I slam the large wooden door with a franticness I've never experienced before. I grab the lantern and try to light it, but it takes me three tries because my hands are shaking so hard. As soon as I see it light, I take off running down the road, the lantern swinging crazily in front of me.
"Drew! Drew!" I call frantically. "Drew!"
No answer... nothing. I grow more and more suffocated, more nervous the more I call his name, the less I hear back. I keep running, but with every step, the street seems to get longer and longer.
"Ara!" I hear a voice say. Ember. She's standing at the corner of the sidewalk, barely in the moonlight. I hope she's not feeling talkative. I pull on my side bangs a little, knowing I shouldn't be annoyed just at the sight of her.
"What, Ember?" I demand. "I'm in a hurry."
She holds up a flashlight. "I'm coming with you," she says.
"Ok, well, we need to hurry," I say urgently. "We're already wasting time."
She nods and glances at her watch. I see her eyes grow wide, but before she can even gasp or say anything, I've taken off.
"Oh, Drew..." I breathe. I begin to call his name again just to no reply.
I see the moonlight reflecting off of the windows into my eyes, making it harder to see, harder to run. I have to ignore it. It's just another distraction keeping me from helping Drew. The little brick buildings streak by, some of the signs swinging with the breeze created by my speed. I continue to run, tirelessly, as I will until I find him, or until I burst.
The road dead-ends like a cul-de-sac, the buildings stretching around it almost like cage bars. The buildings are taller now, and they seem to loom above me, now an impediment. But I keep running at the fence. The latch is broken, and I remember how Drew always got it open. I kicked it repeatedly until it swung open, and some rust fell off of it onto the ground. I run through the opened gate, suddenly coming to a stop. I shake a little with the memories that flood me, the most prominent being the one where I got my nickname, Bear. He'd called me that, thinking it'd annoy me, but when I told him it's better than Arabella, it stuck. He was the only one who still called me Bear. I stand there, tug on my bangs, will myself to see if he's here. He should be, anyway.
"Drew!" I call. "Drew!"
No reply. I continue running, growing a little more worried with each step. Another fence stops me, keeps me from Drew. I lift my lantern, remember how high it is. Too high to jump quickly, and anyway, I wouldn't be able to hold myself up, I'm shaking so much. I find a bobby pin, pull it out of my hair, pick the lock. I've been doing it for years now, and it's become so easy I can normally do it in seconds. But this time it takes me so long to get the pin into the lock. I tug my bangs and keep trying until I finally manage, and it's just like before.
I burst out of the alley, and look back to see cautious Ember not even halfway through the long alley. I nearly rip out my bangs from tugging them so much and force myself to calmly tell her that I'll take it from there. I turn around again, walk up to the edge of the forest. The forest that the moonlight barely breaches, the forest that looks like a black wall, daring me to come inside, look there for Drew. It suffocates me a little, and the very forest that looks so open and welcoming and warm in the day looks sinister, cold, and threatening in the dark. I make myself calm down a little enough just to be able to breathe a little and force myself to take the small steps forward, closing up the space between me and the great, black wall.
Once I'm in the forest, I take off at a run, the small bit of light from the lantern barely keeping me from tripping on the ice, the frozen, bare undergrowth, the snowy stumps. The path seems endless, bumpy, impossible. I can't stop now. I call his name, yet again.
"Drew!" I yell.
This time around, I hear a reply.
"B... Bear?" It's a faint voice, but loud enough for me to hear.
"Drew! Where are you?" My feet freeze in place, and I contort myself, swinging the lantern in circles, the light dancing everywhere. Suddenly, I can't breathe, whether if it's relief from hearing his living voice, or fear that it'll just fall silent. "Drew?"
It takes a while for him to reply, and the longer it takes, the more I feel like I've been stabbed.
"Over... here. Over here." I can hear his voice growing stronger, more clear. Still, it hurts me to think that he was ever sounding so incredibly small and helpless. "Bear... follow my voice."
But it's so strangely weak. "Ok," I say. I can't argue. Not here, not now. A determination comes over me, and I step quickly, silently toward the direction I think his voice came from.
