I turn to say something to Sud, but he isn’t there either.
“It bit me!” Ten cries out, and I look to where he’s pointing at the cobra. I back up quickly just as it comes at me and strikes, barely missing my calf.
Ten sits on the trail, crying. I know he will die if I don’t get him to a hospital.
“Sud!” I call out. It’s suddenly much darker than it was moments ago. I can’t see anything, but I can hear the cobra hissing nearby.
“Don’t move, Nong. I have to get help,” I tell Ten.
“P’Mee Noi, don’t leave me!” Ten says over and over, his pleas ripping at my heart.
“I have to get help! Just don’t move. The snake’s closer to me now. Be very still, Nong, and he won’t detect you.” I knew the darkness wouldn’t deter the cobra from detecting movement.
“I-I can’t stop shaking,” Ten says in a small voice.
There’s a chance the snake will strike when I turn to run, but it’s a risk I have to take. A bite from a cobra is extremely deadly, and Ten is small.
“I’ll hurry,” I promise him and take off running down the trail, expecting to feel the cobra’s fangs sink into me as I do, but it doesn’t happen.
As I run, I call for Sud. He has to be somewhere close by. I’ll tell him to run for Pah and then I’ll go back to Ten.
But Sud doesn’t answer.
Fear and worry over Ten has me shaking, and now I’m worried about Sud, too. I turn a corner, hoping he’ll be there, but he’s not. Why isn’t it dark anymore? I keep running. I should have reached the end of the trail by now, but around the next corner, there’s only more dirt path.
I’m going to be too late! Suddenly, it’s no longer Ten who is in danger, but Sud. I have to find him. Where is he? I can’t lose Sud.
“Sud! Sud! Sud!” I scream, and then, seemingly out of nowhere, the woods around me change, the familiar trees and path becoming dense and wild.
“Sud! Where are you? P’Sud!” I yell.
A horrible, familiar feeling creeps over me.
Sud has left me. He’s all I have, and he’s left me. Frantically, I look everywhere, tripping over limbs, aware of the danger, but I have to find Sud.
He’s left you. He’s left you, just like your parents left you. Just how everyone will leave you. You’re unlovable. You have no one. You’re nothing. If you died, no one would care.
It’s my own voice I hear, taunting me.
Crunching leaves behind me. A shout. Someone’s following me. My panic rises.
“Noi! Mee Noi!”
Hands grab my shoulders and shake me. I try to get away from the person holding me. I have to get to Sud.
Another shake, and my eyes fly open.
Confused and breathing hard, I look around me.
I’m in my bedroom at home. I’m not in the forest. Sud hovers over me, his hair mussed from sleep and pillow creases on his face.
“You left!” I accuse.
“Noi, it’s okay. You were having a nightmare.”
In the dim light of my globe lamp, I can see the worried frown on Sud’s face.
“Sud? You were lost…” I say, and, just like that, I remember.