Harriet turned her head, feeling her face burning with embarrassment. Her brother's nervous and gentle hands on her breasts were slick with sweat, while his tears dropped down on her face.
"Go on," the gangster who had taken the siblings hostage sneered. "Unless you want to see how the rest of us make love to your precious sister? Why don't you continue?"
"I can't - I can't," Tang whispered under his breath, closing his eyes. "She's my sister. My sister."
There was a heavy strike and Harriet flinched, biting back the pain from the harsh blow of a man's fist. Their captors laughed.
"You really don't care about your sister do you? Look how much punishment she's taking on for you."
"Sis," Tang stroked her face. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."
"Better you than those pigs," Harriet said through her clenched teeth. "Otherwise, let's die together. There's nothing like today."
"Don't talk about dying," Tang said, his fingertips digging into her breasts a little harder. "I'll fight them first so you can escape. I'll do anything. So long as you can survive."
"You're my younger brother. Of course I have to protect you," Harriet snorted and spoke softly. "They've already hurt me once. What's another time? You'd better survive and live in my place. While I may have a chance to survive the torture, you, they'd definitely kill if given the excuse. So, bro, be good. Ok?"
"You siblings really get along well, don't you?" the leader of the gangsters scoffed, looming over the two siblings standing naked in the middle of the room. His hand gripped both of their heads by a fistful of hair. "Look at the two of you. So lovey dovey. How can we not help you get a room? And you, boy, what's wrong with your dangler? A beauty as great as your sister and you're not even a little bit aroused? Is there something wrong with you?"
The gangster leader wrenched Harriet's head over to one side at an awkward angle and forcefully kissed her, making her wince from the pain in both her hair and neck. Her lack of resistance made the gangster chuckle and ruffle her already messy hair.
"Since your brother can't do it, then let us real men teach you what real pleasure is."
From the corner of her eye, she caught a glint of light through the horizontal blinds that hadn't been closed properly by the hasty gangsters when they had taken the siblings hostage in this upper room of the restaurant.
Without hesitation, Harriet grabbed her brother and threw them both down onto the ground, ignoring the burning pain of hair being ripped from her scalp.
There was a strange sound of breaking glass and something moving at high speeds to thunk into a body.
The gangster leader's chuckle paused.
There were more sounds of breaking glass and more swishing thunks. And then there was a thud, followed by another and another of collapsing bodies.
The siblings clutches tightly to each other and curled up on the floor, clenching their eyes shut.
The door crashed open with a splintering sound and the window also was broken through by heavy boots. Two jackets were draped over the shivering body of naked siblings.
The remaining gangsters shouted and finally reacted, fighting the rescuers who had stormed in. A foot kicked Tang in the ehad. Harriet covered her younger brother with her body, taking on a few heavy blows that came that way and at one point, being trampled down onto her brother, trying to protect his head.
Somebody swept the siblings aside, making them slide across the floor into the wall where they would be relatively safer.
Harriet continued to clutch Tang tightly and do her best to cover him with her body.
Eventually silence fell and the sound of sliding, rustling, clinking and clanking could be heard.
"Hey, kids. It's over," said a rough voice. "You can relax now. You're safe."
Harriet opened her blurry eyes to find a soldier in full combat gear hovering over her, his hand patting her cheek.
"My brother," she choked, looking down at the unconscious boy in her arms. "My brother."
Darkness fell like the flipping of a switch.
Harriet jerked upright in her bed, panting and gasping for air. She hugged her knees and clutches her head.
After all that, her brother, Tang hadn't made it. Hadn't they promised to live and survive? It had all been because of that one kick to his head. Just that one kick had killed him and she had been right there, failing to protect him in time. Her parents were distraught. They even blamed her for his death.
It had been her fault. After all, she was the one who had come back to visit during the semester break and had taken her brother out to that restaurant. She was the big sister who had failed to protect her only brother. How her heart ached and she wished she could have taken his place and died instead of him.
After lying in the hospital like a dead person for a week, her parents had told her they didn't have the money to waste on her medical fees anymore. Silently, she had forced her sore body up out of the hospital bed to follow them home only for her mother to throw her and her belongings out.
It hurt. It hurt to see that the parents she thought has loved her equally, turned out to have favoured her brother more than her. They seemed disgusted with the fact that she had lost her chastity to a glass wine bottle that the gangsters had used on her. Disgusted with the fact that her and her brother's nakedness had been seen. Angry with the fact that she had't taken on more of the punishment for her brother.
