That last statement had finally been able to get through to Richard. Past all of the stern attitude, the confidence, the lack of focus on anything but the seriousness of the situation, he was still there. Hannah had proven that his timid side, the part of him that Cindy took advantage of, was still there. When Cindy talked about Nick never leaving her side, he looked to her and stopped his train of thought. That meant something to him. She was referring to it in the context of him not falling or leaving her during their hike, but it sparked something in him.

He wasn't sure what it was, at first, but he started to feel it a little stronger after thinking about it, with Cindy and Nick walking towards the door, ready for their hike. He remembered it because she had talked about the same thing, years ago, when they got married. During their wedding, Cindy asked him to never leave her side. During that ceremony, he had made a promise to her. He promised to never leave her side, no matter what. It's part of what made him so vulnerable to being taken advantage of during their marriage. He vowed to never leave her side, ever. At that moment, he started to think about how true he'd been, lately, to that promise.

He stood there, for a moment, thinking about it. He hadn't been around Cindy much at all during this vacation. In fact, he'd pushed her away from him and asserted himself. He'd stayed away from her that entire time. As he thought about it, though, he tried to shake it off. He had done what he did for good reason. If he hadn't pushed Cindy in the kitchen, Nick and Hannah would probably be dead. He did what he did to protect his friends' lives. It was all for them, because of them. He had to keep her away from them, even today.

Or did he? Did he really have to keep Hannah away from Cindy today? Did he have to stay away from her? The more he thought about it, the more he realized that he hadn't really spent much time with Cindy that day. He was using the excuse that she was too dangerous to have around Hannah and Nick. Then again, Nick had been around Cindy all day, and he was just fine. In fact, he seemed better than fine. He wasn't afraid of her, at all. He was even hugging on her, showing her that he trusted her. What, then, was the reason he was keeping away from her? Was he just keeping Hannah away from her, or did he just not want to be around her?

Part of him said that he was keeping Hannah away from her. Hannah had been drawn to him, and she was someone he'd been friends with. She was also someone who had offered him advice the night before, about how he couldn't let Cindy walk all over him. Another part of him wanted to stay away from Cindy. He knew that she had been taking advantage of him for years. Ever since she got into this foot fantasy thing, she'd been dominating every aspect of his life, taking complete control. She dictated when he would stop doing things to spend time with her. She decided when he would want to do activities, like kissing her feet. She decided a lot, and part of him hated that.

Every single person out there has a certain amount of independence, or a desire for independence. He didn't want to be a slave to Cindy, or something close to it. On the other hand, he still loved her, and would deal with any misgivings and problems that happened in their marriage. That's what wedding vows were for. You can't get along all the time. You just have to deal with things when you can't, and go on when things don't go perfect. As he was thinking about all of this, however, a familiar voice came to him. It wasn't Cindy, but Hannah. “Hello? Are we gonna go hiking or not? They're already gone!”

Richard was snapped out of his thought-train as Hannah was tugging on the yarn she had around her waist. She was standing up, pulling his finger towards her, trying to get his attention. She'd seen Cindy walk off, with Nick in her hand, and Richard hadn't even moved. She had no idea what he was doing, but she finally got his attention. She looked at her, confused, and she pointed towards the door, which was wide open. “Look! Cindy and Nick are gone. They left without us! Are we going to go on a hike with them, or are you just going to stand there, all day! I mean, I don't mind if you just wanna spend time with me, but seriously! They're long gone. What's up in that head of yours?”

He, honestly, didn't know why he got so caught up in that. He shook his head and apologized to Hannah. After the apology, he walked towards the door and headed outside. It was a calm, silent day, as far as the weather was concerned. Despite the freak storm the day before, there wasn't a cloud in the sky. The wind wasn't blowing, either. It was as if everything was standing still. Using his free hand, he closed the door behind him and started walking down the steps of the porch and into the gravel driveway. In front of him were two paths. One was the driveway, and another was a small, dirt path that led into the forest. Cindy and Nick were nowhere in sight.

“Well, uh...which way...should we go? Do you think they went on the path or just went in some random place?” Richard looked down to Hannah, as if he expected her to know what was going on, or where to go. She looked back up to him, raising her eyebrow at him. How was she supposed to know which way they went? As scary as the world was to her, Richard was making her transition incredibly easy. Having everything on such a large scale was frightful, but having one of those large things coming to you for advice and for help gave her a sense of control and purpose in this place.

She smiled to him and sat back, against her finger. “Well, Richey, sweetie...” she added, making sure to throw out a little emotion in her talking. “I would hope they'd have taken the path, but who knows? Let's just go and try to find them, okay? And if we can't, then we'll just get a little more time to spend together! That wouldn't be a bad thing, would it?” Richard didn't answer that question. He didn't know how to. He just nodded at her suggestion of the path and started heading down that way. He didn't know where Cindy and Nick had gone, but he was hoping they'd find them, and soon...