“Do you really think holding the phone up like that is helping?” My sister said as we walked on the side of the road. We’d been walking for a good thirty minutes or so now and still there wasn’t even 4G service. “It’s going to take us forever to get back to civilization.”

I lowered the phone and looked at her. It was true. As far as the eye could see on either side of the road was nothing but oak trees and leaves covering the ground. “Look on the bright side Kish.” I said, attempting to be optimistic. “At least we’re getting exercise. At least this will make an entertaining story a year from now.”

“What about the bright side of me kicking your ass?” She said.

“I’m not going to dignify the “bright side” of an impossibility.” I said.

“Sounds more like you’re scared it’s true.” She said, and laughed we traded jabs back and forth as we usually did before she became quiet again.

“Something on your mind?”

She hesitated. “I just… You ever just look at the forest and think, ‘what if I just started running’, and then you kept running into it, further and further to the point where even you don’t know where you are? Hypothetically I mean. Like you’d just disappear from the world, live off the land, nobody would know what happened to you, if you were even alive.”

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Kish had changed a lot since that thing two years ago. Before then we were practically inseparable, even when we didn’t want to be. Now we were so busy we hardly had time to talk to each other. In some ways she was still the same crazy girl, but in others it was like I hardly knew her. “What are you running away from? Hypothetically of course.”

She shrugged. “Myself I guess. But I suppose no matter how deep into the forest I was, I still couldn’t escape that.”

Kish was more right about that than she knew. Not even death could allow a person to escape themselves. The body would change, but underneath, the soul was the same, forever.

“You okay?” I said, finally cutting to the heart of the matter.

“Yeah, I’m good. It’s just…” She closed her eyes as she thought. “I’ll tell you after the big family Christmas thing. Promise.”

“I’ll hold you to that.” I said, patting her shoulder. “Don’t forget, I’ve got your back.”

“I’ve got your back too big dummy.” She said. “Don’t forget, you’d be truly lost without me.”

“You’re right. Speaking of which…” I pulled my phone back out to check again. “Ha! We finally have service.”

“Thank god. I’m ready to get the hell out of here.” She said as the phone rang.

Aunt Catherine answered. “Hey, where are you?”

I laughed.” Hey, so you’re not going to believe what happened…”