At the funeral, she had been sidelined. Nobody has greeted or spoken to her. She had just been pushed into a corner. Her parents hadn't even allowed her to see her brother one last time before the casket was closed to say goodbye.
Harriet hugged and rocked herself on the bed, trying to cry silently in the dank, airless bedroom she had rented from a dirty family in the lower city. They had taken advantage of her poor circumstances, bullying her into doing housework, cooking and cleaning. Their sleazy son has been watching her for days and now he and his mother had finally made a move, locking her in the bedroom, refusing to allow her food or water until she agreed to marry the sleazeball. It was disgusting.
Why should she? Why her?
After a while, Harriet dried her tears and blew her nose. It had already been two days. She wasn't sure how much more her body could take without food or water.
The other day when the family was out, she had realised that the metal grating on her window was loose. If she continued to work on it, she might be able to pull it free from the wall. This window couldn't be opened, but that wouldn't stop her from breaking the window and jumping out to her freedom. Nevermind the fact that they were on the fifth storey. Dying was better than continuing to live like this. She could be reunited with her brother sooner.
Taking a few deep breaths, Harriet walked over to the window and carefully jiggled the window bars. After an hour or so, she heard a slight pop. Another screw had finally come loose.
Using a pen lid, Harriet patiently got to the fiddly work of taking this screw out of the window grating. With this one gone, it would be much easier to loosen all the other screws. She'd have better leverage. That dirty family could continue to dream of forcing her to marry into their family to become their slave.
Harriet lay down on the bed as the sun began to come up and she heard the dirty family begin to stir and prepare for their day.
"Wife, are you awake?" the sleazeball called from the door. "Have you made up your mind yet?"
"Get lost!" Harriet shouted.
"Then continue to starve," the sleazeball's voice grew hard and he spat. "Don't think you can stay high and mighty for much longer. Today will be your third day without food or water. How much longer do you think you can hold on for?"
Harriet didn't reply.
"You continue to reflect on yourself in there," the sleazeball scoffed. His voice fades with his footsteps. "Ma, sometimes later today, you go in and do another suicide check. Make sure we leave nothing in there that she can use to kill herself."
"Son, I told you yesterday that I'll be busy today. I'm going out with my friends and won't be home until late. You and your father will have to eat out for dinner. Forget about the stubborn girl. She'll survive another day or two at least. Teach her a lesson for defying us. Otherwise how will we control her later after you've married her?"
"I've got classes all day and can't come back to check on her. Dad will be out at work all day. Someone needs to check on her this evening."
"Fine, fine. We'll check on her when we get back. There's no rush. She's not going anywhere."
The voices faded into the kitchen and Harriet could smell the whiffs of coffee and toast seep in through the door. Her stomach growled and she hugged it to try and suppress the sharp pangs. She hugged a pillow to her abdomen and scrunched her eyes shut, rocking herself back and forth. Back and forth.
Finally, the front door closed for the final time and Harriet knew the family had all gone out and left for the day. Now was the time to expedite her escape plan.
As usual, she tried her locked bedroom door, just in case. Locked solid and unmoving. Kicking the door did nothing but give her a sore leg.
She returned to working on the window grate, ignoring the spinning dizziness in her head and the blurry vision. Dashing the water and sweat from her eyes, she worked hard. Fiercely. Determined. Today, she had to escape.
If the sleazeball and his mother really came in to check on her tonight and she still hadn't escaped, she knew she wouldn't be able to resist the fate of being forced into bed with the sleazeball. She didn't and wouldn't have the strength to fight or resist. The family would be able to control her easily after that. If once wasn't enough, they'd make her do it twice and again until she got pregnant. And then, even if she didn't want to get married, she would have to consider the innocent little life in her womb.
She couldn't let it get to that point. She had to escape. She had to get out. Even if the way of escape was likely to lead to her death.
The last screw finally popped loose, allowing her to unscrew it with trembling fingers. It was already mid-afternoon and the family would still be out. She still had time. Still had time.
The ball of dread in her stomach made her feel suffocated.
Holding the window grate and turning it so that a pointed corner was pointing towards the window, Harriet swung it at the glass window. To her surprise, she was bounced back. The recoil had made her hands turn red.
No way. The glass was so hard to break? Was she so weak?
