Follow You Home Read Online Free PDF Page B

Laura said, ‘Oh, I’m going to recommend it to all my friends. I particularly like the forests, and the border guards are just lovely. So welcoming.’
    I couldn’t see Alina’s face well, and wasn’t sure if her question had been sarcastic or sincere. The former, I thought, but didn’t want to risk offending her so I said, ‘I’m sure once we get everything sorted out, and get back to civilisation, we’ll love it.’
    ‘If I were you,’ Alina said, ‘after this I’d get on the first plane out of here.’
    I was about to say something about how much I’d been looking forward to seeing Sighisoara when Laura grabbed my arm and said, ‘Did you hear that?’
    I froze. ‘What?’
    ‘A clicking noise. Like animal claws.’ She made a spidery gesture with her fingers.
    ‘Oh God,’ I said. ‘Maybe the dogs are following us?’
    I switched the torch back on and shone it behind us. Just an expanse of rail track. I took a few steps forward but there was no sign of the dogs or anything else.
    ‘It’s fine,’ Alina said as I rejoined them. ‘I’m sure it’s just the branches of the trees. It’s natural to feel scared in places like this. Let’s just keep walking in a straight line. OK?’
    ‘OK,’ I said.
    Laura didn’t respond.
    ‘OK?’ I said to her as gently as I could.
    ‘Are there animals in the forest?’ she said, addressing Alina.
    ‘I guess . . .’
    Laura’s eyes widened. ‘What kind of animals? Wolves? Bears ?’
    ‘I don’t know.’
    I interjected quickly. ‘I think it said in my guidebook that all the wolves and bears have been hunted to extinction around here.’
    Laura looked at me like I was the world’s worst liar. ‘I just want to get out of here as quickly as possible.’ Her voice broke at the end of the sentence.
    ‘We’ll be in town soon,’ I said. ‘Eating breakfast. And when this is all over we’ll look back and—’
    She started walking, striding forward with a new purpose, as if the backpack on her back was filled with feathers. I looked warily towards the forest. I  had lied about the bears. As far as I knew, there were still brown bears living wild in this part of Romania. Though, to be honest, I was more worried about Laura than I was about the local wildlife. Did she really blame me for what had happened? It was a fact that if I’d booked a sleeper compartment to start with, we would have been safely tucked up in our bunks with the door locked. Nobody would have stolen our stuff. We woul dn’t have met Alina and got chucked off the train. Everything would be fine.
    Whether or not Laura held me responsible, I regretted the decision I’d made. If I could turn back the clock . . . Unfortunately, real life has no erase button. There was nothing I could do about it now. We just had to get out of here and then, I truly believed, we would be able to laugh about it.
    I increased my pace to catch up with Laura, and Alina fol lowed suit.
    I waited for Laura to speak, even though the silence was agonising . Finally, she said, ‘I suppose I did want adventure.’
    ‘Laura, I’m sorry I didn’t book a sleeper. If I’d known—’
    She held up a hand. ‘Daniel, it’s OK. I don’t blame you. Of course you didn’t know this would happen. You know I’m not the kind of person who sulks or bears grudges. I’m just cold and tired and hungry and scared , and I want to get out of here. All right?’
    I nodded. ‘All right.’
    After another thirty minutes of walking mostly in silence, eyes fixed ahead, concentrating on putting one foot in front of the other, Alina said, ‘Guys.’
    We stopped.
    ‘I need the toilet.’
    ‘OK, sure. We’ll turn our backs,’ I said.
    ‘I’m going to go behind the trees,’ she said. ‘I don’t . . . I don’t like people looking at me when I . . .’
    It was strange to see this punky, confident woman come over all coy. I went to hand her the torch but she said, ‘It’s fine.