The Middle

Chapter 2 - Follow Me

I return to the fire and see Luna throwing some wood into it. Her eyes glance over to me, "Do you think you could watch the fire? I mean, if you're having trouble sleeping. If you want to sleep, that's fine."

I look at the blazing fire and nod, "No, it's fine. I can watch."

Luna gives me a concerned look, "If you feel sleep coming, make sure you try and wake me before you go. Someone has to be awake for watch."

I nod to show my understanding, "Okay. Will do."

Luna lays down on the dirt ground. She sighs, "Shouldn't be much worse than the other beds, right?"

"I guess," I say after shrugging. She closes her eyes and eventually stops moving in general - besides occasional lifting of her stomach, of course. I stare into the fire and make sure it doesn't go out on me. I just stare into the flames and allow its heat to hit me. I don't go to sleep that night. I don't feel tired. My eyes don't get heavy. It makes me feel as if I couldn't sleep if I tried. It's not the pain keeping me awake. As each and every minute passed that night, I could feel my muscles ease up. I could feel the pain lift.

I felt each and every minute pass too. I listened for any sticks breaking. I listened for any odd bird noises. Other than owls and nightingales, I didn't seem to hear anything out of place. I just hold my frown as I just stare into the flames. As I lose myself in my thoughts, I don't seem to feel anything. I don't feel anything other than neutral. I don't feel pain. I don't feel tired. I don't feel anything.

You don't think my personality really is gone, do you?

After an extremely long night, daylight finally comes. The fire slowly goes out, waking up the two girls. Ella yawns, "Morning already?"

Luna looks at me with worry, "Kyle, did you watch the entire night?"

I shrug, not knowing what else to do, "I guess. Is that a bad thing?"

"Look at those dark circles under your eyes!" Ella comments, "Why didn't you let yourself sleep?"

"We could've taken shifts!" Luna adds, "If you did it for my sake, it was really stupid."

I shrug again, "I don't feel tired."

"You look tired," Luna stands up from the ground and walks towards me, "Do you want to take some time to rest? We can take a little to rest."

I shake my head, "No, let's keep going. Don't worry about me."

"How can I not worry about my brother?" Ella comes over to me too, "Especially after what just happened to you?"

I want them to stop worrying about me. Yet, I'm not getting frustrated or any other feeling to send them away. I just have the feeling of depression. At least, it feels like depression. I don't actually know what depression would feel like. All I know, is that I want to be separated from the world. I want to get out of this forest.

...I want my bird back...

I hold my hands up in surrender, "I'll try to sleep tonight. Can we please just focus on the task at hand? Arguing isn't going to get us out of these woods any faster."

Luna and Ella both give me a look before they finally agree and we continue on our adventure. We continue to head north. They don't say a single word to me. The silence is only broken by the occasional stick breaking or leaf crumbling under our feet or the slight breeze that moves past all the trees.

I get it. They're worried about me. About my health. About my feelings. And I know it's concerning. But I can't let it hold us back. We can worry about my condition after we escape. After everything, it's the only thing I really care about. We keep on walking until hunger starts to hit me. The pain from my bird returns. I grab my side and grunt.