What's Out There?

Chaper 34

Clay's POV

When the movie was over, I looked over at Sarah who was asleep. She must have drifted off to sleep sometime during the movie. I get lost in how beautiful she is. But just for a moment.
I scoop her up in my arms and carry her to our bed. I lay her down and cover her up. Then I climb into bed myself. Smiling, I drift off to sleep, thinking about tomorrow.
{~}
I woke up early around 6:40 crawled out of bed, and made a pot of coffee for us. I poured a cup for me and went out to sit on the porch.
The sun was about to rise. The sky had just a touch of light in it.
I waited for the sun to rise and Sarah to wake up while sipping my coffee.

Sarah's POV

I wake up and sigh. Somehow I ended up in the bed and Clay was no where in my sight.
I get out of bed and walk into the kitchen. There is a warm pot of coffee on the counter.
I pour myself a cup and add sugar and cream to it.
Then I head out to the porch. If I knew Clay at all, that's where he would be.
I walk outside, and there he is.
Clay looks up at me, "Good morning, sleeping beauty."
"Good morning, " I sit down in the wooden lawn chair next to him.
"So today," Clay asks, "what do you have in mind?"
"I don't know," I wonder, "What do you want to do?"
"I was thinking we could have a picnic for lunch," Clay suggests.
"That sounds fun," I smile.
"Good. When do you want to go?" he urges.
"Not now," I laugh.
"When?" He asks urgently.
"Lunch time," I reply.
"So brunch then," Clay suggests.
"Okay that's fine. What are we having?" I question.
"It's a surprise," he says.
"Ah, a surprise," I sigh.
"Is that bad?" He asks.
"Not at all. I just don't like waiting," I reply.
"We could do breakfast," Clay offers.
"Okay, but why so eager?" I urge.
"No reason," He tells.
Usually I would tell him that I knew he was hiding something, but today I let it slide.
"Before our picnic, do you want to go visit your parents?" Clay asks.
"Sure," I answer, "I'm going get dressed, and then we can head over there."
"After you get dressed, I'll go change," Clay responds.
I walk inside, put my coffee mug on the counter, and head into our room.
I put on a light sky blue romper and tan sandals. I left my hair in its natural look, barely wavy. I put a little bit of makeup but not too much. This is a date I'm going on.
I walk out into the kitchen, and Clay is in there washing out coffee mugs. His back is too me so he doesn't realize I'm in the room. I watch his shoulders which are tense.
Clay shuts the water off, drys the cups, and places them in the cabinet. Finally he turns around.
"Wow," Clay choked out.
I smiled. The kind that shows almost all your teeth. "Are you wearing that?" I ask. He had on just sweat pants, no shirt.
"No, I'm going change now," he laughs almost nervously.
"Is everything okay?" I question.
"Yeah, everything is great," Clay smiles.
"Go change," I order.
"Yes ma'am," Clay responds as he walks into the bedroom grinning.
I see the picnic basket on the table and suddenly I remember the night of our first date all over again.
"You ready?" Clay asks as he walks in the kitchen wearing jeans with a light gray shirt, and black sneakers.
I inhale, "Yeah. Let's go chat with my parents."
"After you," Clay says as he opens the front door.
"What a gentleman," I exhale still smiling. He closes the door; then walks after me.
I walk down the porch and remember, "Do you think they will be awake?"
"Your parents for sure. I mean it is 8:00 am. Bree wakes up sometimes 8:00 sometimes 10:00," Clay replies.
"Okay well let's go," I say.
We start walking. After I gripped at his hand, he grabbed mine right away. We walked through the village this time, following the roads. We walked past the abandoned house Luke and I talked in, past Luke's parents' house, past Patricia's parents' house, and finally by the treehouse where we all would hang out as kids.
Clay stopped at the treehouse and looked up at it, "You know it wouldn't hurt if we took a trip back up the treehouse. You know for old times sake."
"Yeah, let's go up," I respond fast.
"You go first," he started.
"Okay, " I answer. I climb up the ladder rung by rung until I open up the door and pull myself up. Clay follows me up and shuts the door.
Clay asks, "What do we do now?"
"I don't know," I pause, "Remember all of the great times the four of us would have up here?"
"Four?" Clay questions.
I refresh his memory, "You know, the four of us: you, Luke, Patricia, and me."
His face stayed blank, and he said nothing. "Please tell me you remember them," I urge.
"I do remember, but I don't want to," Clay explained, "I knew that Patricia had died, and believe me I was a close to the edge of the woods as I could get without anyone seeing me. I saw you run up here. I grieved too. When I found out everything about Luke, I didn't know what to think. You and your family are honestly the only people I can handle from this place. Everyone else is so uptight."
"Yeah I like to remember the good things and remove the bad things. Just think what would have happened. Especially if you hadn't gone to that camp in the woods," I imagine.
"That would change things. I feel like we both needed to grow up separately or else one of us would 'friend-zone' the other," Clay jokes.
"That could still happen you know," I laugh.
"Yeah so you better be careful," he clowns.
"Oh really-" I get cut off by the sound of someone climbing the treehouse latter.
Clay peeks through the door and smiles as he opens it all the way. I look down to see none other than Bree climbing up with her pajamas and a backpack on her back.
She pulls herself up then let's out a little shriek. "What are you two doing in my treehouse?" Bree asks.
"We were just talking in my treehouse," I claim.
"No you left this here, and now it's mine," Bree sasses.
I smirk, "Oh really?"
"Yep! Finders keepers, losers weepers," Bree cheers.
