Trust Me

Chapter 21

We are both laying in the nest of the tree, gazing up at the luminous stars. I notice the Big Dipper. It reminds me of when I was young, 8 years old to be precise, long before I'd ever seen a cougar, and I was camping with my family. We all stargazed for hours, while sitting around a campfire and laughing about everything and nothing. My heart feels heavy in my chest at the thought that I may never be able to make things right with my family. A silent tear rolls down my face, but I wipe it away before Caleb can notice.

"Isn't it crazy how the stars are so incredibly far away, and yet we can still see them, if only barely," I say, gazing up in wonder.

"Yeah, it seems surreal," Caleb agrees.

The sky is so beautiful and I think to myself, 'If I don't make it out of here at least I get to see this.'
I notice my teeth are chattering, which brings me back to reality.

"I'm s-s-s-so c-cold," I whisper.

"I know, I am too. Just keep talking to me, don't fall to sleep Charlie," Caleb says, a hint of urgency in his voice. I rack my brain for something, anything to talk about.

"When I took you to the ER you said something about your parents. I don't think I've ever met them, and they didn't come visit you in the hospital. What are they like?" I question.

He makes a noise that I think is a mix of a chuckle and a sigh before answering. "Deadbeat dad, Mom who's never sober enough to care about me. Nothing much to tell."

"Oh my god. I never knew. I'm so
sorr-" but he cuts me off before I can finish.

"It doesn't matter, Im used to it. So what about you? When I came after you today, you were crying when I got to you- don't look at me like that, and don't try to deny it you were definitely crying. What happened," he asked. I take a deep breath.

"I sorta got into a huge argument with my brother. Yelling, crying, the whole works. I went on a run to cool down, and well, here we are," I explained.

"Back up-what were you fighting about?"

"Well-you. Us. He was telling me that you were nothing but trouble, yada-yada-yada. And I told him to stay out of my life. And then to make it worse, Tiff took his side. And then I was thinking maybe I was being stupid," I say. I look at him, and although its very dark, the moonlight shows clearly the hurt on his face. I grab his hand and continue. "But I know that I wasn't being stupid. And if we make it out of here-"

"When, Lottie, when," he corrects me.

"Ok, WHEN we make it out of here, they'll understand that."

He wipes the tears from my face-which I didn't know were there until he was wiping them away- and hugs me, his chin on the crown of my head.

We sit like that for a while, in silence, until the cold gets to me, and I slowly....drift.....to....sleep.

A/N hello my lovelies! I don't think very many people reading this, but to those of you who are you don't know what it means to me. The next chapter is going to be the beginning of the extreme crazy turning point. I think this story only has 4-6 more chapters left but I could be wrong. Anyways, I'm gonna be starting a new story soon-probably a horse story! =D so stay tuned for that! XOXO