Stranded

“I can’t believe it,” I muttered under my breath. I stomped through the forest, the leaves crunching under my weight. The sunlight was slowly draining from the sky, and a cool breeze was being to stir in the air. “Out of all the people, I get stuck with him.” I exhaled deeply in frustration. There was a loud sound of footsteps coming from behind me.

And within less of a minute, he was already at my side. “I can hear you, you know,” he said, out-of-breath. He followed next to me. I ignored him. “I’m not happy the choice of partner, either.”

“Good,” I said. “Then we don’t have to talk, do we?” I walked ahead of him, trying to follow the small trail. I had no clue where it lead, but really, it was the only lead we currently had. Some chances had to be made. This was one of them, for better or for worse.

“I never said that,” he muttered. A hand ran through his light blonde hair.

“No,” I replied. “I did. I only talk to people I like.”

“That must be hard,” he countered. “Seemly, that you don’t like anyone.” I stopped. I could hear his intake of breath. His body was leaning away from me. I turned and glared at him.

“You don’t know anything about me.” I spun back around and started to resume walking. He slowly stepped behind me, obviously now, keeping some distance. I thought it to be better that way.

“I wasn’t trying to push you in the wrong way,” he said. If it was an apology, it wasn’t a very good one.

“Well, you did,” I said back. “Now just leave me alone. We still have another few miles of walking.”

He did. And not once, did he speak another word.