If you’re just joining this story, be sure to read Chapter 1, Chapter 2, and Chapter 3 first.
“Are you sure?” He stared down at her small hands resting gently on top of each other at her side: “How will they react if I show up wearing those clothes tomorrow?”
She glanced over at his bag lying near the tree beside them before answering: “It’s a bit too early to know for certain; I’d like to talk with everyone first before making any final decisions.”
“But how many more chances do you think we’ll get to talk with them before it’s time to start thinking about this seriously anyway…?”
“They’re expecting me to join you inside their main building once you’ve finished your conversation with everyone,” she replied while still gazing at him curiously.
“Oh… well… okay then…” Bobby muttered reluctantly after another moment of thought. Then he quickly added, “…Is there anything else they should probably be aware of before that happens though? Maybe something that would give us an extra edge to make sure they don’t decide to come after us with everything they have at their disposal? They seem pretty confident they can handle whatever anyone else has left behind in the outside world—at least according to what Alvaro’s father told all of us yesterday afternoon—but we could potentially help our own case if we can somehow convince them otherwise.”
“I’m not going to tell them what happened today for now,” she said slowly, “but I do believe we need to be prepared for the possibility of meeting some new people along the way who may try to trick us into giving away information that shouldn’t necessarily be shared. If you see or hear someone talking with someone from The Lodge alone or in private soon enough, just keep a careful eye on whoever it is and report back to me as quickly as possible. You might want to warn one or two others you trust in the meantime as well so they don’t walk right into any kind of trap themselves before you even know about it.”
“That makes sense I guess,” he mumbled uncertainly under his breath: “But won’t I also end up telling everyone else what I’ve already learned about Alvaro’s dad’s disappearance?” He stared at her again when she shook her head slightly: “You mean it doesn’t really matter anymore since everyone seems to agree that there was nothing we could have done to prevent what happened here this morning? Is that why we aren’t being forced to stay out here until we finally manage to return home ourselves?”
She nodded while turning to glance over toward the boulder above their heads while answering him: “Exactly. No one wants us stuck anywhere near here because of something they did in the past, but nobody can do anything for us either. We can’t change how things ended between your family and Alvaro’s, no matter how much they might still care about each other—or perhaps especially now given everything else that has happened around them both.” She turned her gaze back down toward his body once more before continuing, “It’s not my place to say whether you should ever talk with them again or not; that decision would belong to you only after hearing what they actually decide to tell you first. But I don’t think I’ll need to worry about anyone coming after you to try and force you to share information after tomorrow…”
“I didn’t get a chance to ask last time I was inside,” Bobby admitted after a moment. Then he frowned deeply as he added, “…How many people were living at The Lodge then anyway?”
“At least forty people lived here at one point in the very distant past,” she explained quietly as she continued looking down at his own body: “But none of them are left behind any longer… at least not here where we’re standing right now.”
“I heard that Alvaro’s father is pretty old,” he said cautiously. “Do all of the older residents who live here have already passed away by now? How long ago was it that they stopped allowing new arrivals to arrive here again? Does anybody know?”
She glanced briefly back up into the sky for several seconds before answering: “I’m afraid I don’t know exactly how long it took before they started letting newcomers into the main building again after Alvaro’s disappearance: Only Alvaro’s mother has been allowed back since then. They probably made sure there wasn’t another incident like today’s event happening within their walls ever again too.”
Bobby suddenly remembered something he’d forgotten completely until just a few minutes earlier while glancing over at her face once more while asking, “Where do you come from anyway? Do you know if someone lives outside this forest yet…?”
Karen hesitated slightly while turning her head towards him slowly in response to his question, but when he saw her start to shake her head quickly in answer to his last question, he asked in an even louder voice, “What does that mean?! There isn’t anyone else out here in the woods?!” He shook his head frantically after taking a deep breath and repeating himself with much less volume and urgency. Then he looked around nervously before adding with growing anxiety: “Are we the only ones left here now then?”
Are we the only ones left here now then?
– Bobby
She nodded silently after staring down toward her feet for several seconds: “…And no one else will be coming along anytime soon either.”
“Then what happens next?” Bobby mumbled dejectedly under his breath as he finally lowered his gaze back down to his own body and continued muttering anxiously as he tried hard to find the right words to ask the right questions without getting yelled at or punished again: “Is Alvaro’s mother going to decide to send us back home after hearing all of that? How can she possibly trust that everything’s all right at home anymore after all of this happened? What if she decides not to let me go after all of this is said and done? Will she still allow you to leave this place by yourself afterward? Is there any way I could convince her not to lock you away inside some kind of empty cabin behind The Lodge where I’d never see you again for the rest of my life?”
She sighed heavily before replying quietly: “It doesn’t look like I’ll have the chance to talk with her alone for a while—if ever again…”
Bobby turned his attention back over toward the stone boulder above them. He didn’t bother to try and figure out how far they had walked together during their walk through the woods that morning; he was simply grateful to be standing close enough to the giant rock to feel a slight breeze blow gently across his skin. But it would take quite a bit longer than that just to get up there since their path hadn’t been very clear since they first set off, so they probably wouldn’t reach the top before sundown:
He looked back over toward Karen after taking another deep breath: “…Will we even make it back to The Lodge in time for dinner tonight?”
She glanced back over toward him after taking several moments to think carefully about her next answer: “I’m sure they won’t want to wait around here forever if we don’t arrive on our own accord within the next few days,” she explained calmly once she spoke again. “And as long as you promise not to mention anything specific until you’ve spoken with Alvaro’s mother herself first, I believe she might allow you into their main building sometime today without raising too many questions afterwards.” She paused briefly when Bobby remained silent while staring intently down at his feet again before adding with a small sigh, “There will likely be a few others waiting for us outside of The Lodge by now anyway who will offer to guide us safely home tomorrow…”
“So why haven’t we already met any of them yet?” He asked almost desperately: “I know for certain that Alvaro has been talking to someone he refers to as ‘Dad’ from The Lodge every single day—and that he actually told me one morning this week that Dad had returned inside after being gone for some reason only two or three weeks ago. So shouldn’t he have introduced me to all of those people by now? Are they all afraid to show themselves because they’re still worried they’ll have to go through the same thing they did earlier this morning? Why should anyone else care what happens between my family and theirs…?”
Karen sighed softly before answering: “You can ask Alvaro himself in the future: They aren’t afraid; your brother was just waiting for a chance to explain everything to you himself first since there are a lot more people in their organization than there is right here where we stand.” Then she looked up toward the giant boulder once again for several seconds before finally turning her gaze back down toward his body and adding, “Alvaro hasn’t exactly given everyone the opportunity to meet you either, so far. He said that if they wanted to talk with you, they could always come to visit him at The Lodge instead…”
Bobby nodded slowly: “…But I didn’t see him walking anywhere near that place with me today, so how will I ever find it again?”
She shook her head gently while staring intently down before replying: “The path to it will be much easier for you to recognize once you arrive closer to it tomorrow…”
Finish the story in Chapter 5.