Sweaty prickles rocked at her all over her body, but Harriet ignored them. She had to get out. Had to escape. Had to break this window or she might never be able to leave.
She tried to break the window over and over again, but all she left was a scratch mark on the glass.
The room was empty except for the bed. There's wasn't a chair or a bedside table or even a bedside lamp. In the bathroom, she only had a toothbrush and wash towel. Her clothes and belongings had long been taken away. The wardrobe was bear. Empty.
Harriet searched through the bedroom and bathroom restlessly, searching for something, anything she could use to break the window. Her eyes finally fell onto the lid of the toilet tank at the back of the toilet seat. She picked it up and staggered a little at the weight.
Oh. It was so heavy.
Since it was so heavy, it should be able to break the window, right?
Harriet picked it up and laughed it over toward the window. She widened her stance and swung the heavy toilet tank lid in her arms. Once, twice, and then she heaved it at the window.
The window clattered and then cracked. Harriet picked up the heavy piece of porcelain from the floor and smiled. It was doable. Possible. She could break the window and escape.
She heaved the toilet tank lid at the window a few more times, watching the splintering cracks grow wider with each attempt.
Almost there. Almost there.
And then the toilet tank lid crashed through the glass, falling down to the concrete below. From below, she heard screams and the cursing shouts of people. Carefully, she peered out the window to make sure nobody was hurt. Good. There was nobody directly beneath. The people who had screamed were further away and not daring to come any closer.
Using the window grating, Harriet now poked and broke the glass at the edges of the window, causing bits and pieces to fall to the ground below with a faint tinker. She saw the people below pointing at her. Pointing their phones at her. Calling the building management group perhaps. Calling the police, possibly. It didn't matter.
If the neighbours called any of the dirty family members back and they came, she'd be done for. Doomed. Before the dirty family members returned, she had to - had to...
Harriet glanced down at the concrete ground below and grimaced. There was no way she was going to survive a fall from this height without a lot of luck was she? Even if she did survive it, she might be hospitalised. Maimed. Disabled. And she had no money to pay for medical bills. If she survived, she'd be done for as well.
A tear dripped off the tip of her nose and Harriet wiped it away. Then when she fell, she had to make sure she fell and died immediately. She would have to make sure she didn't survive.
There were more and more people crowding downstairs to watch her, pointing and talking. Why not? Why not make a spectacle of her death and make the dirty family pay. Let the police investigate them and give her justice. She'd be dead, but at least they'd still clear her name.
A plump woman came rushing through the courtyard, screaming and pointing at her. The curses were barely intelligible. The sleazeball's mother called her all sorts of names. Ungrateful wretch. Deadbeat girl. Dead meat. Derogatory names.
The dirty and ugly woman ran into the apartment building, almost twisting her ankle as she ran. That woman had probably never run this fast in her life before.
Ha.
Who was the ungrateful one? Who was the one who had imprisoned here, intent on turning her into their family's slave?
Harriet refused. She refused. Refused.She refused!
Shakily, Harriet ignored the sharp pain from the broken glass cutting into her climbed onto the window ledge, balancing precariously while people downstairs screamed.
The police and fire department rushed over, shouting at her not to jump, following not far behind the sleazeball's mother. Some of them ran into the apartment building after the fat woman. Some of them immediately began to set something up below the window.
Harriet could hear pounding feet coming from the corridor outside the front door. She was running out of time. If she didn't grit her teeth and jump soon, there would be no way or chance to kill herself anymore.
She saw an ambulance carefully edging its way through the crowd and police trying to shoo spectators away. The police were shouting at her through a megaphone now, but she could barely comprehend what they were saying. She swayed precariously on the window, taking a few deep, shuddering breaths.
She glanced out at the warm sunny day, thinking the weather today was so beautiful. Warm. Good picnic weather. A pity. A pity she was going to have to die.
She could hear the fat woman's cursing at the front door as she unlocked it in a hurry with a rattle. She also heard the sounds of stranger's voices. Official and formal voices.
Feet pounded through the small apartment and Harriet closed her eyes. This was it. It was now or never. The people down on the ground hadn't quite finished their preparations, but it was better this way. She could die in peace. Better to die than live in humiliation.
The lock on her bedroom door rattled and a deep voice swore, shouting at the fat woman for the key.
Harriet took one more deep breath and didn't wipe the tears dripping down her face anymore. She had decided.
