I wake up because I feel lips pressing softly on mine, it just lasts a moment and when I slowly open my eyes I see Alan with a smug smile on his face looking down at me. "You were like Sleeping Beauty here, we tried to wake you up for minutes."
I push myself up on my elbows and, yes I am back in the woods, I feel a lot better and as I look around I notice Alex sitting on my other side watching me wide eyed.

I remember the nosebleed and my hand shoots up to my face but I can't feel anything unusual, so I turn to him. "What?"
He seems to snap out of his staring mode and shakes his head. "Nothing" he mumbles his eyes averted. "We should be going, it is a long way." He gets up and holds out his hand to pull me up.

I take it and he pulls me a little too strong so I practically slam into his chest and I grip his waist to steady me, he closes his arms around me and holds me in his embrace for a moment our faces only inches apart and his gaze drops from my eyes to my lips. Before I can react the moment has passed and he releases me beginning to collect all the things that lie around the camp, I follow and the three of us pack up my equipment in record time.

The boys are nice enough to pack my stuff in three bags so that everyone of us carries the same weight. Then we start our journey, one boy on either side and me in the middle opening a box of cookies and sharing them to make up for the lack of breakfast we had.

The first few minutes we walk in an awkward silence and I begin to dread the idea of having to spend the next two days with the two of them but then Alex looks over to me with a smile and takes my hand in his and so does Alan, I have to giggle and so do the boys and that's it.

The air is cleared between us and we start to talk and joke and fool around and I actually enjoy not being alone anymore. We walk for a couple of hours then I have to ask the boys if we could take a break. These days I seem to tire easily but still I feel a lot better than on 'the other side' but luckily the two agree quickly and we find a little creek and sit down on the banks letting our feet dangle into the cool water.
I lean into Alex's side resting and he throws his arm around my shoulder, he loses more and more of his shyness around me and I like it.

Alan sneaks up from behind and shoves the both of us into the stream cracking up laughing. Luckily the water isn't too deep but still we are wet up to the waist. "Hey, we have no time to take a bath here, get out of the water and get going." He yells at us as we try to clamber back onto land slipping on the muddy edge. "You will gonna regret this Alan." Alex growls but Alan just snorts at him, not taking this threat seriously.
After we dry ourselves we continue our journey and after about another hour of walking mostly uphill we reach a crest and pass a beautiful giant solitary oak tree.
I look at it in awe when we walk past whereas Alan and Alex don't seem to take notice and just call out "Hi Jack " and walk on.

I stop in my tracks only for them to notice after a couple of steps and turn around looking at me questioningly.
"What was that?" I ask them "did you just call the tree Jack?"

They look at each other and snicker . "No, silly," Alex explains "we just said Hi to Jack who sits up in the tree."

I look up but cant see anybody through the dense foliage. "How do you know he is up there? I can't see a thing?"

"Oh he always sits up there." Alan shrugs.

I gasp "like, all the time? Why?" I am shocked but they don't seem fazed at all.

"Yeah pretty much all the time, we don't know why." Alex adds hesitantly.

"Do you think I could climb up and talk to him?" I wonder getting yet some more shrugs.

I walk to the huge trunk only to find the lowest branches still too high for me to reach and I look at the boys pleadingly.

They sigh and come back then lace their hands and bend down so I could step my foot in and standing up they practically launch me up to the nearest branch, then they just sit down leaning their backs onto the tree and wait. It is funny how we came to understand each other without words after such a short time of knowing each other.

I have difficulties in climbing this huge tree as the branches are thick and widely spaced, I look around several times while climbing higher and higher but I cant see anybody.

Then just as I am about to give up and return also because I feel I am already alarmingly high up, I see a figure sitting with it's back towards me out on one of the big branches, I slowly and carefully inch myself towards him. I should have guessed it by now but I am still surprised to see his skunk hair when I get close.

As I don't want to startle him and have him falling off, I decide to call over to him before I am actually reaching him as he is still oblivious of my presence.
"Hey Jack," I try to be not too loud but of course he still jumps at the sound and turns to me with a shocked look. I smile and wave my hand. "Hi, I'm Mel, mind if I join you for a bit?"

He hesitates for a moment but then a small smile appears on his lips and he nods and pats the spot beside him so I cautiously crawl closer, my eyes transfixed on the branch so to not lose my balance.

