Taken

Chapter Nine--JEREMIAH

The water was frigid, but it got the job done.  Denny bundled me up in blankets even though I was perfectly capable of doing it myself.  She insisted, so I let her, and she started up the fire quicker than I ever had shortly afterwards.

          “How’d you do that?” I asked.  The shirt she had gotten me was a polo and the collar was bothering me.  I tugged at it until I heard some of the threads pop.  I wouldn’t tell her I didn’t like it though, I couldn’t bring myself to be such a jerk.

          “Easy,” was all she said.

          “Food?” I asked, making a move to get up, but she pushed gently on my shoulder and made me sit right back down.

          “I have it under control.”

-

          For the next few days, we tried to stay in the vicinity of the river.  Although it wasn’t much of a food source, the water was clean and drinkable. We kept the fire going throughout the day as they got even colder.  Haven was becoming more and more like a lump on a log that didn’t talk much rather than an annoying little girl and I was relieved for that. 

          “Jeremiah?” she asked one day, in that small way of hers, that tiny voice.

          I was spacing out, thinking about what we could possibly do next.  I wasn’t very happy about what I was thinking, but thought it was getting to the point where it had to happen sooner or later.

          “Yeah?”

          “Do you like me?”

          I glanced over to see Denny still by the river.  She was out of earshot.  “Of course,” I said and I meant it.  “Why do you ask a silly question like that?”

          She shrugged.  She was sitting close enough I tapped her nose.  “Silly goose.”  She giggled and wrapped her arms around my waist.

          “We need some food,” Denny said, approaching with a pan full of water to boil.  Even though the water was clear, she was still paranoid, so she always boiled it.  It cooled off quick anyways due to the freezing temperatures. I didn’t complain.

          She kept staring at me, expectant.  Her look said, Get up you lazy bum, all your cuts and bruises have healed.  Which most of them had, but I couldn’t tell what she wanted since a week before she wouldn’t let me do anything.

          I stood and gathered everything in my backpack.  I knew she would say we needed food sooner or later and this was my cue.  I decided in less than a minute.  If we were going to get out parents back, we needed to cover ground quickly, faster than the pace we were moving now.  I would eventually return, yes, but we couldn’t all go.  Denny would have to learn to get food herself for a while and stay in one place, to hold down the fort and be there when I got back.

          I gave her a hug and kissed her forehead.  I looked into her eyes, knew she had no idea I most likely wasn’t coming back.  It was a quick decision. My heart was beating fast, butterflies were fluttering like crazy in my stomach.  I couldn’t tell her though, she wouldn’t let me leave.  I knew how she was, I knew that she wouldn’t think she could get along by herself.  But she’s stronger than she knows, she can do it.  I would never leave her otherwise.

          I knew she thought nothing of this act of endearment.  She would go back to boiling her water, telling Haven about different things.  About how two plus two equals four or other school stuff.  She had always wanted to be a teacher.

          There was a lump rising in my throat and I couldn’t speak, couldn’t even tell her a simple, “You can do this,” or “I won’t be long, I promise.”  I just muttered, “I love you,” and turned and walked off.  I knew where I needed to go first.

-

          “You are leaving them?” Grady’s voice was but a hushed whisper, but I could sense the shock.  I was still bitter towards him, but I needed to let someone know where I was going.  “Just like that? No note, no nothing?  They could starve to death waiting for you to come back.”

          I sighed.  I never thought of it that way, but leave it to Grady.  He was always the worrier.  “I should write a note, shouldn’t I?”

          “Yeah, man. Explain it to her.”

          “How do I get it to her though?”

          “Just sneak back to the campsite when they are asleep.”

          I thought about this.  “She won’t be able to sleep until I come back.”

          “Well then come back with a lot of food, and once she does,  leave the note and go.”

          That was a good idea.  “Do you have any paper?”

          “I think there is some somewhere around here.  Maybe at a checkout desk. We’ll look there.”

          I put my hand on the doorknob, ready to twist, when Grady laid a hand on my shoulder.  “But man, I don’t think this is such a good idea.  You know how I could always feel it in my bones when a storm was coming? My hip hurts real bad today, I think something’s coming. Something bad.”

          “Ah, Grady, we can’t base everything on an intuition.  Come on, show me where the paper is.”

-

          Grady gave me enough food that would last the girls a week and a half or so.  When I came back, sure enough, Denny was sitting on a log by the fire.  It was burning down and she was absentmindedly poking it with the metal rod we found in a ditch.        “There you are,” she said.

          “Here I am.”  I tried not to act like something was bothering me, when something was.  It was going to be even harder to leave her after coming back.

          The letter felt heavy in my pocket even though it was as light as a feather.  In it I had explained everything, hoping she would understand.  I wrote some encouraging things for her, told her a few places and ways to find something to eat.  I told her the berries that were poisonous and told her where the species of bird’s eggs we always ate nested.

          “Wow, that’s a lot,” she said, looking at the stash of food I dropped by the pile of bags. 

          I couldn’t say anything.  I wouldn’t lie to her, but I couldn’t tell her what was really going to happen. “It’s kind of late,” I said, changing the subject.  “You should probably lie down.”

          “I am pretty tired.”

          I scooted my sleeping bag as far away from the fire as I could without making it obvious.  I set my bag beside my pillow and watched as Denny slipped into her sleeping bag. 

          I waited so long I fell asleep, but woke up just before dawn. My nose was cold and there was snow in my hair.  The girls were still dozing.  I had to be even quieter as I crept out, grabbing a granola bar and buttoning my coat up.  It was colder than it had been all season and snow covered the ground.  The cloudy sky threatened more. I was hoping that Grady was wrong.

          I left, forcing myself not to look back.