She tilted her body out of the window, pointing her head downwards while the people below screamed. Keeping her eyes shut so that she wouldn't see anything, she immersed herself in the dark, wrapping herself up in it and let go.
She fell. She was falling, but a sharp pain and something tight grabbed hold on her leg, sliding down to her ankle. She was jolted, dangling from the window by one leg.
Damn it. Too slow.
She kicked, but someone grabbed hold of her other leg. Gripped it tightly. Against her will, she was hauled back through the window, getting scraped on the broken glass while the fat woman's cursing wails filled the air.
No. No! She couldn't. She couldn't keep living. She had been too slow. Too hesitant.
"Don't hit yourself. Don't."
Said a the deep voice of a man holding her. He was sitting on the floor with her in his lap, cradling her weeping from in his eyes, easily preventing her from resisting. He caught the hands that were hitting her head and pressed her head against his chest.
"No. I can't - I can't," she wept. "Let me go. Let me die."
Harriet struggled to break free and make for the window again, but failed. She felt dizzy and had used up too much of her energy today already.
"Shh. It's alright. You're safe now. You're safe. I've got you. Nobody can hurt you anymore. Nobody will lock you up. You're safe. You're free."
The fat woman's voice burst with anger again and Harriet vaguely heard the sound of police officers announcing her arrest and cuffing her.
"I couldn't - I can't - I don't," Harriet tried to talk but her throat was too dry and she was too tired. She felt sick. Very sick. So sick that she wanted to die. Why wouldn't they let her die? Why couldn't they let her die? She had been so close. So close.
"It's ok. You're ok," the deep voice of her rescued soothed her, hugging her tight. "No need to struggle. No need to fight anymore. We'll investigate and those evil people who hurt you and locked you up will get what they deserve. They won't escape. You don't have to worry. You're very safe now. You're ok. You're gonna be ok. Ok?"
Harriet his her face in the man's chest and surrendered. Her tense body sagged and she wailed. Wailed like a little child, while her rescuer patted her back and continued to cradle her in his arms, whispering soothing words into her ears. Harriet released all her pent up fear and emotions that had been building up ever since her brother died.
She could hear the lowered voices of the police already starting to gather evidence. She heard people wanting to pry her loose from her rescuer and get her to lie down onto a stretcher, but she clutched tight to him.
"Don't leave me. Don't abandon me," she whispered in between sobs, feeling darkness creeping in on her. "Don't leave me alone. Please."
"I'm here. I'm here," the man holding her murmured. "It's ok. We're going to take you to the hospital. Nobody's leaving you. I'll be right here. Ok? Don't be scared. Shh. It's alright. You're safe now. You're in safe hands."
Harriet allowed her hands to be pried loose from her rescuer's uniform, but the moment they tried to help her up, the world spun into a deep blue and black. She sank into the deep.
In the hospital bed, Harriet listened to the bustle and clatter of trolleys and the beeping of machines while she lay there with her eyes closed. She didn't want to wake up. Didn't want to wake up.
She heard the mutters of the medical staff cursing the dirty family and her own family for abandoning her after all she had gone through. Harriet didn't know what to do or feel anymore. She didn't really care. Couldn't be bothered caring. What was the point? She had cared so much but had been beaten back for it. Now she had been drained of care. Drained of life. Drained of everything she had ever wanted or used to be. Now she was just an empty shell. The Harriet that had been was no more. She was dead. She was going to find her brother.
Alarms beeped and bleeped and medical staff came running.
"No, no, you silly girl. Don't give up," someone said to her while she was being poked and prodded. Sharp needles jabbed. "Wake up. Don't give up. It's not worth giving up your life for those kinds of people. Your brother would have wanted you to live. He'd want you to live on for you. Silly girl, wake up. Don't give up so easily."
It's not that she wanted to live, but rather that she failed to die. The medical staff had been too good at their jobs and her condition wasn't that serious. A few injections and her body stabilised again.
Even if she survived, how was she supposed to pay these medical bills? She had probably lost her job by now. Probably failed her university course after not turning up to the compulsory classes for so many days. Universities were strict. They had said at the beginning of the year that unless a person died, there were no excuses for not handing in assignments or homework on time, or for attending the compulsory classes. Would they accept kidnapping and hospitalisation as an excuse? After all, she hadn't died.
Just think of all the money she was going to owe made her head ache. She'd likely never be able to pay it off in her life. She might as well just go and die.
