When Lightning Strikes

Chapter 2 (edited)

Chapter 2 On Our Own

     We had been walking for hours, until are feet began to ache from the sols of our shoes rubbing against them. We had no idea where we were going or what we were looking for. So how would we know when we found it?

     I guess what we were searching for was a life that was the complete opposite of our previous one. By the time the three of us reached a small grassy clearing with thick pine trees lining the outside, the sun had almost completely dipped behind the horizon.

     “We should make camp here for night,” Brianna, with her knowledge from the countless nature books she read, suggested. We all agreed without speaking, and began to unpack what little supplies that we had brought with us.

     Brianna had packed a box of matches, three metal containers filled with water, a small flimsy sleeping bag, a few items of light weight clothing, varied numbers of packaged food. Brianna also carried with her a shiny silk scarf her mother had made for her years ago.

     I brought with me much less then Brianna. What I held in the same back pack as the one I used for school was, a old tattered sweat shirt, two warm fleece blankets I had stolen from Caitlin, one more out fit to change into, Some dried fruit I stole from my kitchen, and of course the stuffed rabbit.

     Sarah brought the least out of all three of us. She had truly not been prepared for this new life. Sarah had with her a small plastic bottle filled with water, a hair brush, a small box with granola bars, a t-shirt, an extra pair of jeans, but the most memorable thing Sarah had taken with her was a pale pink sweat shirt.

     It was made by one of the fancy brands that the girls back at school always wore. She had received it from her thirteenth birthday last year. Her mother had been saving up her money she earned for days to buy it for Sarah. Sarah wanted to remember how hard her mother had worked to make her happy.

     We begin to construct out little campsite. I laid one of the blankets down for me and another one for Sarah, and then I put my sweat shirt on. It was surprising how much the temperature had dropped since the sun had gone down. Brianna along with her sleeping bag had only one extra sleeping mat, so she gave that to me.

     “We need to build a fire, if the temperature keeps dropping like this, we won’t last the night,” Brianna informs us as Sarah pulls out her teddy bear after the fact I told her I brought the rabbit.

     “I’ll go gather some fire wood,” I say as I get to my feet shakily.

     “No chances we’re letting you out there with your arm,” Sarah says to me firmly but in her usual shy quiet tone.

     “Sarah’s right Lightning, don’t think we didn’t notice,” Brianna agrees holding her gaze in my direction. “I’ll go look for some fire wood, you two stay here,” Brianna decides after a moment.

     Once Sarah and I tell Brianna to not go too far she disappears into the brush Sarah looks at me with concern in her deep blue eyes. “How did it happen, your arm I mean?” Sarah questions me gently.

     I look away not in the mood to discuss the recent events. I took into consideration that it might get infected out here in the middle of nowhere. The blood had begun to seep through and my feeble bandage that had started to unravel

     “I’ll be okay,” I finally get out after the pressure of today’s stress and fear of a new beginning weighs down on me.

     “That’s not what I asked you, how did it happen? What did they do this time?” Sarah prompts me soothingly.

     I think about this for a moment, not how it happened, but why. Why had my father deliberately tried to obliterate me? The only conclusion I ever came to was, that he wanted control. He always wants control.

     I watched him, when he wasn’t tormenting me; I was tucked away in some secret little space. I watched him yell at my mother because he wanted the TV on a certain volume, I heard him when he yelled at Caitlin for changing the radio station, and I listened when my mother explained how he hated me because he wanted to control my birth.

     “He cut me,” I finally tell Sarah. She never said anything more; all she does is sit beside me on the soft blanket and hold me in her arms to try to comfort me.

     Brianna came back with an arm load of fire wood, and then she removed her small box of matches from her backpack and little a nice warm fire so that we could settle down for the night.

     If escaping a life of horror and pain meant a life where you would have to fight for survival, then I guess I had made the right choice. Didn’t I?  What ever happens from now on, all three of us would now be on our own.