Follow You Home

by Mark Edwards

I stood beside her at the window. Laura came over to look too. An A2-sized map showing what I assumed to be the local area hung on the wall opposite the window. It was just possible to make out a red arrow, indicating where we were, but in the half-light I couldn’t discern any of the place names. ‘Can you read it?’ I asked Alina. ‘Kind of . . . I think that green area there is the Apuseni Natural Park. So we’re in that area of forest just below it.’ She squinted. ‘There’s a town, not too far.’ I scrutinised the black dot she was referring to. The name was short but I couldn’t read it. Not that it really mattered. All we needed to know was that it was a town. People. Civilisation. ‘Did you notice if we went through a town on the train, before we got here?’ I asked. ‘I think so. Yes, I’m pretty sure we did.’ We all turned and looked at the tracks, leading back the way we’d travelled. Whoever had built the railway had cut a wide path through the trees, slicing the forest in two. It was wide enough for two tracks, with another two metres of clear ground either side of the rails. Only the first few metres of this path were visible. Beyond, pitch darkness. ‘How far do you think it is?’