"Hey, hey, young lady," came a familiar deep voice from her side. A familiar big and calloused hands took herself in their warm ones, completely enveloping her cold hands. "I came to visit and see how you were. I heard you've been very unwell. You know, if there's anything worrying you, you can talk about it. You know, there are many different ways to solve a problem. Even math equations as simple as one plus one have multiple ways to interpret and solve the problem, so your problems won't be much different. If you share, perhaps other people will be able to help you come up with a solution? There's no such thing as an unsolvable problem. People just often give up too early on the way of finding the solution."
Harriet's hand twitched and she heard the sound of various people giving a sigh of relief. When had there been so many people in the room around her bed?
"Harriet, may I call you Harriet? That's your name, right?" said the deep voice of her rescuer. "The family that abused you, starved and locked you up, they've all been imprisoned now. You'll be receiving compensation as well. The hospital staff and our department and everyone who came to rescue you we're all going to help you get back on your feet. You aren't alone anymore. You're not alone."
A calloused finger wiped away the tears that were trickling down Harriet's cheek.
"It's ok. We've all got you. We found out what happened to you in the past, and about your brother and your parents. It's ok. We know. And we understand. I know what it's like to survive through a tough fight and lose the people I cared about. So it's ok to cry. It's ok to grieve. It's ok to weep, because we'll cry and grieve with you. It's not an easy thing to survive and keep living in place of the other person. Especially when you did your best to keep them safe. I just want you to know that we're here. We're here for you and with you. We'll get through this together, ok?"
Harriet tried to clasp the hand that was holding hers and felt those big hands tighten firmly around hers in reply.
"Good girl. It's ok," the man crooned, dabbing her tears away. "It's ok. It's ok to wake up now. You're safe. We're here. Brave girl, you're still loved. Nobody is going to abandon or leave you again. You're going to be a-ok."
Harriet cried herself to exhaustion, and cried herself back to sleep, feeling that big and gentle hand continuing to stroke her head and her hand.
During the deep night, she jerked awake from the nightmare, feeling cold sweat streaming down her body while she thrashed and struggled to breathe. Alarms blared and the lights turned on, bringing nurses running.
The big figure by her side sat bolt upright and then quickly gathered her into his arms, patting and soothing her whole nurses darted around her, fed her some pills and water, and called a doctor to come. They coaxed a cup of hot chocolate milk and a packet of sandwiches into her with the man's help while Harriet snuggled into the man's embrace, feeling safe and secure there.
In the morning, the man disentangled her arms from him and apologised, saying he had to go to work.
"Be good and listen to the nurses and doctors. I'll come back after work to visit again. Ok?"
But he didn't come back. She waited and waited, but the man didn't return. In the meantime, the police and the hospital staff coaxed her story of events out of her and gave her counselling. The medical staff helped her to contact the man, and she discovered his name was Ryan Renning. And they learnt that the man had gone out on a mission and been injured and lost. His team were still searching for him.
Harriet's health took a downturn, alarming the hospital staff until Ryan's teammates came in to visit and help cheer her up. They told her stories, prayed and cried together with her, reassuring her that Ryan was smart and tough. He would definitely turn up safe and sound.
Harriet was finally discharged, but she had no where to go. Out of pity, Ryan's mother took her in, taking care of her while Harriet helped around the house and for cussed on getting better.
When the compensation money came in, Harriet bought a few things, left a note and money for Ryan's mother and decided to leave to go in search of the man who had once rescued her and given her such a sense of security. She didn't tell anybody, but slipped away.
His team reported that he had been lost during a mountain rescue during an unexpected landslide. They had searched and dug but had been unable to find him or his body. It had already been two weeks and everyone was prepared for the worst.
Gritting her teeth, Harriet climbed the mountain from the road toward the area where the landslide had happened. She would find him. She would find Ryan and rescue him to repay him. No matter what, she had to find him.
Her health still hasn't fully recovered and so Harriet found the physical activity very draining. Add to the weight of the food, water, camping and rescue gear that she had decided to bring. She had to stop and rest far more often than she wanted to. Nevertheless, she persevered. She would girrit her teeth. She would keep moving.
When she reached the area near the landslide, the sun was beginning to set. Finding a flat area tucked away behind a rock, Harriet unfolded her spring form two man tent, crawled into her sleeping bag and fell asleep. When she woke up, she ate a muesli bar, took a few sips of water and began searching.