I let out a deep breath when I finally made it out to him and sit down, I take in the view from this elevated spot and it is incredible. We can see into a valley that looked like something straight out of a fairytale. As if no human being had ever set foot into this wonderful natures creation, I can fully understand why he was sitting here. We both look out into the beauty silently for a while.
Then he turns around to me and asks. "How can you see me? And know my name? Where do you even come from?" He shakes his head in confusion.

I smile back and I somehow have the feeling I could tell him everything, he would understand, he would not freak out or judge me.

"I don't really know how I get here, it happens over and over again but I can't control it, I don't know why I can see you and others don't, and I know your name, well I know you, from another place but I can't explain why." I look at him and see his confusion still evident, well I didn't do a good job explaining anyway.

"Look, I have a lot of questions about this as well and I met Alex and Alan and they want to bring me to the king." I think about it for a moment and then I continue. "Why are you sitting up here on your own all the time?" It is something I think I can remember the 'other' Jack would not do.

He looks at me and then averts his eyes staring back into the valley. He shrugs. "I don't know, I think it is because I don't have a friend."
"What about Alan and Alex?" I ask, they seemed to like him or why would they greet him?
He sighs. "Alan is close to the king and Alex, he is friends with everybody." He answers sadly and let's his head hang low.

That sounds nothing like the Jack I know and it makes me sad to see him like that. I don't remember much but I am sure about the fact that Jack had always been a happy go lucky person and the centre of every party. So in a whim of the moment I say. "Jack, I can be your friend. Do you want to come with us?" I hold out my hand and nod at him encouragingly.
He looks taken aback and frowns at my offer but I keep my eyes locked on his and after a moment he gives in and takes my hand, a small smile creeping on his lips.

Together we climb down but it is a lot harder to get down than up and Jack has to help me a couple of times.
When we get to the ground both of the other boys jump up surprised but they regain their composure quickly and hug Jack who is clearly feeling uncomfortable. I feel sorry for him and take his hand and declare. "Jack here is going to join us." I smile at him reassuringly but notice Alex's face fall slightly when he looks at our entwined hands. I ignore that though and start walking, still holding hands and Jack makes no attempt to pull back his hand and he seems to relax more.

Now we are starting to become a posse and although we don't talk for the next hour or so I really enjoy being with this group. I don't know how the boys find their way in this wilderness but they seem so sure of where they are going that I don't question their decisions.

When the sun sets in the west, we decide to find a place to camp for the night and start to gather wood to make a fire. We sit around the fire as it slowly gets dark and Jack and I sit side by side and talk lowly when I look up because I feel someone's eyes boring into me.

Alex sits across from us and stares at us with an expression on his face I can't quite decipher, he looks somehow sad but also agitated and I raise my eyebrows at him in a silent question. He notices and nods his head sideways to motion for me to follow him, then he gets up and declares he is going to refill the water bottles. I get up and join him.

When we bend down together at the small well that is close to our camp side he starts to speak.. "Why did you have to take Jack with you?" He doesn't sound angry rather desperate and I don't know what his problem is, so I try to explain the situation.

"Alex, he seems to be very lonely and sad but that's not how he really is, trust me , I can't tell you why but I know a totally different side of Jack and he really is a cool and funny guy, the best friend you could wish for."

He shakes his head. "I know, but you don't know what this does to me, we used to be friends but I messed up and he never forgave me and now-" he sighs deeply and wipes his eyes with his lower arm.

Oh, of course, how stupid of me! I just assumed I could come into their lives and act like I know them, which is not true, I have no idea, what is going on with them in this reality. They could have been lovers or friends or enemies, I just thought they would be the same as in the other life but that was a mistake.

"Uh, uhm, Alex, I'm sorry I didn't think about this before. What can I do to help this situation?" I hold him by his arms and turn him towards me to look in his face.
"Nothing" he mumbles and then suddenly he bends down a bit and softly kisses me. I am surprised by his move but kiss back and all too soon he brakes the kiss and hurriedly turns around to leave. I stand there dumbfounded, what has just happened?
I have to remind myself that I obviously don't share a history with these 'versions' of the people I know, so their motives and actions are somewhat unpredictable to me.

I get up and join the group at the fire again, and soon enough sleep overpowers me and I snuggle into jacks side and fall asleep.

Notes

Oh yes lovelies, I'm struggling with this story, I bet you can tell, it's all in my head but I can't seem to get it out the right way. Mhm. Makes me unhappy. :( anyway. Have a nice day.