Counting the Miles

The House In The Tree

THE HOUSE IN THE TREE

The ride through the dark forest takes about ten minutes. When we arrive, I can tell Davis is impressed by John’s tree house. The thing is huge and raps around the base of the tree way high up in the branches.

By the time I’ve finished untacking Jasper and Montoya, Davis has already given himself a tour of the tree house. It has two beds that have been pushed together and a dirty worn-out mattress on top of the frames. There is not electricity so that mean no source of light when it gets dark. There is also a couch looking out of the window. The window has shutters that John and I use to open when we hunted for deer and closed them at night so no bugs came in. I haven’t hunted with him since I was ten.

“What are you thinking I about?” Davis asks interrupting my thoughts. I hadn’t realized that I was staring out of the open window until Davis said something.

“I was thinking about John and Harper and wondering if they even miss me.” I speak softly, not knowing if Davis can actually hear me. He answers that question by saying:

“Oh, do you?”

“Yeah, even if they did hurt me. I still miss them,” I reply in the same quiet way I had before. Davis moves in closer and looks out the window to see what I had been staring at.

It must be passed midnight by now; I’m feeling exhausted. I take off my backpack and grab my sleeping bag from inside. I lay it down neatly on the mattress and sit on it. I pat the spot next to me motioning for Davis to sit, but he doesn’t he just looks back out the window way from my saddened stare.

“Davis,” I say, “Why are you here?”

Davis turns around, his face looking hurt. Then he got mad. “Why am I here? Charlotte—”

“You know what…never mind. Forget I ever said that.”

Davis comes over and sits on the bed beside me. He puts his arms across my shoulders and whispers in my ear:

“To comfort you and help you get through this.”

I lay my head on his strong shoulder and close my eyes. He gave up so much to come with me. He gave up his friends and his family and his home…why would he do that for me? I wouldn’t even do that for myself, nevertheless someone else. We’re not even dating. Maybe he sees me as his sister that he has to protect or something. But it’s not like I need his help. I’d be just fine if I was doing this on my own. Better off even.

I lift my head up off him and he lies down on the bed. I crawl around him and place my head on his chest. I looked up at him and he smiles. I love him. I love him a lot. I want him to know that.

I sit up and he does the same. I turn my head to look at him again. I rotate my body so it’s facing toward him and rap my arms around his neck. I move my eyes from his eyes to his lips. I lean into him and softly touch my lips against his. They’re warm and gentle and I love the way they feel against mine.

 

+++

 

I wake up in shock, dripping in sweet. Davis is sitting up in bed looking down at his lap. I had had a bad dream. I dreamed that we were running and the police were chasing us and we couldn’t get away until we dropped down. Down into nothing. That’s when I woke up.

“Did I keep you up?” I ask apologetically.

“No…well yes, but you weren’t the only thing.”

“Are you alright?” I sit up to be next to him, wiping some sweat from my forehead.

“Yeah. I’m fine.” He stands up and walks to the window. The sun is fresh in the sky, making the clouds different colors. It’s probably six in the morning. “We should move.”

“Why? I think we’re pretty well hidden up here in this tree.”

“The horses could give us away. We have to get rid of them.”

“No! We need them!”

“Be quiet!” He whispered. “They could be anywhere!”

“Fine. I’m going to ride around and see if anyone’s close by.” I open the trap door and climb down the ladder to the horses. I jump on Montoya, bareback, and gallop off into the undiscovered woods. I can feel my gun in the band of my pants and it makes me feel safe.

Davis was being so strange. I could tell he had thought everything through before. That must have kept him up last night. I don’t think it’s good for him to be out here. I don’t mean to underestimate him, but I can tell he’s stressed out. I really appreciate him coming out here with me and all, but it’s too much. Even for the varsity cross-country star.

I ride all around searching everywhere to see if there are any signs of the police being here. As I thought I found nothing. I ride back as slowly as possible, not wanting to have to face Davis again.

Then, interrupting my thoughts, I hear a gun shot. Montoya takes of at a gallop. Through the trees and bushes back from where we came from. I quickly pull the reins in the correct direction back to the tree house. I think of all the possibilities that of what could have happened.

The police could have found our hiding place and found Davis and asked him where I was and he never answered so they shot him and ran off looking for me. Or Davis saw them coming and started running on foot thinking Jasper was a dead give-away and they shoot at him, but miss.

I like the second thought better.

I get back to the tree house just in time to see Davis strapping the backpacks on Jaspers saddle. I jump off Montoya and run to him. He turns around and lifts me up into his strong arms.

“I thought it was you!” I yell. “I thought they had found us!” I feel the tears stream down my face. Davis puts me down and looks my in the eye. He places his lips on mine, just as I did the night before.

“Shh…” he whispers in my ear. I close my eyes, knowing that he can’t stay here with me. That he has to go home to his family.

“Davis,” I say, “You can’t stay here with me. You—”

“Shh…” he repeats, “I’m never gonna leave you.”

We move on from the tree house not knowing where to go. We just walk and walk. We find nothing for hours and hours on end.  I look around thinking about the beautiful world that God has made for us. If he made this world so wonderful how could he let this happen to me? And how could he let me be with Davis and let me care about him so much? How could he let Davis care so much about me that he wants to stay and run with me?

The ringing of a cell phone interrupts my thoughts.  Davis looks at me and then down at his pocket. He sticks his hand in and pulls out his phone and answers it.

“Hello?” He says.

“Who is it?” I ask franticly, knowing that the police can track phones and that we have to get rid of it now.

“What!?” Davis yells into the phone.

“No! I can’t go back now. She needs me.” His voice calms down and his eye’s meet mine.

“Ok. Thank you for your help. Goodbye.” He hangs up the phone, but before he could put it back in his pocket, I take it from him. I jump off Montoya and grab a rock next to her hoof and smash the phone with it.

“What are you doing!?” Davis asks shocked. I look up at him noticing tears in his eyes.

“Smashing the phone. They can track us with it! What’s wrong?” I ask, walking around Montoya and next to Jasper looking up at Davis. He hops off Jasper and raps me up in his arms. I can feel his tears on my shoulder.

“They’re dead, Charlotte,” he whispers in my ear. I feel my eyes light up in shock. “That was Ryan.” Ryan is Davis’ best friend from school. They run together everyday. “He told me. They got into a car accident.” I hug him tighter.

“You’re ok. It’s ok. I love you. I’m so sorry.” I try to think of words that will make him feel better, but I fail.

He lets go and gets back on Jasper. He starts into a gallop and turns to the left into a field of open grass. I hop on Montoya and follow him. Montoya is a retired racehorse, so she is quite faster than Jasper.