Grounded Goddesses

Chapter Two: Out of the Woods

POV: Sola

Maybe I shouldn’t have pointed all that out at once.  Luna looked like she was going into shock.  She definitely seemed more delicate than me.  Well, maybe delicate wasn’t the right word.  It’s not like she looked weak, but she was rather pale and seemed somehow gentle. 

“Are you...uh... okay?” I asked, immediately feeling stupid for asking.  We were I the middle of who knows where with no clue how we got here or what was going on. 

But Luna squared her shoulders, refusing to fall apart, “lead the way, Sola, let’s get off this creepy beach.”

I nodded.  I had no clue where we had come from, but into the woods past where we had left our backpacks seemed like a good place to start, and at least it wasn’t impassible.  I started to step off the beach, but when the hem of my long dress immediately caught on some underbrush, I had an idea. 

A quick rip moved the end of my dress to just above my knees and from there I could rip it into smaller ribbons. 

“What are you doing?” Luna asked curiously.

“In case we need to find are way back, or if at some point we end up going in circles, we should mark our path every so often with a little ribbon,” I explained, tying the first ribbon I had made to a branch at eye level right on the edge of the tree line.   Luna ripped her dress too, though she left hers a little longer than I had left mine.  Armed with plenty of ribbon material, we continued into the woods. 

After a little way we were able to pick up some sort of deer path that made walking a little easier.  But with nothing more than our tiny ballerina flats protecting our feet, our progress was slow and painful.   And the more painful it got, the more we bickered.

“Why would the deer trail take us to civilization, we need to find a road,” Luna was complaining.

“If you know where one is, please lead the way!  But for now, at least this path is relatively straight and easier to walk on.” 

“How can we be sure it’s straight?  All these trees make it impossible to use anything in the sky to guide us and we don’t have a compass.”

“You think crashing through the underbrush and weaving around trees will guarantee a straighter path?” I laughed, “All that would do is draw every predator in this forest straight to us.” 

“What predators?  We haven’t seen anything bigger than a squirrel,” Luna mumbled, kicking a branch out of her way in frustration.

I rolled my eyes, “in a forest this big, there are definitely predators.  I wouldn’t be surprised if there is already something stalking us now, trying to decide if it can take us down.”

Luna shivered, “don’t say that!”

“Maybe a wolf has our scent, or there’s some big cat up in the trees,” I taunted. 

“Shut up.”

I laughed, “scared you’ll-“

“No seriously, I think I heard something, let me listen!” 

I was pretty sure she was just hearing things, but I stopped laughing and tried to listen myself. 

“There it is!” Luna exclaimed.

“What?” I asked, frustrated that I couldn’t hear whatever she was hearing.

“I heard a car!”

“What?  No way.  Don’t lie to me,” as much as I wanted it to be true, I couldn’t hear anything beyond the typical sounds of the forest. 

“I’m not!  Come on!” 

Before I could stop her, Luna began running through the underbrush.  I was still doubtful, so I quickly tied another ribbon onto a branch then followed after her. 

A few minutes later we burst out of the trees onto the side of a two-lane highway.  It was fully daylight now, probably mid-morning by the looks of it. 

“You were right,” I breathed a sigh of relief, but Luna still looked troubled. 

“What are we going to say when we find someone?” she asked, retreating toward the trees.

“What do you mean?  We’ll tell them we need help!”

“Sola, if we tell someone we have no memories while looking like this, we’ll get ourselves committed to an insane asylum.” 

She was probably right, but what choice did we have?  “Luna, what else can we do?”

Just then a pick-up truck rounded a bend down the road and began speeding toward us.

Luna slid behind a tree, but I couldn’t let a chance sail by.  Our bottle of water and snacks wouldn’t last forever.  Eventually we had to figure out what to do next and I saw no point in waiting. 

I stepped into the middle of the road so the car would have to see me.

“Sola!” Luna screamed as the driver slammed on the truck’s breaks.

The truck skidded to a stop and the driver practically jumped out of the car.  The driver was a girl with straight dark brown hair cut just below her shoulders wearing a white tank top, jean shorts, and a flannel tied around her waist.  Her face was a mix of fear and fury as she approached me.

