Love Unspoken

At the crack of dawn in the forest, Alexander woke up. He blinked his eyes open and saw Quinn.

She was wide awake, her eyes clear, but her cheeks were a bit flushed.

Alexander reached out and touched her forehead. "You feelin' hot. Got a fever or somethin'?" Quinn didn't look at him, just swatted his hand away and looked elsewhere, mumbling, "Maybe." "Let's get down first," Alexander said.

He grabbed the tree trunk, made a few jumps, and finally caught a branch, then hopped down to the ground.

Quinn wasn't as nimble as him and had to climb down slowly. There were two branches that were far apart, and she wobbled her foot for a long time but couldn't reach them. Alexander stood below, sneaking a peek up her clothes.

What he couldn't see clearly last night, he could see clearly now.

It was black.

Quinn struggled a lot; her toes finally touched the trunk. But as soon as she let go, her toes slipped, and she fell from the tree.

Alexander, quick-eyed and deft, took a big step forward and caught her, and then they both tumbled to the ground together.

Quinn landed on him, heard his groan, and quickly scrambled up.

was already

on your wound?"

the ground for a moment, then slowly

head back to

it was at least nine o'clock outside, and

were, and whether they could find the cave depended entirely

walked slowly with Quinn

didn't know how long they had walked, but they found

was a bit delighted, she pointed at the stream, exclaiming, "There's water. Let's

grabbed her and

stream. The water was green, not sure if it was the reflection of the trees on

surface was covered with many leaves

sides was very soft,

warily looking at the

there are

do you

his gun and said, "See

and finally saw what he was pointing at. There was a snake, lighter in color than the branch, hanging on a branch in the water, and it was moving. Quinn