The Valuable

Chapter 8

Though Rupert is sound asleep beside me, I can't keep my eyes closed for more than a second without imagining my ninety-year-old body sitting in the same position that I am now in seventy-two years. At least I'm not the only insomniac tonight, as Rupert's dog is right next to me licking my cheek every ten seconds. After about three hours of sleeplessness, I decide to get up and walk around. It's obvious that Rupert will be out for the rest of the night, so I don't bother to wake him up and tell him where I'm going. I get up from the earthy floor and start walking with the dog trotting behind me. Although I'm unaware where I will lead myself, I'm sure that it will be more interesting than what I've been doing all night so far.

After about twenty minutes, I reach a river with a small waterfall leading into it. Remembering that I have Anastasia's canteen attached to my belt loop, I refill it with the somewhat clean river water. I sit down and let the dog run through the water to cool herself off. I laugh at how crazily happy the dog is splashing around, suddenly realizing that I haven't laughed in a long time.
"You're kind of like my safe haven.", I whisper to the dog, smiling in the dark. "I think that's what I'll call you, Haven.", I say remembering that Rupert had mentioned her being nameless. Haven dashed out of the water and playfully tackled me to the ground licking my whole face. She then took a diving leap back into the water splashing both myself and a dirt covered mound next to me with a huge load of water. I wipe the water off of my face noticing that the splash had caused some of the dirt to fall off the mound which revealed a small part of whatever was under the dirt. I get up and inch towards it, noticing that the visible area is smooth and stone-like. I try to pry more dirt off with my hands, but I am unable to do so as it is stuck on like glue.
"Haven! Here girl!", I call to the dog.
She gallops over, smiling and begins to sniff the exposed stone. I yank of a piece of chipped stone from the fixture and allow her to smell that too. Now we'll be able to find this area again with Rupert.

I slice a piece of bread for Rupert and I to share as I hear him waking up next to me after arriving back to our camp.
"Good morning.", Rupert says gruffly, rubbing his eyes.
I hand him a piece of bread and start to pack up our makeshift camp so that we can get moving after breakfast.
"What's the rush boy? Did you find hidden treasure in the middle of the night?", he asks jokingly, shoving the bread into his mouth.
"Actually, yes. Sort of.", I say confidently. "Haven and I found a lake with some stone fixture near it, it looks interesting."
"Haven?", he chuckles.
"Yes, Haven.", I say patting the dog on her back. We both finish our bread and take a sip of water before I let Haven sniff the piece of stone I broke off of the fixture. She immediately runs forward, and Rupert and I follow close behind her. As we walk, a question comes to mind.
"Did you leave anyone that you love behind when you, you know, escaped?", I wonder aloud.
"I did. My little boy, he was less than a year old when I was taken into the room.", Rupert whimpers as he wipes a salty tear from his cheek.
"What about your son's mother?", I ask daringly.
"She died during childbirth, though I miss her just as much.", he spills.
"How do you deal with the pain.", I frown, thinking of Anastasia.
"You remember that you're fighting for them, and one day, all of this will be over.", he informs me.
I'm still digesting that information when Haven leads us to the riverbank. I  gesture for Rupert to follow me and I show him the stone wall peeking through the dirt. Rupert squints at the wall, feeling it's smooth surface. He makes several grunt-like noises as he thinks. Then grabbing a long piece of bark from the ground, he begins to chip away at the solid dirt covering the rest of the wall. I do the same until we uncover a series of faded words imprinted into the stone. My face goes pale as I read what it says.
"You're going to have to help me with this one, boy, my eyes are getting weaker by the day.", Rupert huffs in exhaustion.
"It-it says The Valuable. This is where the chip in my brain goes.", I stutter.
Touching the back of my head, I trip backwards in utter disbelief.