Atonement

{Twelve} Moving On

“Love is drowning/ In a deep web/All the secrets/ And nobody else to tell”

-Love is Blindness, Jack White

  When I woke up, a few hours later, I was in a foul mood. It had little to do with the news Cap had broken to me, though. I’d had a dream. A dream about my family. We were all sitting at the dinner table laughing and arguing. It was so normal it broke my heart. So when I broke up to lying on the ground huddle in a discarded skirt, I couldn’t help the longing that crept into my already aching heart.

  So, yeah, needless to say I could have been in a better mood.

  I was frustrated. We were stuck here for God only knew how long while our family worried sick about us. I knew time was different to them than it was to us, but still. My mom would worry if a minute ticked by without us there; without knowing where we were. At least the first time she’d been blissfully unaware of our absence for a good while. Now she knew where we were and the danger we were putting ourselves in. It must be killing her, not knowing whether or not we were coming back.

  Things I Should Have Realized Before Coming Back 101—just add it to the ever growing list of my regrets.

  I didn’t regret coming back. We did need to fix this. But I’d be lying if I said I didn’t regret the real reason I’d come back. As much as I tried to psych myself out of feeling so miserable, the ache just wouldn’t go away. It was stupid! I’d only known Cap for over a week! How could my heart hurt this much?

  Blah! Enough about Cap. I had other things to worry about. Cap was done occupying my every thought. From this moment on, I would not think about him.

  “Russ.” I kicked his leg gently with the toe of my boot. When he didn’t immediately respond, I kicked a little harder. “Hey, wake up.”

  It was approaching dawn. We didn’t have a lot of time before we’d have to hit the road again. They’d seemed pretty certain we’d be followed; tracked down like dogs.

  Russ groaned, making a face. “Hmphmmm,” he muttered. He was still half asleep.

  I kicked him pretty hard.

  “Josie,” he hissed, angrily getting up.

  I motioned for him to follow me. We couldn’t discuss things in the proper way if Cap was ten feet away. He looked like he was sleeping, but with him you never knew.

  Mumbling under his breath, my brother finally got off his butt and noisily followed suit. I got he was pissed he couldn’t sleep longer, but really? I’d been nice enough to drop it when he’d obviously been exhausted. The least he could do was drop the attitude.

  “What I would give for a goddamn cup of coffee.”

  Jeeze, he was already turning into them. I gave him an annoyed look.

  Lifting his shoulders, he questioned, “What?”

  I just rolled my eyes at him. Dumbass. “We need to talk about this.” Nodding towards Cap motionless body, I whispered, “What were you thinking?”

  “I was thinking we couldn’t teleport…or whatever…back to our future,” he muttered tiredly. “In the meantime, we needed someone who knew his way through West Virginia.”

  “Yeah, but what happens when we get out of West Virginia?”

  Russ shifted uncomfortably.

  “Russell….” There was something he wasn’t saying.

  With a long sigh, he said, “We’re already outta West Virginia.”