Taken

Chapter Ten--DENNY

I woke to Haven shaking me.  As I sleepily opened my eyes, I could see snow was falling and covering the ground like a blanket, but that wasn’t why she was shaking me.  Jeremiah was gone.

          “Where did he go?” I asked her as I slipped out of the sleeping back and put on my jacket, my fingers shaking as I attempted to button it up.  “Put on your coat,” I added. “Or else you’ll freeze.”

          “I don’t know,” was all she said and as I looked at the spot where he had lain the night before.  There was nothing but dirt.

          I started to cry, silently, so Haven wouldn’t notice.  She was watching the snow flakes and trying to catch them on her tongue.  She didn’t realize the trouble we were in.

          Was it something I said?  No, it couldn’t have been, I hardly talked to him last night.  I didn’t do anything wrong, but I had notice him scoot away from the fire… I just thought he was warmed up.  But he was scooting farther so that he could make a quiet getaway. 

          “I’m hungry,” I heard Haven say, but her words were muffled by the wind.  Tears stung my eyes and blurred my vision as I numbly pulled out the skillet from my pack.  Out fell a note and I hurriedly unfolded it. 

          As I sat by the fire, hungrily reading the words that Jeremiah had written, more snow blew, and more.  It was sticky snow, quickly piling up on the trees in the distance and more on the ground as I shivered with cold.  When I finished, I crumpled up the note and threw it on the dwindling embers, watching it twist and distort like the way my stomach was wrenching.  I couldn’t look at it anymore.  Even though he went to find our parents and would be back, the snow was brutal and I would be worrying about him until he returned. 

          How long would he be gone? Weeks? Months? Years?  How could I live like that, waiting for him. Why did he leave me? He has to know deep down I can’t make it without him even though he says I can. And I even have to support Haven too.  Should I go after him? Should I force him to take me with him?

          “Grab the food, Haven and pack it up,” I ordered, jumping into action.  Yes, I would follow him.  He wouldn’t get away that easy.  “We are following him.”

          After we had stuffed the blankets in our clothes for extra warmth and heated rocks to put in our boots to keep our toes warm, we followed his tracks northeast, back where we had came into the city.  We moved quickly, running, trying to keep warm but our teeth were chattering.

          “I’m so cold!” sobbed Haven and I picked her up and had her cling to me, zipping up my coat again so we could share body warmth.  She kept her face inside, so she was completely out of the wind. 

          His tracks started to get deeper.  I couldn’t tell if we were getting closer or if the snow had let up some, but finally we got into the trees, not that it was any better. 

          The wind whistled through the barren branches and made an eerie sound.  It seemed to rip through our clothes and nip at our skin and I just wanted it to be over.  But I had to find Jeremiah.  My stomach growled, but I wouldn’t stop.  I was thirsty, but I couldn’t drink.  Not until I found him.

          The tracks were getting deeper, but they weren’t the only ones.  There were bird tracks and deer, paw prints and burrows.  The snow was piling up but the animals knew what to do. They had instincts—but my instincts were to curl up on a couch with a blanket and crank up the heater.  I couldn’t do that though, and it made me even more miserable.

          “Are you okay?” I asked Haven through clenched teeth.  I heard her little reply confirm that yes, she was doing okay.  I was glad, if I wasn’t going to be all right at least she was.  “Are you cold?”

          “No.”

          “Good.” It made me swell with pride.  I was keeping her warm I was doing a good job, I could keep going.  I had more will power now, I could do this.