I can hear him saying his nickname for me over and over again. "Bear... Bear... Bear..." All I can do is follow it, but I feel desperate to do more as I step over the logs and stumps and ice until I find him.
He is sitting with one leg stretched out, leaning against a tree stump. When he sees me step into the tiny clearing, I see a small smile cross his face. "Bear," is all he says.
No matter what happens, I have to focus on that smile, or I'll bug out and burst.
"Hey, Drew." I say, stepping closer, trying to be casual, to wipe that pained grimace off his face. I'm fine with that first, and then I see he leg. It's bent in a horrible position, contorted, and a little bloody. "What happened?" I ask, trying to be calm. But it makes my heart pound, all of me rise into my throat and clump up there in a huge knot. I can no longer breathe, and tears come to my eyes, seeing my best friend so hurt.
"Um, long story. I can't walk, and I think it's broken," he says with another grimace.
"How long have you been out here?" My voice wavers, and I am so surprised at the casualness in his voice.
"I sort of lost track of time. I tried to call you and tell you where I was. But you didn't answer," Drew tells me.
I should never have turned my phone off. I feel horrible, like it's all my fault. I tug my bangs again, this time for a little punishment.
"So I called Ember. She was so freaked out. I tried to call you again, but I got a busy signal and then my battery died," he says.
"Oh, my God."
I call the paramedics. They arrive quickly and take Drew away on a stretcher. I finally bug out at the sight of him being carried away into a giant truck with all those needles, overly bright lights, and strange liquids inside. I didn't want them to stick him with anything. I collapsed on another stump, started to hyperventilate. One of the paramedics has to stay behind, calm me down. It takes a while, but I finally stop breathing so hard, I force myself to calm down. He leaves me alone there.
When I am ready, I walk back home with the moon and my lantern as my guide. I continually trip over leafless vines that made their way above the snow. Suddenly, my fatigue manages to wash over me. My shoulders sag, and my eyelids droop. It becomes harder to navigate my way through the woods. I wonder if I'm going the wrong way. All of this is coming over me until I see a tiny glint in the snow. At first I figure it's just snow, but it's a little too big of a glimmer to be a few snowflakes. So, I stumble over to see just what this little glimmer is.
I bend over to pick it up. It's a small necklace with a red pendant in the shape of an hourglass. There seems to be something inside, and, for some reason, it looks like it's flowing up. Like there's a never-ending source of whatever is inside and there is always more room at the top. Bronze vines wrap its way around the little red hourglass. The more I look at it, the less I want to put it down. It seems to fit me perfectly- the perfect length, the perfect size... I want to keep it. More than I've wanted to keep something in quite a long time. I pocket it and grasp it with my gloved hand in my pocket all the way home.
Walking alone in the woods at night seems more eerie than it did just before. The trees loom over me. I adjust my coat like it will help and force myself to continue. No way am I staying here all night, especially with how tired I am. So, I drag my feet home, unable to jump fences again. I am just relieved that Drew will be okay.
When I get home, I hang the lantern up outside the door again. I check on the shop, make sure it's empty. All the lights are off, my brother's rag is left on the counter. I put it away and head upstairs to our little loft.
Walking down the hall, my brother gets in my way. "You're so late, Arabella! It's midnight!" he says.
"Don't call me that. I was out possibly saving Drew's life," I say flatly, too tired to argue further.
"You really worried us. Especially mom, with the way you ran off like that."
"Well, sorry, Ryan, but I had to go. You should have heard Ember, and you know Drew's my best friend," I say. "I"m going to bed."
"Well, fine, just don't do it again," Ryan tells me. His blond hair glints in the moonlight, seems to shimmer as he moves out of my way.
"Sheesh..."
I trudge down the hall and plunk on my bed. I take off my beanie, scarf, and gloves and put them on my dresser. I hang my grey coat on the coat rack and just shove my boots in the closet. I throw on a large teeshirt and some sweatpants and just go to bed without bothering to shower or brush my hair.
Drew has to be okay, I think. Then I drift off to sleep.
It’s kinder on the eyes if you leave a line between each paragraph and each line of dialogue. Less scary. 
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