She saw the signs of the areas where the other rescue team people had searched before and after a cursory look, moved on to other areas. Although she knew it was a bit dangerous, she climbed up onto the collapsed dirt to see if she could see any signs of Ryan having being buried in the landslide. While she was clambering around, the dirt beneath her slipped. It slipped and slid and carried her further down the mountain, causing her to tumble into rocks and trees on the way, almost knocking her out or causing serious injury.
Harriet lay gasping where the landslide had brought her. Carefully feeling herself all over, she winced and grimaced at the bruises, and wrinkled her nose with dismay at the long gash in one leg. One of her shoulders was possibly dislocated and she didn't know how to put it back. If she wasn't wrong, she also had a concussion.
It hurt. It hurt. It hurt. But there was no one around to help her and she would have to deal with it herself. Hissing, Harriet rolled over and discovered she was still wearing her heavy backpack. It didn't look like she had lost anything. That was good.
She dug around for her first aid kit and found a bandage to wrap around her leg wound. She was losing a lot of blood and so she had to put pressure on the wound and keep it tightly bound until it stopped bleeding.
Crawling away from the dangerous area, Harriet spotted a trail of old blood. Her eyes widened and she followed the trail to a patch of flattened grass and leaves. Judging by the size of the impression, it had been a rather large animal. Or person.
A spark of excitement ignited in Harriet's abdomen, slowly creeping up into her chest. Was it him? Had she found him? Could she have such good luck?
After a rest and another sip of water, Harriet continued to drag her leg and crawl along, following the trail of blood. She found the source not too long later. A dead wild cat. Stiff and cold and already starting to smell.
The hope that had risen in her chest like a rising star fell like a stone into the depths of the ocean.
It wasn't him. She knew her luck couldn't have been so good.
She lifted her head and a creeping fox froze, staring at her with big eyes. After staring at her for a while and sniffing, seeing that she didn't seem to be much of a danger to it, the fox flaunted its tail and sauntered off.
Taking a few deep breaths, Harriet turned around and searched the area for clues. Finding nothing, she turned in a random direction to get away from the body of the dead cat and find some flat ground to camp for the night. She needed to boil water and dress her leg wound properly. It wouldn't hurt to make a hot meal while she was at it.
After an hour or so, Harriet found some flat ground and carefully cleared the area using a bundle of twigs and grass to sweep. After setting up her tent, she cleared an area to build her campfire and then crawled or hopped to collect wood, depending on how much energy she had left.
With much effort, smoke and choking on smoke, Harriet finally managed to set a campfire and get it going. Carefully, she peeled away the blood soaked bandage and her trouser leg to examine the wound and clean it as best as she could. There was a faint smell already, telling her that it was possible that she might get an infection if the wound wasn't dealt with properly. She grimaced. Dying from a wound infection would be unpleasant and painful. Not the kind of way she wanted to go.
She had to make sure she cleaned and bound the wound well. That way it wouldn't hinder her search for Ryan too much. Perhaps, if Ryan was in the area, he might smell the smoke and come to find her. Or perhaps, he would find a way to send her a signal.
Surely the search and rescue crew would have already searched this area. She would have to search further.
During the night, Harriet heard the distant clanking and clattering of stones being knocked against each other. The sound echoed through the night forest like a ghostly chant. It made Harriet tense and unable to sleep for most of the night, feeling like some sort of ghostly monster was trying to creep up on her.
Nevertheless, in the morning, when the sound had stopped, she decided to go search in the direction of the sound just in case. Folding the tent and rolling her sleeping bag up, Harriet then carefully put out the remains of the fire out, trampling the last few dark embers cold and burying it under the dirt. She didn't want to accidentally start a forest fire and burn herself and Ryan alive.
Using a sturdy tree branch as a walking stick, Harriet hobbled her way forwards and when that became too painful, crawled with her bag on the forest floor instead. She rested when she was tired and continued forward when she had the strength. Every now and then, she heard the clacking of stones being banged together, leading her onwards.
The day passed all too quickly. It was soon time to make a camp again.
This time, Harriet didn't bother with a fire. She just shook out her tent and sleeping bag, directly going to sleep. Her leg had sharp pains running through it like jagged lightning, but she didn't want to look at it right now. She was too tired.
