Lost  And Found

The rain pelted the window. Micah sat on the corner of her bed, listening to the sound of each individual rain-drop as she stared down into the mess of clothes that was her bedroom floor. Not unlike most teenagers, Micah had procrastinated the packing for her upcoming camping trip, still hoping her friend Sophie would have a change of heart about going.  As it seemed, Micah and Sophie would be leaving early in the morning to find a secluded campsite on Mount Baldy. Living in Spokane, Washington, Micah was accustomed to the rain, however, as she packed her bag for the weekend, she refused to fill it with bulky rain gear. Perhaps this decision was an act of defiance, towards Sophie, and maybe even the universe, for making her go. Nevertheless, with her raincoat and pants still hanging in the closet, Micah considered the fact that she would most likely regret this decision, but then again, it was only two days of camping. How bad could it be? 

“You didn’t pack any rain gear?” Sophie skeptically asked Micah, as she stood in the entryway to her house. Micah ignored her friend’s comment, tossing her long brown hair over her shoulder,  pushing past Sophie into the house. Living only two houses down from one another, Sophie and Micah had religiously spent every weekend at each other’s houses. That is, until this past year. The death of Micah’s mother only a few months prior to the trip had created a separation between Sophie and Micah. After her mother’s funeral, Micah dreaded the trips to Sophie’s house with her brother Scott for weekly dinners. She didn’t want the pity, and the feeling of emptiness from her mother’s absence which made her feel worse. Sophie had no way of understanding Micahs pain, so she had learned how to isolate herself from those who cared. 

  Moving down the entryway, Micah turned the corner into the compact living room, anticipating the arrival of her brother and the car which would take them into the wet forest. 

… 

Scott, Micah had decided, was useless. Dropped off at the mountain, four hours had gone by and he had not yet returned with their camping gear as promised. Cold, and stranded, Micah and Sophie became restless of waiting and began to walk into the vast forest.  Partway up the mountain, perspiration on Micah’s back and forehead, the rain began to fall. As they walked, Micah could hear the tapping of the rain upon the leaves before they even began to touch her skin. For once, in the several hours that they had been hiking, the rain felt cooling and rewarding as they both stopped to turn to one another. 

“Where do we go now?” they both exclaimed to each other as the rain continued to fall on their bodies. Both beginning to realize just how far up the mountain they had climbed, they grimaced at their mistake. 

“Wait, I thought…” asked Micah, her eyes cutting into Sophie’s in disbelief. Sophie, turning her head to look into the rows of trees, then slowly back to Micah.
 “We must be lost. And I blame your brother, ” Sophie hissed, “without him, we would be under a tent on the campground near the bottom.” 

Micah, with a sudden sibling protectiveness, looked at Sophie with a daring glare.

“We all want to be dry, and yes my brother might be an ass, but I think it’s time we figure out how to get out of our little predicament.” Almost as if her tone of voice had provoked the weather, the wind gusted through the mountain, sending both girls to their knees. Combined with the rain, it felt like sharp pieces of glass, and disoriented, they lost the direction in which they had come. 

“Everything looks the same,” Micah yelled towards Sophie over the wind, her fear pulsing through her body.

The snap of a branch nearby pierced Micah’s ear. Turning her head to see the damage, Micah watched as Sophie fell to the ground with the thick branch landing perfectly in the middle of her body. The wind pushing it into position. Micah could see the air deflating out of her friends small lungs, the top of her chest falling into her body. 

“Sophie!” Micah shouted as she ran towards her friend, her hands trembling as the rain turned to ice. Sliding onto the ground, her knees digging into the earth, Micah grabbed the jagged end of the tree branch, attempting desperately to relieve her friend of the pain that must be coursing through her. Sophie’s eyes were closed, and her face bright white. For a second, Micah allowed her mind to wander into the unthinkable.What if Sophie is dead? 

“Sophie, Sophie. You have to wake up. C’mon, C’mon!” Micah shouted into her best friend’s ear, her hands caressing the edges of Sophie’s face. As the rain mixed with the tears upon Micah’s face, she attempted to lift the wet and mossy branch, with no success. With a gasp into the empty woods, Sophie’s blonde hair, which lay on her face, was blown to the side as she breathed in the air around her. Staring up into Micah’s eyes, Sophie grimaced in pain. 

“Sophie, you’re okay!” Micah said with a sigh of relief, “ But, I’m not strong enough. I can’t lift the branch, I’m sorry, maybe you can help me? Maybe I can find a way …” 

“No,” Sophie exhaled.“ You have to get help.  We need to find our way back home.” Sophie seemed to be pleading to Micah, her eyes burning into hers. Micah kneeled over Sophie, her mind considering the options. As she concluded, she could leave her friend, attempt to find help, although there was no guarantee that she would be able to find her once she had left. And the worst thought of all, Sophie could die… alone.

“You’re going to leave me, and we are going to find our way out, and I am going to be okay,” Sophie stated. Micah knew she was right, like she always was. 

Holding onto Sophie’s hand, Micah struggled to her feet. “I will be back. And you will be okay.” Before she could change her mind, Micah turned the direction she thought was right, and began to run.  

With the rain falling like strands onto Micah’s face, the scent of a dying campfire nearby stung her nose as she flung herself down the mountain.

The minutes seemed like hours  as Micah persistently continued to run down the hill. Losing breath and hope, Micah considered turning back until she saw a movement behind the nearby trees. “Help, I need help!” She screamed into the open air, her vision slowly catching sight of a tall man wrapped in rain gear, carrying a small white dog in his arms. Making eye contact with the man, Micah knew that her time was limited. She had to get him to help her, and quickly. 

Running with the the man up the mountain,  his phone to his ear, urging further help, Micah began to relive the moments when the branch had snapped. Perhaps, she began to think, her mother’s death had been similar to the events on the mountain. The weight of her mother’s injuries, similarly to the branch, had become too heavy for her or anyone else to lift. Reaching her friend just in time, Micah finally learned how to forgive the unimaginable.