Lost Girls- A Short Story

There’s a loud sort of ringing in my ears. The wind is beating against my face and my lungs are working overtime. I have no idea where I am running. I just know I need to go quickly. I lost track of Reese about a mile back. She was supposed to guide us through the woods, but now we’re all scattered across it. I’m just following my intuition. I turn to the left straight towards the river. I run alongside it and jump across when I think I can make it. I slip on the wet soil on the other side, but my recovery is quick. I run straight up a hill and I think I’ve lost him.

I dive behind a fallen tree and listen. The ringing won’t stop, but I need to hear. Deep breaths, focus. Nothing but my heavy breathing. He’s gone. Up ahead I see something, someone. They’re hiding by another tree a few yards away. I squint and suddenly I know her. It’s Claire. I take a few more deep breaths and begin to sprint that way. I slide next to her spot behind the tree. She looks at me wide eyed, a mix of fear and thankfulness. I grab her hand and pull her close to me. I mouth “Let’s go.”

She shakes her head no and turns to her left leg where she has a gash in her thigh. She turns her head to look at me, tears in her eyes, and mouths “Leave.”

I shake my head no and tighten my grip on her hand. I poke my head up to look around. Coast is clear. I stand us up, throw her arm around my shoulders, and begin to guide her through the woods. She leans against me as we clumsily try to speed walk to others. 

Claire is one of the younger girls in our troop. We found her a few weeks ago in an old town with her older sister Mary. They were living in an abandoned theater. Mary left with the first group of girls led by Lucy. They left a week ago and when we didn’t hear if they made it out of the woods safely, we decided to go ahead. After a relatively easy thirty minutes, we were ambushed by a group of men. That’s when we scattered. I had about three girls following me but after a minute they were all gone and it was just the man. 

Claire and I reach a clearing where I sit her down for a second. I shake out my shoulders and catch my breath. It isn’t easy carrying a person this far. But I won’t leave her behind. The sound of some leaves crunching gets louder and louder. Claire and I search the opening frantically. Out from behind a tree comes Reese and a few other girls. They race over to check on us.

“Reese, what happened?”

“I don’t know. I don’t even know how many of us are left out there. But they ambushed us. They knew we were coming.”

We look around at one another. Everyone of us sweaty and exhausted. “Do you know where we are?”

“No.”

Silence. We stood in silence for what felt like an eternity. I look at Reese. She’s much older than all of us. But younger than the first group, which is why she was stuck with us. I can tell she feels responsible for all of us, but I know she isn’t. That was my job. 

Before they left, Lucy had asked Reese and I to keep everyone in line. Reese was to guide us through, but I was supposed to be the look out for any attacks. I let myself get distracted and missed the obvious signs. If any girls were kidnapped, it was on me. But now I have to protect the seven of us standing here. “Let’s go.”

“Nellie, there’s five girls still out there-”

“We have to go. We can save them, because we know where they would be going if they got caught. So let’s go get them.”

“Nellie, we will get trapped too-”

“No we won’t.”

I start walking, but no one follows. “If we don’t go save them now, they will be stuck there forever. And if they are here in the woods, they will find us easier if we are walking in a large crowd. The men are gone. So we need to go.”

Reese nods. She turns to face the group. “For all we know, Lucy’s group may have been ambushed too. And if they are there, then they need our help too. We are sisters and we need to help one another.”

“No.”

Everyone’s head whips to Claire. She stands up and looks right at me. “We need to survive. If we go back there, we won’t. We don’t stand a chance against them.”

“Yes we do Claire”, I say. “This fight doesn’t stop once we make it to the other side. This fight is forever. And if we have to keep fighting, I want it to be to with all my sisters.”

She falls back down. Reese kneels beside her. We all gather around and look at her leg. She is in no condition to go anywhere. Jackie, who’s the same age as me, pulls her backpack off and begins rummaging through. She pulls out some gauze and some rubbing alcohol. She cleans Claire’s wound as she screams in pain and we all turn our backs. Except Reese, who holds Claire’s hand and asks her to be quiet. 

“I’ll stay here with Reese for a few days until she’s better. Then we’ll walk back and wait for you to return with the others.”

Reese and I begin to leave the small clearing and turn back to see Jackie and Claire. They are sitting under a tree watching our small group walk back into danger. For a moment I wonder if I’ll ever be this close to Freedom again. I know on the other side of this clearing is a road, which leads to Freedom. But I didn’t tell them. It’s not important anymore. We need to save the other girls. Freedom is for everyone, not just those who get lucky.