Remaining Daylight (#Wattys2016)

Track XIII.

I opened my eyes, finding myself all alone in the woods. Hayden had draped his sweatshirt over me while I was asleep. I sat up and looked around, finding that he was nowhere to be seen. He just left me here, without telling me where he was going. Maybe he was on the beach, but he hadn't left one day while we were here without waking me up to tell me where he was going. He hadn't wanted to worry me.

So, it was safe to say that now, I was a little bit worried. Hayden had disappeared out from under my nose.

"Hayden?" I called out, looking over my shoulders to see if he was in the woods. How could he just get up and leave like this? Had he abandoned me here? His backpack was gone. He was gone. But, he couldn't have just left me, could he?

"Oh, you're awake." The voice came from somewhere in the woods. Hayden materialized somewhere through the trees, carrying his backpack over one shoulder. My heart rate dropped significantly as a sigh of relief escaped me. He wasn't getting away with scaring me like that.

"What the fuck did you think you were doing?" I called out, getting to my feet. Hayden dropped his backpack on the ground and stood before me.

"I went into town," he said like it was no big deal. From the guy who wanted to stay in the woods and avoid everything. What the shit was he up to?

"You can't just leave like that and not tell me!" I exclaimed, slapping him on the chest. "You scared the shit out of me! I thought you abandoned me here!"

"Why on Earth would I do that? You're the only person who's taken the time to genuinely give a shit about me these past few weeks," Hayden said.

"Then why did you go without telling me?" I asked.

Hayden chuckled. He reached for his backpack and opened it up, pulling out a foam take-out box. He handed it to me. It was warm in my hands. He'd gotten take out?

"What's this for?" I asked him.

"I wanted to do something nice for you. You've been giving up so much for me and protecting me this whole time. Well, today's your birthday, so I got you a nice, hot breakfast as a small way of saying 'thank you' and 'happy birthday'."

I wasn't sure what to say. This was so incredibly sweet. When I opened the lid, I found an omelette, some bacon, and a couple of toast triangles. The smell rolled over me. Oh, my God, I hadn't had anything that looked so delicious since I was home.

"Thank you so much," I gasped.

Hayden produced a couple of plastic utensils from his backpack and handed them over to me. Then, he grabbed a glass bottle of iced coffee. This was literally the greatest meal we'd had.

I enjoyed every bite of the breakfast that Hayden got for me. It was warm and so well made. How much money had he spent on this? I didn't want him wasting our money on me. Once it was gone, who knew how we would be getting more?

"Did you like your breakfast?" Hayden asked when we finished eating.

"Yes. Thank you," I replied.

We finished the last of the iced coffee, and then Hayden threw it all in a paper bag. We didn't exactly have a trash can. Everything we threw away got hiked out whenever we left.

"So, what's something you've always wanted to do?" Hayden asked me. We sat with our backs against a tree, looking out towards the beach. As always, it was deserted. Nothing but the sand and the waves to remind us that time was still moving. Nothing but the camp site through the woods to remind us that we weren't the only ones left in the world.

"I'm not sure. I mean, my list of things to do this summer included seeing Remaining Daylight and meeting you, so I'm already off to a great start," I said.