In the morning, she ate another muesli bar, took another sip of water and then with a deep sigh, packed up her camp. Slowly, she made slow progress toward where she remembered the stone clacking sounds to have come from. There was no sound of the stones today.
Harriet felt lightheaded and floaty. What was wrong with her? She shook her head. Don't think too much. Don't think. Just keep moving. Just find Ryan. She would find him. Definitely find him.
She felt that she managed to travel quite far today, but it might not have been that far because of how many times she had needed to stop and rest. She had even fallen asleep a few times.
The way she moved created a lot of noise, scaring animals away and letting Ryan know, if he was there, that she was coming.
Towards evening, she heard a low moan and the clattter of rocks from somewhere behind her to the right. Harriet paused and sat still for a moment, listening.
"Ryan?" she called in a hoarse voice, taking a sip of water. "Ryan, is that you?"
A moan answered her, a long with the clattering of rocks. From behind a thick and dense area of bushes near a boulder.
Harriet's heart leapt to her mouth.
"Ryan, it's Harriet. I'm coming. I'm coming."
She scrambled in his direction. The shape lancing pain in her leg didn't allow her to stand on it anymore and so she moved slowly across the round, crawling as she had done the past few days.
With effort, she squeezed through those bushes and fell out the other side, climbing up the boulder to where it rested against a cliff edge. Amongst a cluster of boulders that had been here a long time, having fallen off the cliff many years ago, Harriet found Ryan lying. He was matted, dirty and smelled, but she was sure it was Ryan.
"Ryan?" she called again and was answered by his hand that held a rock to bang it on the ground. "Ryan, I've found you. I've found you."
Harriet tumbled down the boulder to where Ryan lay. It was obvious he had found this place because it was relatively protected from wind and rain and most animals wouldn't come up here.
Fumbling with her drink bottle, she lifted Ryan's bloodied head up to rest on her lap and then carefully helped to bring the bottle opening to his cracked and dry lips. Her hands shook and trembled, spilling some water on him.
"Sorry. I'm so sorry. So clumsy," she said. "Just a sip at a time," she said, preventing him from gulping the water down. "A bit at a time. Oh, I found you. I'm so glad I found you."
After feeding him some water and trying not to look at how awful he looked, she took out a muesli bar. But then she paused. It would be hard for him to eat like this. Hard to chew and swallow. She should cook something soft and warm for him. Something easy to digest.
So, instead of the muesli bar, she gave him a bar of chocolate.
"Eat this," Harriet tore the chocolate bar wrapping open and brought it to Ryan's mouth. "Eat the chocolate first. Then rest for a bit. I'll set up camp, light a fire and cook something for you."
Ryan's eyes were filled with tears while he looked at her and gave her a gentle smile. After eating the chocolate bar, he closed his eyes to sleep. Lowering him back down to the ground, Harriet took a deep breath, gritted her teeth and got to work.
She cleaned out an area of flat ground and spread out her tent with her sleeping bag inside. After collecting as much firewood as she could handle, falling and stumbling down the boulder every time she did so, she maanaged to light the campfire before dark, creating a lot of smoke as she did so. Hopefully people would see all the smoke and come to find them. She wanted to make a big fire.
Over a bed of coals, she boiled some water and cooked two muesli bars in it for Ryan to eat when he woke up. She also got her medical kit out and got to work, carefully cleaning up Ryan's face. There was a hollow in the rock that formed a kind of bowl shape. Harriet poured some water into that bowl after brushing and scrubbing it clean with grass and used the water to help to clean Ryan up.
When Ryan woke up, she lifted his head up onto her lap, trying not to wince as she did so, and carefully fed him one spoonful at a time. Ryan didn't speak, but his eyes glittered meaningfully at her, his eyes not leaving hers as he ate. After eating, he seemed to have gained a bit more strength. Enough for Harriet to help him over into the tent, where Harriet covered him with the unzipped sleeping bag to sleep.
After building up the big campfire and throwing piles of grass and leaves and old branches onto it, the flames roared up into the night sky, obscuring any view of the stars with thick black smoke. Whenever the fire died down, she helped more of the grass and leaves she had collected earlier onto the fire until the fire soot blackened the boulder it was licking against.
Tired and exhausted, Harriet used a little water to was and rinse out the cooking canteen she had used to cook the muesli for Ryan earlier, drinking the rinsing water and leftover bits of muesli as her meal. She was too tired so anymore.
