modes last night."

Daniel smiled, "We're just very glad you're okay."

I nodded, seeing if I could see Michael or Nate anywhere. Michael caught my eye at a very far distant, but I didn't see Nate. What I saw was Michael pointing at Nate, and it seemed like he was giving him a harsh lecture.

Mom said something, which came into my left ear and straight out my right ear. I couldn't help look at Michael, and wanted to know what he was saying to Nate.

"Janie!" Mom's calling my name finally pierced through my head.

"Yes?"

"Did Nate take care of you well?" She asked. "I was very worried. I know you two aren't that close and I was afraid something bad was going to happen."

I slightly smiled, remembering everything he did last night up until this morning.

"Answer's in the question," I replied, as I lifted my ankle up to show her the cloth wrapped around my wound.