Lily drove down the long stretch of highway that cut through the dense trees, looking for signs of life. Signs of another house or a cabin or a tent even. Not that a person could really pitch a tent in these trees, there was not a big enough space.

She’d driven this way before, looking for Caleb, but she had never seen any hints of a home. She was frustrated. It would have been easier if she could have found him by driving.

She still walked in the woods daily, but she could only go so far. She tied ribbons to the trees as she walked, to mark her path. She had a compass now, and she wore a coat, even though it was now mid-summer. She was seven months pregnant. It was getting harder to keep up this walking. Especially over uneven ground. Her balance was off because of the pregnancy.

But the baby seemed more involved now. It kicked her. Mostly when she slept. Which Caleb could feel too. He would still not tell her where he was in the real world. Sasha had said he lived nearby. He wasn’t meditating to Alinora. If only she had Sasha’s psychic abilities. They would come in handy about now.

She drove up to her house and parked in the garage. She went inside and ate a snack. Hunger was a constant thing now. She then packed a lunch to take on her walk. It was back to the woods for her. She had to find him. She knew he was out there.

She put on her comfy hiking boots, warm stretch pants, baggy shirt, and grabbed her jacket. She grabbed her backpack. It would hold her lunch and compass, and flashlight. Sometimes she found herself still in the woods when it began to get dark.

She put her jacket in her backpack too for now and went out to the yard with a new batch of ribbons—each path she made was a different color—and started walking. She went to the right. She’d tried left and straight forward, and variations thereof. She’d never tried this far right before.

She walked for about an hour. She had no idea how many miles that might be. She should get a pedometer, she just realized, though she wondered if that would work in the woods with the uneven ground. Her footsteps here were not exactly uniform in length.

Just then she heard a sound cutting through the quietness. It sounded like a rustling. She froze. Could it be him? Or an animal? She had discovered few animals on her walks in the woods, at least not big ones. They too found it too dense for travel. It was mostly gophers and squirrels and rabbits.

She couldn’t see what was making the noise, but then she heard his voice. It was Caleb’s voice. Finally!

“Molly!” he shouted.

Then she saw what must be Molly running towards her happily. It was a black dog, a mutt. Possibly a cocker spaniel mix. Molly ran up to Lily with her tail wagging.

Lily bent down as much as she still could and said, “Hey, sweetheart,” and patted Molly on the head. Molly jumped up and put her paws on Lily’s big stomach, so she could be petted more easily. Lily laughed and rubbed behind Molly’s ears.

“Molly!” Caleb’s voice said, getting closer.

“Shh….” Lily said quietly to the dog. Molly wagged her tail obediently.

Then she saw him. He stepped into view in a tangle of trees 20 feet away or so. Molly got down then and sat next to Lily, waiting. And Caleb looked up and finally saw her.

He stopped walking and stood perfectly still.

“Caleb,” Lily said happily.

“No, no no no, this is not real,” Caleb said. He immediately turned and started hurrying away. Molly ran happily after him.

“Caleb! Wait!” Lily said. She couldn’t run after him. She tried walking carefully through the trees, but he was faster than she was. She was out of breath and couldn’t see him anymore. She stopped walking.

Once she caught her breath she took a piece of bright purple ribbon and tied it to a low branch on a nearby tree. She was determined to find him again.

The next day she drove about two miles down the highway in the direction she’d been walking when she found Caleb. She planned to walk straight into the woods until she found her path of ribbons, and then continue from there. She’d packed enough food for at least two meals, and plenty of water. More than once she’d found herself needing to pee in the woods. Pregnancy bladder. So she brought along wipes in a plastic zipper baggie too. And an empty baggie for garbage.

It was almost like camping for a day, without the overnight part.

“What a weird life I have,” she muttered to herself as she pulled off the road, got out of her car, and started walking. She had more purple ribbon ready for when she found her path again.

It took about 20 minutes of walking before she found it, she thought she may have gone too far. She kept walking in the direction Caleb had gone, marking her path as she went. She walked for about 45 minutes and then she found it. Over to her left, she saw more light coming through the trees. She turned and followed it. It became clear it was a cabin in a clearing.

She was out of breath. She stopped and took a swig of her water. She thought about how she should approach. Quietly? But there was no chance of that. She heard Molly bark and saw the dog bounding into the woods after her.

“Thank you, rascal,” Lily said quietly to her as she bent down to pet her. She followed Molly out of the trees and into a clearing that was filled with a garden. With the cabin in the middle.

There was a stone pathway leading up to a low deck in front of the small house, where Caleb sat on a bench, in jeans and a flannel shirt. He was staring at his hands. She approached slowly.

“Caleb,” she said quietly.

“Don’t talk to me,” he said gruffly. He didn’t look up.

She stopped walking.

“Why are you acting like this?” she asked.

“You aren’t real,” he said, still staring at his hands. “Apparently I’ve finally gone crazy.” He buried his face in his hands.

Lily started walking again. Molly stayed with her. They reached Caleb and Lily touched his shoulder. He jumped up.

Lily was startled. He walked over to the edge of the deck, where there was a wooden railing. Off to the side. He faced away from her.

“I am real,” she said.

“I met you in a dream,” he said. “That makes you pretty imaginary.”

“Not here,” she said. “When you dream here, in these woods, you go through a portal. To Alinora.”

He turned and looked at her then. He looked amazed.

“You look just like her,” he said. “But you can’t be her.”

“Who?” she asked.

“Lily,” he said.

“I’m Lily,” she said firmly. “And Alinora is real.”

He started pacing. “How do you know these things?”

“The seer in the village in Alinora told me,” she said.

“Did you tell me this in Alinora?” he asked.

“Most of it… I can’t remember,” she said.

He walked towards her. “I thought I made it up,” he said. “You, that place, all of it. It didn’t matter what the seer said. I thought I made her up too.”

“But you didn’t,” she said, reaching up to touch the scar she’d touched so many times in Alinora. He grabbed her hand and stopped her. Then quickly let go of her hand.

She couldn’t understand why he wasn’t happy to see her.

“Please go,” he said. He walked toward his front door.

“But wait,” Lily said. She was going to argue with him, but she couldn’t think of what to say. Didn’t he love her? That seemed too… honest to blurt out. She’d never had to beg for his love before. This was bizarre. “Caleb,” she said sadly as he stepped inside his house with Molly and shut and locked the front door.

She turned and walked quickly down the stone walkway and back into the woods. She didn’t want him to see the tears running down her face.

* * *