One step closer sample

Instructions

One step closer sample - its VERY short so let me know if you want more ( Random page ) [ STARTING POV - Jenna ] I wandered through the dark green forest, the same path Alice used to walk every afternoon. The air felt heavier here, like it remembered things even when I didn’t. I had this faint, blurry memory of the three of us ; me, Alice, and Kade sitting at the edge of the forest with our legs dangling over the drop. None of us talked. We didn’t need to. I remember Kade’s mom calling our names for almost thirty minutes before she finally found us, all sunburnt and pretending we hadn’t heard her. Those were the good days, the kind that felt endless until they weren’t. I found a resting spot beneath a crooked oak and lowered myself onto the mossy ground. My journal fell open to page 41, the corner already bent from being flipped too many times. I started sketching the scene in front of me . Soft outlines first, then the shadows, then the curve of the branches. The distant waterfall rumbled like a heartbeat, its water slipping over the rocks in a rhythm that felt almost like a melody I used to know. When I finished the last details of the tree trunk, I stood up and brushed away a few flies buzzing too close to my face. I tightened my headband, letting my hair fall back into place, and kept walking with no real direction. The forest didn’t ask anything of me. It didn’t rush me. I could stay here as long as I wanted. There wasn’t anywhere waiting for me anymore, and honestly, I wasn’t in a hurry to go back to anything. [ SWITCHED POV - Kade ] “Catch the ball! CATCH THE BALL!” I yelled, already out of breath. My voice cracked a little from shouting so much. Sweat dripped down my forehead, and I wiped it away with the back of my hand. We’d been out here for almost an hour, and somehow Alice still managed to send the softball flying over the fence… again. She wasn’t bad at learning things . She picked stuff up pretty fast , but it always took her a while before she could do it without messing up. I kept telling her she’d get it eventually, but at this point I was starting to think the fence was collecting more balls than she was. I jogged over to the cooler and grabbed two cold water bottles, the plastic already foggy from the heat. I twisted one open for myself and held the other in my hand as I walked back toward the field. But when I got there, the spot where Alice had been standing was completely empty. Her glove was still on the ground. The bat was leaning against the fence. But Alice? Gone. Like she’d just evaporated into the air. I spun around, scanning the field, the bleachers, even the shady spot under the big oak tree. Nothing. Not even her footsteps in the dirt. “Alice?” I called out, my voice suddenly way quieter than before. The only thing that answered me was the wind pushing through the grass.