Looking for Anton

``Oh where are you Anton?'' Susan cried as she rode along the path in the forest on her donkey. ``Why did you ever decide to take the advice of that stranger and go on the perilous journey through the jungle? It's not as though you were someone who was used to jungle walking in the first place!''

But there was no reply except for the rustling of the leaves in the upper boughs of the trees that make the canopy. It has been two months since Anton had made his trip into the jungle, gripping his brand new walking stick. Susan had begged him not to go, saying that she had a premonition that it will not end up well, but Anton was adamant. He reacted like a man possessed, one who had lost most of his faculties of reason, as though some deeper or higher power had taken over his very being. He ignored her calls and pleas for him to stay. He said that it was his destiny or something ludicrous to her ears, and remembering about what he had said before he left made Susan shed a tear or two.

The donkey made its way slowly along the path. Originally she didn't want to take the donkey along, but her neighbours suggested that she did so given her relatively frail nature. Actually, some of them had volunteered to help her search for Anton, but she wouldn't hear anything about it. Anton was hers, and so she would be the one to find him. Not anyone else.

Suddenly the donkey stopped and brayed out loud. Susan clutched the reigns to maintain her balance. The animal started to walk backwards tentatively, skittish about something. Ahead, Susan strained her eyes, but she did not see anything of note.

What did the donkey see that she didn't? And where was Anton?

(Based on an exercise generated by WriteThis - 19-Jan-2014 13:17:45)