"Ok well we are gonna go down and talk to mom and dad. Are they awake?" I ask.
"Yeah they wake up so early, and they would not stop making so much noise with the pan and spoon. It's so loud," Bree exaggerates.
"Okay see you later, Bree," I say as I give her a tight hug.
"Bye sissy. Bye Clay," Bree says as Clay starts to climb back down the latter. I follow him.
When I get down finally, he asks, "You still wanna go chat with your parents?"
"Just for a little while. I'm getting kinda hungry," I answer.
"Okay," Clay replies.
We cross the empty street, walk into my parents yard, and into the house. I open the door without thinking to knock.
Inside my parents were sitting down at the round kitchen table. My dad looks frazzled and is staring at the door, and my mom is smiling at me.
"I told you she was coming," Mom said.
"Yeah but you never said when," Dad replied, "Don't you ever knock?"
"Sorry just not used to it," I shrugged.
Clay is smiling, "So I hope you guys have a lovely talk, but I have to go run back home and pack for our breakfast picnic."
"What? I thought you were staying," I tell Clay.
"No I have to pack the picnic," he replies.
"You didn't do that already?" Dad asks.
"Nope, I didn't have time. Don't worry I won't be long," Clay walks out of my parents' house.
"Anyway, guess who I saw this morning?" I institute as I take a seat at the table.
"I'm gonna go with Bree since she said she wanted to go play in the village," Mom says.
"You are not wrong," I reply, "Clay and I saw her on our way here."
"Where was she?" Dad says as he got up to pour himself another cup of coffee.
"In my treehouse," I respond with a laugh.
"How are you?" Mom asks.
"I'm better and I'll get better than I am now. It will take time for the wounds to heal, some literally," I answer.
"Good," she says, "Do you have any questions for me?"
"Yeah," I respond, "How did you find Dad and the others?"
"So one day, everyone in the village starts freaking out saying they hear people in the woods, and about five minutes after a large group of people emerge from the tree-line. Your dad was at the front with Danny and Clay on both sides next to him. The others from the compound were behind them. Your dad and Clay explained everything that had happened from when your dad and Clay had just went out to the compound to just after you had left. After ever since I saw your dad again, we have been inseparable. Then came along Bree, and now your back. Everything feels right," Mom explains.
"Okay and I don't think everything is right. Luke is still out there and Clay has been acting weird," I say.
"Maybe it's a guy thing," Mom tries to cheer me up.
"I don't know. If Clay doesn't come back soon with that picnic basket, I'm going to eat here without him," I complain.
"Don't worry. He'll be back soon," Danny says as he exits his room, "And Clay has not been acting weird." He moves to the kitchen cabinet and pulls out a box of cereal and a bowl.
"Well you must have not been paying attention, but he's been acting really anxious," I reply to Danny.
As he pours cereal into the bowl, Danny says, "He's been acting that way since he went to the compound. Clay even told me." He wipes his nose on his sleeve and picks up the box of cereal.
"Really?" I ask as Danny opens the fridge and takes out the milk.
As he pours the milk, Danny answers, "I'm pretty sure I would remember something Clay told me. I'm his best friend."
"Are you sure you're his best friend?" I push, "Because he told me I was his best friend."
Danny puts the milk cartoon back in the fridge and grabs a spoon. Before taking the first bite, he explains, "Other than you I mean. You're different."
"Give me," I say pointing to his cereal bowl.
"No way," Clay announces as he walks in the front door, "Don't we have a picnic to go to?"
"Yes we do," I respond as get up from the table. I see Dad walking to the table, "Bye guys."
"Bye," everyone else answers as we walk out of the door.
"Where are we picnicking at?" I ask.
"Our spot," Clay replies.
I nod in approval. This is going to be amazing. We both walked through the woods and out into our secret clearing.
There is a red and white plaid blanket on the ground right next to the same tree we climbed together. The one I re-injured my ankle by jumping off of. Clay walks over to the blanket, sets the basket down, and plops himself down. "Have a seat," He offers.
"Will do," I sit down and link my arm around his.
After a while of eating and talking, Clay asks, "So do you still want to see what's out there?"
"Of course," I respond with a smile.
"Let's go then," he proclaims.
"What?" I almost yell in excitement, "You cannot be serious."
"Let's pack our stuff and leave. We can, if you want to, go see the what else there is," Clay illustrates.
"I want to."
"Then should we go tell your parents you said yes?"
"They knew?"
"I got Danny to tell them last night," Clay smirks, "Shall we go back?"
"Of course," I reply as we pack up the food and head to our house.
When we got there, Clay told me, "Pack your clothes and anything you need."
"Okay," I grab a suitcase from our closet and start putting packing, and Clay does the same. After an hour or so, we both have finished and packed the bags into the car we came back to the village in.
"Let's go say bye for now," Clay suggests.
We walk over to my old house, and I walk in again without knocking.
"Hey there," Danny stands up from the couch and puts his book down.
"Well what did you say?" My mom asks.
"You won't see much of us for a while," I answer.
"Oh, never mind that! You are going to have so much fun," Dad smiles.
"I know and we'll see you all soon," I reply.
Hugs were exchanged in my old home and in our visits to our friends' houses: Fern, Charlotte, Taylor, and Jackson. Clay and I said our "see you laters" to everyone we cared about.
We finally got into the car and drove off to see what's out there.