“What were you thinking?  Are you okay?” She was screaming.

“Hi,” I responded calmly, “I’m sorry for scaring you, I just really needed to get your attention.  My sister and I need your help.  I’m Sola, and that over there is Luna.”

Luna had stepped out from the trees, but she didn’t seem to want to come any closer.

The girl laughed, surprising both Luna and I, “I’m sorry, I don’t mean to laugh.  It’s just, well your names, and my name is Star.”

“What a coincidence,” I couldn’t help giving into her infectious laughter, but Luna just stared at us both like we were crazy.

“Okay,” Star took a deep breath to re-center herself,  “I definitely want to hear what’s going on here, but I’m going to be late to my shift at my Grandpa’s diner.  If your trying to get a lift somewhere we have plenty of truckers stopping by the diner and then you can tell me your story on the way-“

“Right now we’re just trying to get back to civilization, so that would be wonderful, thank you.”

Star nodded, “then climb in, please don’t mind the clothes everywhere, I’ve been juggling two jobs and that doesn’t leave a whole lot of time for laundry.”

I climbed into the passenger seat, moving a blazer that was clearly part of a very different look than the one she was currently sporting.  “Two jobs, huh?”

“Your story first,” Star responded.

“Fair enough.  It’s not as long as it probably looks, though,” I warned.

“Sola,” Luna hissed, still unconvinced we should share it.

“What’s wrong?” Star asked.  I noticed her grip on the steering wheel tighten.  She wanted to help, but she was taking a risk here too.  I decided to do my best to ease both their worries.

“Luna is a little scared our story will sound crazy and you’ll send us to a mental ward.  It is a little crazy but I promise we’re completely harmless, we just want to get back to civilization then figure out what’s going on.”

“Um, okay?” Star said, looking even more nervous.

I sighed, “alright, I’m just going to say it.  This morning we woke up on a tiny beach by a lake in the woods with no memories of who we are, how we got there, or why we are wearing these ridiculous ritual dresses.”

Star snorted, “sorry.  I couldn’t put my finger on it, but that’s exactly what they are.  Ridiculous ritual dresses.”

She laughed some more, and I found myself joining in.  It was impossible not to laugh at the absurdity of the situation.

“Guys this is serious!” Luna cried.

Star’s face hardened, “you’re right.  This sounds like something out of a mysterious crimes podcast.  Were either of you hurt at all?”

I glanced at Luna, “I don’t think so, why?”

“Well this sounds sort of like a release after an abduction.” 

“Like someone kidn*pped us then wiped our memories before letting us go?” Luna clarified.

Star nodded, “exactly.  I mean obviously I can’t be sure, but that would also further explain Luna’s reluctance to share your story.  Maybe somewhere in her subconscious she remembers and is trying to avoid ending up back in that situation.  Maybe I should take you to the police.”

“No!” I wasn’t sure why I immediately shot the idea down, but something told me we would not get the help we wanted from the authorities, we had to figure this out on our own. 

“Really, Sola, you’re the one that stood in the middle of the road to try and get help!” Luna pointed out.

“I know, but now Star’s got me thinking.   I think we should at least try to figure things out on our own first.”

We pulled up to a four way stop with a gas station on one side and a diner on the other.  To the left I could see a tiny main street and to the right were some small tired houses.  Further down the road we were on was the entrance to a resort and beyond that, another lake.  Star crossed the road and pulled into the surprisingly busy parking lot outside of the diner.  She almost pulled into a spot near the front, but she suddenly seemed to think better of it and pulled around back. 

“I think I may be able to help you guys, but you can’t walk into the diner looking like that.  You’ll want to avoid questions and most importantly, you’ll need to buy some time until you can come up with a plan.  I can buy you that time and get you some money if you can help me a bit in return.”

“What do you need?” 

“My Grandpa always needs extra help around the diner, especially now that I have my internship on the side…” Star turned off the car and turned to look at Luna and I, “Do either of you know how to waitress?”