“Arabella?” He says quietly.
I wipe away my tears, even though he can't see them. Clearing my throat, I say, “Yes?”
“I’m probably going to pass out, so if I do, I want you to promise you’ll leave as soon as the sun comes up. Just go. Do everything I taught you so you can get out of here.”
His words are like a kick to my gut. “No, I don’t want to leave you. There must be a way to lift you out of there.”
“There isn’t. I can’t walk and you can’t carry me. You’re already defying the odds to have made it this far after being so sick.”
I sit, listening to the rustling in the trees, to the cicadas, and the frogs. He’s right. I can’t make this hike in the dark. Not on my own. I pull my sleeping bag out of my pack and cover myself, then lay down and let the tears flow while I wrack my brain for some solution to this. There must be a way to save him. This can’t be it.Think, Arabella, think.
* * *
I wake to the sound of the birds. The sun isn’t up yet, but there’s enough light to see. Sitting up, I lean over, my eyes adjusting for a second before I can make out Will’s body. His head is tilted back and his eyes are closed. My heart jumps into my throat. “Will?!”
He opens his eyes. “It’s time. Get going, okay?”
“Can’t I—?”
“No,” he says, wincing. “If there was a way, I’d have thought of it by now. But, there’s still a chance that you can make it back and someone will find me in time.”
“But—”
“You can do this, Belle. I know you can. Forget all that shit I said to you yesterday. I was just angry and hurt and… being a prick. I didn’t mean any of it.”
“I'm so sorry, Will. I didn't mean anything I said, either. Well, that's not entirely true because I do think you have commitment issues, but that's beside the point because the truth is, I've never…” My voice trails off as I remember him saying the words ‘finished’ and ‘over’ and ‘never going to happen.’ And I know he meant it. But even if he didn’t, this is how it has to be because there is no way to make anything work between us. We’re just too different.
“Listen, my best shot is if you go for help. It's about a five-hour hike from here straight east. Do you remember what I said about how to make sure you're not going in circles?”
“Yes,” I nod and wipe the tears from my cheeks. “Pick an object in the distance, keep my eyes on it, and when I reach it, pick a new one. And then keep turning back to make sure the last one is behind me.”
“That's right,” he says, his tone encouraging. “You've got this, Belle. I know you do.”
“I hope so,” I say, wiping at my tears.
“Iknowso. You can do this. Just think of everything you've done over the last nine days. You’ve rappelled from a helicopter into the jungle, swung from vines into a lagoon, free-climbed down steep cliffs, you’ve hiked for over ten hours straightat night. You made it this far. You’ll make it out.”
I nod, letting his words fill my soul with courage. “Okay, I'll go, but you have to promise me you're going to survive until I get back with help.”
“No problem,” he says doing his best to give me a confident smile even though I know he must be terrified thatI'mthe only thing between him and death.
“Will, I'm going to go now. But before I do. I just wanted to say…” I stop myself, unable to tell him I love him. Instead, I take the wimpy way out. “Thank you.”
“Buy me a beer when we get to town.”
“Okay,” I answer, letting out a small chuckle through my tears. “I'll be back for you before you know it.”
“Yes, you will. You can do this, Arabella.”
“How are you so sure?” I ask.
“Because you've always been able to. You just needed a reason to try.”
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Broken Bones, Tree Sap, and Sappy Goodbye Videos
Will
