Oblivion (Completed)

Ryan

Present Day

"There you are! What the hell are you doing out here?" The words come out harsher than I mean them to and I remind myself to calm down, as hard as it is. I'm not angry, just worried, and need to let my relief wash over me before I continue.

We live in the country and our property is huge. It's not just our house and a backyard. Our modern two-story log cabin style home sits on 10 acres of land, and it's not well lit. It'd be pitch black outside if not for the blizzard. Right now, we're in almost a complete white-out, so bright it almost looks like daytime. The snow is cold, but it's the wind that's so unbearable.

I don't want to think how long she's been sitting out here on a stupid fence in nothing more than a pair of knee-high leather boots, jeans and a sweatshirt. Her dark hair is coated with sparkly white snowflakes and she looks like an angel, but I'm too pissed to think on it for very long. I just want to get her inside where it's warm before she catches pneumonia.

"I've been looking for you for over an hour," I explain, stepping closer to her. "You can't just run off like that without saying something. I thought...shit, I don't know what I thought, but it wasn't good, okay?" I tousle my hair a bit to get the buildings now off it, then wait for her to get moving.

She blinks at me as if I'm absolutely crazy. I won't lie; I probably look it right now. It's 1 a.m. I woke up in the middle of the night dying for a glass of milk, and decided to peek in the guest room to make sure she'd fallen asleep. To my surprise, she was gone.

I told myself not to panic, but it's the middle of the night and she doesn't even know where the hell she is. After I called the cell phone I bought her and heard it ringing on her mattress, I freaked. I just got her back. There's no way in hell I'm letting anything happen to her ever again.

I sleep naked. No, I'm not naked now. That'd just be ridiculous. I'd slid into a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt before making the trip to the kitchen for my drink, not wanting scare her if she happened to be up. Yes, I'm pretty sure me walking around naked would fall into the category the doctors labeled gradual steps.

I was in too much of a rush to put on decent boots, so I slipped on the first pair of shoes I could find, these stupid moccasins my mother got me last Christmas. They're not made for the outdoors and especially not waterproof, because my feet are frozen and completely soaked through. I want to tell her to hurry the hell up and get over here, but from the way things have been going the last few days,  I think that would only make it worse.

"Seriously. Do you want to get sick?" I ask. I mean, I'm out here in barely anything out of necessity. She's out here sightseeing.

"I mean it, Hen. This isn't the time to be stubborn just to prove you can be your own person. Come here so we can go back inside, or I'm going to pick you up and carry you home."

Her feet slide off the rickety fence beam and onto the ground. The stupid part of me kind of hoped I'd be forced to scoop her up in my arms and bring her back to our home. She's right in front of me and has been every day for three weeks, but I still miss her so much. I wanted nothing more than to kiss her senseless the moment I saw her eyes for the very first time in four years. But I couldn't, because she looked up at me like I was a stranger. And it felt like I'd lost her all over again.

But she's here now, upright and stubborn as hell. She tucks her red hands into the pocket of her sweatshirt and marches back toward the bright light mounted on the back porch of our house like a teenager pissed at her parents. Never in a million years would I have thought I'd find her here. Sitting on a fence in much need of repair, surrounding the pond on our property. She hasn't said a word yet, and that worries me, but I'm happy she's going inside where it's warm. I have no clue how long she's been out here in this mess.