Chapter 3

On the second day, the mosquitoes were wreaking havoc on Josefín's body. To make matters worse, she had to share a tent with Sam at night because hers was defective.

She didn't hate sleeping with her friend; she just hated the fact that she snored loudly. She intended to use this to her advantage to flirt with the guy; as soon as he heard her, he would run away.

"I'm going out for a while."

She sat down in front of the tent to look at the others. Then she noticed the man who had been staring at her a little way away, which made her hair stand on end.

She felt the same way again. What a strange feeling, she thought.

She was curious to know why he was looking at her like that. If he had something to say, why didn't he just say it?

But who was she kidding? She was too shy and cowardly to let him approach her. She usually ran away from men and, at her age, she had never had sex with anyone.

She sighed, resting her face on her knees and surreptitiously watching the guy who was still staring at her. He was standing in front of the bonfire and she noticed how his eyes shone golden.

He was beautiful!

But why was he looking at her like that?

Josefín bit her lip slightly and, at that moment, she saw him smile and narrow his eyes without taking his gaze off her.

The young woman straightened up, feeling a kind of tension as her heart beat furiously at his gesture. She then went into her friend's tent and watched the entrance, blinking several times.

'Damn, what was that?'

[...]

They stopped after walking non-stop for four hours. Josefín was out of breath. Everyone was sitting around talking animatedly and drinking water; some were eating a little.

Her friend was obviously lost. The guide was also missing. Clearly, the two of them were off doing their own thing together.

Damn them!

Frustrated, she grabbed her backpack, stood up and walked away a little. She wanted to get away from everyone, but stayed close to the group in case she got lost.

However, with her mind elsewhere, Josefín wasn't paying attention to where she was going. She didn't bother looking back; she just walked on until she finally came to her senses and stopped dead in her tracks.

'Wait a minute!' she muttered, swallowing hard. 'Shit!' she exclaimed angrily, looking around. 'Where's the group?' She frowned.

Yes, that's right — she was lost in the woods.

Because she had been walking distractedly, she hadn't noticed the path, and now she was completely lost in a forest she knew nothing about.

“Samanta?” she shouted, but there was no response.

All she could hear were the sounds of nature: birds singing and frogs croaking. Looking up, she saw the clear sky.

'What am I going to do?' she gasped.

She sat down on a log and looked back. She should retrace her steps, but which ones? The ground was covered in leaves and she couldn't see her footprints anywhere.