Slowly, my vision adjusts. A gust of wind splits the clouds, and faint starlight spills across the valley, soft and silver. A shadow emerges from the dark.
A road, maybe.
It’s my only option.
Ignoring my aching ankle and raw, frozen feet, I push forward. One step. Then another.
I tell myself this will be over soon. That my life will go back to normal. Back to the farm—and Poppa.
A sharp pain twists my chest. I miss him. His steadiness. His warmth.
I just want to be home.
Before I know it, the path looks familiar. Relief pours through me, so overwhelming it nearly buckles my knees.
But as the adrenaline drains from my body, exhaustion takes over, sudden and brutal.
I stagger. My body feels insubstantial, like my organs are made of air, not flesh.
I need to stop. Just for a minute. Before I pass out.
Everything is crashing down now. The fear. The confusion. The cold, hunger, shock, pain. Legs quivering, I brace my hands on my knees, trying to pull in a breath, but my chest is too tight, and my vision swimming.
Is this shock?
I clench and release my hands, but my fingers are numb. I stumble toward a lone pine, its branches dense with needles, sheltering the ground beneath.
I make it two more steps, then crumple.
By the time I collapse onto the semi-dry patch of earth, I’m shaking all over. I curl into myself, rubbing my arms.
They took my sweater. My shoes. And I’m freezing.
I scrub my face with my hands. When I pull them away?—
There’s a girl standing over me.
I scream and scramble back, lungs burning with tight, painful gasps.
Where did she come from? How did she sneak up on me? I am so vulnerable. So exposed.
“Wh-who—?” I stammer, words catching in my throat.
I dart a frantic look around.
There’s no sign of her approach. No broken branches, no footsteps in the mud.
I force my gaze back to her?—
A fresh jolt of horror slams through me.
She looks like me.
Exactlylike me.
I scan her from head to toe, my gut knotting tighter with every second.
She’s dressed like me. Or rather, how I was dressed earlier today. She’s still wearing my shoes. My sweater.
