Debbie's face displayed an expression of stunned disbelief. "How did it come to this?" She felt her chest tighten into a knot, like a cramp.
"Someone kidnapped the boys on purpose and tried to kill me and Rika!" Matthew explained, as he clenched his fists, barely managing to contain his anger. If his calculations were correct, then the person behind all of this had to be none other than Michel. Although Matthew didn't have any evidence to support his allegations, he was certain that the people he had sent to investigate would eventually find out who had hired those gangsters to kidnap the boys.
"Don't worry. Rika and the boys will be fine," Evelyn comforted her brother.
Closing his eyes with frustration, Matthew nodded to indicate his agreement. 'Rika and the two boys will be fine, ' he told himself continuously. If anything bad were to happen to them, Matthew would be consumed by guilt for the rest of his life.
Thinking of her daughter-in-law, Debbie paced back and forth in the corridor.
Not long after, Matthew, who had gone to the nursing station to get his wound taken care of, reappeared at the door of the resuscitation room. "Mom, Evelyn, you stay here and wait for Erica. I'll check on the boys and come back right after," he told the mother and daughter.
"Sure, go ahead. I'll inform you as soon as Rika comes out," said Evelyn with a nod.
Debbie reminded Matthew to be careful before she watched him leave the hospital in a hurry.
Before he left, however, Matthew took one last look at the light above the door of the resuscitation room. Then, without changing his clothes, he rushed over to the last known location where the boys had disappeared.
Meanwhile, after making sure that the man who had been following him was far behind, Boswell slid down the hillside from behind the rock.
Disregarding the mud on his clothes, the little boy took advantage of the last light to pluck two pieces of wood from the ground in hopes of building a fire.
Fortunately, his father had taught him how to make fire using two pieces of wood rubbed against each other.
However, he had never once tried it before. Despite his best efforts, the poor boy was unable to make fire.
Without heat from the fire, he would surely freeze to death. Not only did he need the heat, but he also hoped that it would help to signal to the people who were looking for him and his brother.
Strange unknown noises from afar took him by surprise from time to time, reminding him that he wasn't exempt of fear. However, he knew that it would be pointless to be afraid. The forest was too dark from him to proceed on foot.
The weather began to turn colder and colder as the icy winds swept the forest. Poor little Boswell trembled under a big tree, thinking about the warmth in his parent's embrace, the delicious food cooked by his grandparents and the laughter of his brothers.
He began to sob in a low voice at first, and then he burst into tears, wailing out in the serenity of the night.
Boswell didn't know how long he had cried when suddenly he saw a helicopter in the sky.
Unfortunately, the people in the helicopter flew past him when they couldn't see him because he was under a big tree.
The next moment, he heard a loud bang, like the sound of a gunshot. He wasn't sure if he was right until he heard it again. This time he was sure that it was a gunshot.
The fact that there was a gunshot meant that someone else had joined them in this forest. Maybe his father had sent someone to rescue him, or maybe the gangsters had called in reinforcements. Whatever it was, Boswell was too afraid to sit around all by himself. He had to follow the sound and find the others first, before they found him.
He heard a voice coming from ahead of him. Gritting his teeth, he stood up and listened closely to find the source of the voice under the dim moonlight.
The forest was home to many pesky critters scurrying back and forth.
The boy would sometimes catch a squirrel running into the bushes from time to time and sometimes he would catch a pheasant running to hide itself from him.
Boswell told himself that even though it was dark out there, he had no reason to be afraid, unless it was a giant beast.
Suddenly, he could hear buzzing sounds from above. He looked up in confusion and found a drone with lights on.
The people sitting in the helicopter might not have seen him, but the drone was flying low enough to spot him from where he was.
Boswell was thrilled. He waved his hands and shouted at the drone, "Hey! I'm here! I'm here!" The boy jumped and jumped, making sure he was loud enough to attract attention.
Unfortunately, that was when what he had been fearing all along finally came true.
Boswell was too focused on the drone in the air to notice any sudden movements around him. He kept shouting happily, "Dad, I'm here! Can you see me? I'm here…"
When he realized that the drone couldn't hear him, he stopped shouting. Just as he closed his mouth, he heard an unexpected noise around him. All of a sudden, he felt a chill run down his spine, as if he were being watched by a pair of sinister eyes.
The little boy's heart leapt to his mouth and he slowly turned around, disregarding the drone hovering right above him.
"Ahh!" The enormous silhouette before him frightened Boswell out of his wits. As he took a step back quietly, he stumbled over a branch and fell on his back.
'Oh my God!' If his eyes hadn't deceived him, the ominous silhouette before him was a bear.
The little boy's face turned pale with fear, but he kept telling himself to calm down and think about what his father had said.
Their thoughtful father had also taught them how to deal with wild animals such as snakes or bears in the wild. According to his father's words, when met with a bear, running would be the first mistake as no matter how fast a human could run, no one could ever outrun a bear in the forest.
Another mistake would be to play dead. Although everyone had heard rumors of bears walking away from a dead body, this rumor was very far from the truth.
In fact, the chances of a bear taking the initiative to attack a person was very low in the first place. The best course of action would be to retreat without provoking it, but slowly walking away or climbing up a tree. If the person trying to escape the bear turned out to be unlucky, then the bear would climb the tree as well. Unfortunately, bears could climb trees faster than any man. Repeating his father's instructions in his head, Boswell decided to calm his thoughts and look to his surroundings for help.
The bear, however, was approaching him one step at a time. Just as it was only a few meters away from Boswell, it leaned forward and let out a deafening roar.
The bear's voice was so loud that it almost broke the poor boy's eardrums, but he didn't move a single inch of his body.
When the distance between the bear and the child was less than three meters, he raised his hands in surrender and tried to negotiate with the bear. "Uncle Bear, I'm just an innocent child. I don't want to hurt you. Please don't hurt me, okay?"
The bear was gigantic compared to the little boy. In fact, it was taller than the two of Boswell combined.
"As long as you don't hurt me, I will leave right away and never come back. I promise!
Please don't come any closer! I'm too skinny! Look at me! I don't have any meat on my body and my bones are too small. Why don't you just let me go? Maybe I'll bring you a fat pig some other day!" W
hen the bear was just about a meter away from him, it suddenly fell to the ground, its eyes still staring at him.
Boswell swallowed nervously.
After staring at the bear for a long time, he tried to stand up slowly from the ground. When he was certain that the bear wasn't going to harm him, he slowly tiptoed away.
Perhaps, it was his good fortune that the bear didn't attack him. He walked ahead with weary legs, while the bear followed him without any intention of attacking him.
When Boswell was about to take another path, the bear suddenly ran ahead and blocked his way.
Frightened, Boswell stood still and wondered what the bear was trying to tell him.
Silence permeated the air between them. Only the sound of the drone in the air and the small creatures squeaking in the distance could be heard.
When the bear saw him stop, it turned around and took the path that went deeper inside the forest.
Boswell couldn't figure out what the bear was trying to tell him, but when he tried to carry on in his way, the bear blocked his way again.
