The Sky Never Ends

The Ride

   It had been about two weeks since Noah and Selah shared their kiss. Since that time Noah had been avoiding Selah like the plague. 

   The first few days, his demeanor hurt Selah's feelings. She knew he'd kissed her under the cloud of alcohol and might of regretted kissing her while drunk, but not to the point where it seemed like he was disgusted by her. That he physically couldn't stand being in her presence. 

   Their relationship went from Selah finally getting to know Noah a bit more, him being kinder to her, and opening up some to her, made her feel human. It made her feel like she could do the same. The cold and harsh disposition that he had when he first purchased her had returned and it left Selah feeling irritated and bewildered.

   He would be out of the house before Selah even woke up. Sam would give her a list of chores to do and claimed Noah was out collecting materials or fur trapping. 

  She would do all of her chores, clean his and Sam's houses, make breakfast and dinner, wash her dishes, and still by the time the moon went down he had not returned.

   Sam would eat with her every night, obviously never to busy to miss a meal. He was his same jovial self for the most part, and the only reprieve from her anguish she received through out the day. 

   She was lonelier and felt especially miserable. She gave the man her first kiss. She'd never be able to take it back.

   Although she enjoyed it more than she would admit out loud, she felt dirty and ashamed because of Noah's reaction to her, like she had some type of impairment or defect. He went as far as to add walls to their rooms, replacing the thin white canvas. 

   It seemed reasonable enough as the canvas didn't do much to add privacy, but it felt as if he put them up to add more separation between them. 

   The few interactions they had were tense and usually ended with him barking at Selah about something. Living in misery brought back the thoughts of escaping to the fore front of her mind. 

   If only it didn't seem so damn impossible. She would have to travel thousands of miles if she wanted to return to where her family was. 

   When Noah was out of the house Selah would very carefully sneak over to his bookshelf quickly scouring through any books she thought would be useful. 

   She found a book about taming and breeding horses, luckily for her it contained a brief chapter about riding and equipment. 

   She knew that riding bare back was not an option, especially because she had never ridden or steered a horse before. She considered asking Sam if she could watch while he was at the stables, but after the first day Noah outlawed it, to her dismay. So she'd have to figure it out on her own. 

   She could get pretty far by horse, but she knew how risky being a young female alone would be for her. 

  On the same shelf as the book about horses was and folded map of the United States. 

   There were three long red lines spread from Illinois to Oregon and one smaller line from Oregon to Wyoming.

   The space on the map between Oregon and New York was discouraging. She strongly doubted she could make it clear across the country by herself. At this point she was hoping she could make it to Canada and get help from there. If she can make it alive. Selah knew time was running out to be able to successfully escape. Sam would occasionally remind her when the family was coming and it seemed it would be about a month 'til their arrival if the weather permitted.

   Canada seemed like an attainable goal, she figured when she arrived she would be able to write a letter to her family notifying them of where she was and sooner or later return to them.