Chapter 71

We walked slowly the next evening. It was tiring and I wished I could help my mother by carrying her but I was tired myself. How could I help her if I couldn't help myself? 'Mum. According to this map, we are already very close to Shadowcrest. Don't worry. We'll just spend one more night in the forest and we'll be there in no time." I comforted her while leading her too. 'Okay." She simply nodded, too tired to say anything else. When it was evening in the dense forest, we walked along a narrow path, the tall canopy above cast a patchwork of shadows on forest ground. Our clothes were smudged with dirt all over and I felt so dirty, my eyes fixed on the floor too tired to even lift a leg. I stared back at my mother and saw that she was feeling the same way. As night fell, the forest became more alive around us, the rustle of leaves, the singing of birds all made it relaxing in a way. My hair that I had put up into a ponytail was already a mess but that was not my concern at the moment. I looked around in search of a place to set up our tent for the night. 'We need to find a place to rest." My mother said, her voice just a little above a whisper. 'I'm on it." I said as we continued walking. The sun hung very low on the sky, the moon preparing to take over. We walked over to some clusters of berries and crouched occasionally to check them out. 'Do you think these are good?" I asked, asking mum. 'Well, they do look good but we still have to be careful." My mother answered, taking one of the berries from my hand, so as to examine them again. 'Well, let's take them. I'm sure I'm very hungry and the moon goddess would never give us poison right?" My mother finally said, plucking the berries. We walked down a little bit. It suddenly seemed like the forest was helping out by providing nourishment because we saw patches of mushrooms that grew at the base of a tree. 'Mushrooms!" I screamed in excitement. 'I hope they're edible." I said, gathering the mushrooms in a small cloth bag that I was carrying. 'Mushrooms are always good." My mother replied, joining me. As we kept walking, we saw a small stream trickling through the forest. It was indeed a miracle. We took some in our bottles, getting more for tomorrow too. With these, we decided to finally rest. I found a good place to set up our tent. I set the tent while mother got the food ready. We agreed that it was not easy to find but it was worth it. As I sat down, my mother handed me a bowl of cooked mushroom. 'Not exactly a feast but these will do." She said. 'Of course." I chimed in, taking the plate from her. 'Let's make do with the one we found today. By tomorrow, we'll be eating good food." I told my mother. 'Diane can cook, don't worry you'll finally taste her food Tomorrow." I said, taking a bite of the prepared mushroom. 'Hmm." My mother murmured. 'So she cooks more than I do?" She asked, staring at me. I laughed, figuring out that my mother was trying to trap me. 'I didn't say that, Mum. You cook well too. Like this mushroom," I showed her my bowl of food, 'it tastes so heavenly." 'Okay." My mother responded, smiling. The rest of the night, I told my mother things she should expect as we went to Shadowcrest. 'You'll finally meet Orion again. I promise you that you wouldn't recognize him." I told my mother and she laughed. 'I can't wait." She simply answered. When we were done eating, we laid our backs down, facing the moon that was shining down at us. 'Do you think the moon goddess is real?" I asked my mother, after a lot of silence. 'Of course." My mother sat up with shock. 'Why would you ask that?" 'Well, it's hard to believe that because all my life, I have been feeling rejected and unwanted even though I work harder than most people I know." I told her, avoiding her eyes and still gazing at the moon. 'Maybe if there's someone up there, she wouldn't let me go through these tough times." 'Sometimes when we think it's the beginning of our story, it actually begins another beautiful story." My mother answered. 'I want you to have faith in yourself and your gifts." My mother sounded like a motivational speaker as she kept on going and going about me being great and the fact that I should never give up. We laid there for a few minutes until I was ready to go into the tent. 'Mum?" I called but got no answer. I then shoved her a little because she was awake. 'Go to the tent. You know we took so much water while eating the mushroom. I'll go get water from that little stream and I'll be back in a jiffy. It'll be helpful for us." I said and helped her to her tent. I went over to the stream to get some more water, knowing that we could get very thirsty on the way tomorrow. The weather these days tends to be hotter than it used to be. The forest was serene as I walked joyfully, forgetting my recent misfortune with Laura and Thorne. Suddenly I heard a scream from afar, it was a cry of surprise that seemed to be cut short. 'What was that?" I wondered, afraid. For a moment, I was paralyzed with the thought of something happening to my mother. I ran quickly to the place where we had laid our tent. Just a few meters away I saw my mother being pulled into the deeper part of the forest by a strange person whom I couldn't see his face. 'No!" I screamed. Panic surged through me, my heart racing as I ran to the scene but I was too late. She had already been taken and no matter how far I ran I would never catch up. I took a step forward, then finally regaining my energy, I screamed. 'Help!" My voice echoed but the forest offered no response or help whatsoever. I was desperate and confused as I was panting and paying around the tent. I was so sure that this was the handwork of Lucas but who must have helped him now? He didn't know where we were, so I knew someone might have told him about this journey of mine.