After that, she crawled into the tent and zipped it up, huddling with Ryan under the sleeping bag to keep warm. Ryan hugged her to him, cuddling her as if she were a precious treasure, feeling her hot forehead with some concern.
There was the thrum of a helicopter during the night, hovering overhead.
Landing feet and footsteps were heard. Voices, coming in their direction. Harriet and Ryan opened their eyes but neither moved at first. After a moment, Harriet crawled out of Ryan's arms and put of the tent. Seeing the way she dragged her leg, Ryan's eyes darkened.
"Here!" Harriet cried. "Over here!"
Two men clambered up the boulder to see her sitting in the dying light of the campfire.
"Harriet?"
"It's me. I found Ryan. He's in the tent. Very weak. He hasn't spoken a word since I found him."
The men slid down the boulder and scrambled over to the tent, peering in with torchlights.
"Ryan!" the voice of the men broke. "Ryan, we've found you, mate. We've got you."
The men carried Ryan out and reported back to the helicopter through their radio.
"We've found Harriet. And she found Ryan. They're both here. Both injured. Ryan's not doing well, but he's alive."
"Harriet, we're going to take Ryan up in the helicopter first, alright?"
Harriet packed up the camp and all her things while Ryan was strapped to one of the men and winched up together. By the time Harriet was ready, the men had returned for her, helping her to put on the harness.
When they were up on the helicopter, Harriet held Ryan's hand, smiled and closed her eyes amidst all the chatter and fuss. When she woke up again, she was in hospital, hooked up to two IV drips.
She turned her side this way and that, restlessly searching until she spotted Ryan sleeping in the next bed with some of his workmates lying their heads on the bed beside him. Heaving a sigh of relief, she looked up at the ceiling.
Someone came to talk to her and find out how she had found Ryan later, resulting in her receiving the longest lecture of her life, but Harriet hadn't been listening. She had been looking at Ryan. It was enough as long as she had found Ryan.
Her leg wound was infected but the doctors had cleaned it up. It would heal fine, but it might leave a scar, she was told. Harriet shrugged at that.
"Harriet, girl, are you even listening to me?" the scolding voice of Ryan's captain asked, and a hand turned her face back toward him.
"He's alive," Harriet turned her head back so that she could continue watching Ryan. "I found him. He's alive."
"I give up," the captain growled, throwing his hands up.
At that moment, Ryan opened his eyes. His captain and teammates all made a fuss and clamour.
"Harriet? Is she there? Is she safe? Is she ok?" Ryan's voice could be heard whispering anxiously. "Her leg..."
The crowd of men parted so that Ryan could see Harriet lying in the next bed and they smiled at each other. Their eyes lost in each other's gaze. So sweet. So gentle. Some of the men rubbed their arms with a shiver.
"I'm fine, Ryan," Harriet called across the gap after a long moment. "How about you?"
"I'm - I'm fine too," Ryan's voice broke. "I'm glad you're ok."
"I'm glad you're ok too."
"Alright, you love birds," the captain stepped in and gave them both another scolding lecture before telling them to rest up and get better soon.
Harriet was the first to be discharged, but she didn't leave Ryan's side until he was discharged and allowed to return home to recuperate. The two could spend hours just looking at each other and holding hands without getting bored.
The first night Ryan returned home, after dinner and an evening shower, he had called Harriet over and pulled her into his bed. There, they had cuddled up together to help each other fight against the nightmares, leaving Ryan's mother smiling when she tucked them in and turned out the lights.
Harriet returned to university to resume her studies after Ryan went into the university office with her to settle matters and explain the reason for her absence with all the evidence. Ryan then returned to work.
A year later, during an annual event, Ryan proposed in front of his whole team and Harriet accepted. Several months later, at the wedding, Harriet's parents came to give their daughter away and apologise to her. They seemed happy that they could entrust her to somebody reliable and Harriet had cried all night, preventing Ryan from doing anything to her besides cuddling
Harriet named her first child Tang, after her brother. The subsequent children were given names in honour of the friends Ryan had previously lost. Ryan's team visited often to play with the kids, bringing them up in one big happy family.
And Harriet was finally at peace. Whenever she had a long day or was tired, she just needed to crawl into Ryan's safe and secure arms. Sometimes he would run his fingers down the long scar on her leg with reget and wonder how he had managed to come across such a strong and amazing woman as his wife, while Harriet would say the same things about him.
It was as sweet as icing with a cherry on top.