Chapter 17

Won slowed a little after a while of running in the direction he thought his uncle had come from. He’d not been on this side of the river in ages, let alone this far into the forest. He felt lost despite knowing that he’d been going in a pretty much straight line since he started running. But he didn’t turn back, because he was determined to find Wim. His uncle must have lied. He must have not checked properly if Wim was dead, and Wim would at worst just be injured. If he was badly injured Won would take him to a doctor that could save him. Wim was not and would never, ever be dead, he wouldn’t have fallen for his uncle’s tricks, he would have been able to fight him off- And Won felt angry at himself for not completely believing himself. He knew that Wim could very well be dead. He didn’t know exactly what his uncle did, but it was probably something that made him sure that Wim was dead, or else he wouldn’t have just left him alone in the forest. But Won felt that if he even considered that, he would give up. Won came to a halt in the middle of a small clearing. He knew he’d need to do something other than run in a straight line in order to find his brother. He looked down at the floor to see if he could find any clues of where his uncle had come from. He spotted a few small drops of shiny blood on the dry leaves strewn across the forest floor and a bit further back from where he stood, there was a smear of red against a tree, as if his uncle had tripped and grabbed onto it to steady himself. Won tried to imagine how his uncle would have had to have fallen to grab onto the tree like that, and concluded that he would have to turn a bit to the right. Paying attention to any footsteps or other clues, Won continued jogging through the forest. He made a small turn every now and then until he stepped around a tree into another clearing and saw a pool of blood. There were leaves gathered in piles, and Won felt like they looked suspicious, like someone had piled them up. Won gently stepped on one and felt something slightly soft underneath. He pushed some of the leaves aside with his foot to uncover an arm. There was some blood on it, but other than being a bit pale, there didn’t seem to be anything wrong with it. Other than the fact that it was not attached to anyone. Won felt like he would vomit, but he could not look away from the pale and stiff limb buried in leaves. He knew that the previous owner of the arm was probably dead. Won felt selfish hoping it wouldn’t be his brother’s as he leaned took a closer look, but he definitely recognised the small birthmark on the inner wrist. Won didn’t want to, but he started digging through more piles of leaves, but he didn’t find any more body parts. There was a dead mouse, a few smaller knives and a large cleaver that looked like someone had used leaves to wipe some of the blood off. He could not find any more of his brother, and even if Wim had escaped, he was probably too injured to get far. Won shakily picked up the slightly bloody cleaver, and not wanting to touch the arm, he speedily started retracing his steps back to where he had left his uncle. But as he stepped past the last tree, he could not see the bag his uncle had dropped any more. He slipped a little as he hastily ran to where he knew had left his uncle, but the spot where his uncle had fallen was nothing but a small patch of blood being quickly washed off a rock.