Alice’s super-duper watch had a light on it, so I knew it was nearly eleven o’clock. I’d never before been out so late without an adult, and I so wasn’t enjoying it.
I had piled a big heap of moss on the ground, and Alice and I were huddled together on it, trying to keep warm. We weren’t talking very much. For the first time in our whole lives, we had run out of things to say.
‘What was that noise?’ she hissed.
I was so cold and hungry I’d forgotten about being scared for a while, but now I was terrified all over again. I clung on to Alice.
‘Is it a wolf?’ I said.
‘Shhh. There it is again.’
I still couldn’t hear anything.
‘Did it sound like a wolf?’ I asked.
‘How am I supposed to know what a wolf sounds––’ she began to say, then she grabbed me again. ‘Can’t you hear it now?’ she whispered.
I shook my head.
‘Maybe you’re imagining it. It’s probably just my stomach rumbling again. Or it could be my teeth chattering.’
‘Shhh. There it is again,’ said Alice. ‘It’s voices. Listen.’
At last I could hear it too – the sound of voices, far away and very faint. I jumped up. ‘What’s the French for “help”?’ I asked.
Alice hobbled up to her feet, leaning on me for balance.
‘Who cares?’ she said.
Then she let out a screech that almost deafened me.
‘Help! Help! We’re over here! Help! Please help us!’
I shouted too.
‘Help! Help! Over here! Help!’
There was silence, and then we could hear the voices once more, a bit closer this time.
Alice and I shouted and shouted. My throat began to hurt, but I didn’t care. I forgot all about being cold and hungry and thirsty. Nothing mattered now except for getting out of the forest.
Soon we could see lights, and hear the sound of people trampling through the forest. Suddenly I had a really horrible thought.
‘What if it’s not the police?’ I said. ‘What if it’s robbers or kidnappers?’
‘At this moment, I don’t really care,’ said Alice. ‘All I want to do is get out of here. So keep on shouting.’
She was right, so we shouted some more, until two very kind French policemen were standing beside us saying, ‘Meg-anne? Al-eese?’ and Alice and I were jumping up and down and trying not to hug them, we were so glad to see them.
One of the policemen carried Alice all the way to the road, which was only about a hundred metres from where we had been sitting. We should have felt really stupid, but we were much too happy for that.
When we got to their police car, the policemen gave us blankets to wrap ourselves up in. The blankets were a bit smelly, but I didn’t care. I just wanted to be warm again.
Then one of the men pulled a big red apple from his pocket, and handed it to us with a smile.
‘Hungry?’ he said.
We didn’t answer. Alice just grabbed the apple, took a bite and then passed it to me. I took a bite and passed it back to her. And so we continued, until there were only pips and a stalk left. It wasn’t the freshest, crispest apple I’d ever had, but that didn’t matter right then. It tasted better than the yummiest cake I had ever eaten in my whole life.