The J Project

Chapter 4

Day 2- Blake

I'd never seen anyone shaken up that bad before. As the others and I stood there awkwardly while Alex and Gwen exchanged their hug, I tried to imagine what could have happened. And the fact that she was out here with her sprained ankle... I had to know what happened, since I'd rather not come out here and get killed by whatever frightened her.
Jogging up to the front, I ask, "So Gwen, do you think you could tell us what happened?"
She slowly released Alex, hands shaking, and replied, "Okay. Yeah. Well, I walked out here to, um, relieve myself, then I heard a sound in front of me. It was a low, gurgling sound, which totally freaked me out, obviously. Then it just, creeped out of the brush right in front of me.. and..." Gwen started hyperventilating, then sat down quickly, holding her ankle. She let out a scream, the pain overcoming her. I had to hear her finish though.
I kneeled next to her while Alex rewrapped her splint "Gwen, what came out of the brush?"
She took a few deep breaths, "A baboon." I stood up quickly, turned to Taryn and said, "Told you so." She laughed.
We began our way back to camp , Gwen slightly miffed that we had laughed at her story. We apologized, because of course, it wasn't her. When we reached camp once again, it was almost sundown, so Taryn and I set out to hunt something down for dinner. She walked ahead of me, shuriken drawn and at the ready. I had my bow, and arrow dancing across my fingers as we awaited our prey to present itself.
Out of the bushes, a hare crossed the jungle path. I drew my bow, but Taryn was much quicker. By the time I had it notched, she had already launched her shuriken into the hare's neck.
"Nice kill." I said. She gave a small smile and we continued on.
The silence was so awkward between us, I had to say something... "So, do you come here often?" As soon as I said it I knew it was the corniest thing I could have ever said... I turned away and face palmed myself. When I turned back Taryn was just smiling to herself, a big grin on her face. The sun was hitting her face perfectly and it made her almost...glow. Her hair almost looking a dark blue. She really did look beautiful.
She turned to face me and gave me a puzzled look. "What are you looking at?" I realized I had been staring a little too long and snapped out of it.
Time for a cover up, "You have something smooshed on your cheek." She started slapping at her cheek, trying to get "it" off. I chuckled, "You got it."
We continued walking through the jungle and we ended up catching a few more hares'. One for each of us actually.Then began our walk back to camp. On the way back I kept thinking to myself, 'Come here often?' How stupid could I be? I looked to my right to catch a glance of her again. Even without the sun on her face, she was just a natural beauty.
Once we got back to the camp we got swarmed by everyone who wanted to see what we caught.  I walked away from the group to go put my weapon away and later on, we cooked up the hares and ate. All sitting around the campfire. Of course I somehow ended up next to Taryn.
After we all ate, we decided to bring out the instruments again. I took the guitar and Alex took the violin. There was a moment of awkward silence as we all just kind of sat there, waiting for something to happen. "I really only know a few songs," Alex said. "And I think I'll play my favorite for right now.." He began to play and I recognized the song immediately. Secrets.
"I love this song." Taryn and I said aloud at the same time. We looked at eachother for a quick moment and then I looked away, embarrassed.
I knew all the words to the song, but I didn't want to be the only one singing. I would never tell anyone I actually liked to sing, so I just kind of went over the lyrics in my head. 'I need another story, Something to get off my chest..' And then there was a voice. Someone else was singing the song. It was Taryn. "My life gets kinda boring, Need something that I can confess..."
She continued on. I just stared at her, again I may add, dumbstruck. She had the prettiest voice I have ever heard.  I made sure to keep my mouth shut this time though so I didn't say anything stupid. Unfortunately, that didn't work.
I began to sing with her, despite the cheesiness, "'Til all my sleeves are stained red, From all the truth that I've said.."  We actually harmonized pretty well together. We continued to sing the song and the others just kind of listened and smiled and clapped for us, then joined in later. After the song was over Taryn and I looked at eachother and she smiled at me, then looked away. The rest of the night was full of everyone singing random songs we all knew, playing guitar, it was a fun night.
After a few hours, we all decided we should get some rest, so we headed back to the hut.
As we all headed in, I got pulled to the side by Taryn. "Hey, uhm, I just wanted to thank you. For everything really. Coming out to find me last night in the jungle, talking with me..uhm yeah, thanks..." I just looked at her for a few seconds.
She seemed almost embarrassed. I then spoke up. "Oh, you're welcome. I hope you know I'll always be here for you. I, uh, I mean I'll always be here for everyone, including you.." She chuckled and then, surprisingly, hugged me. It was a quick hug, but it was worth it. She let go, smiled at me and then made her way back into the hut. I followed behind her.
Once inside and in my spot to sleep, I laid there, staring up at the ceiling, with a big smile on my face.