Lonely

Chapter 20, Sadie

As we entered the woods again, Hanger still holding his bag of stuff. I didn’t know what he had bought when I sent him off alone, hopefully something good. That red headed girl had been going gaga over him. It would have been funny, except I didn’t like the way it made me feel when other girls looked at him. He was allowed to have that, even if he didn’t know flirting when he saw it.  Either way, I didn’t like it. Jealousy had come over, quick and strong, and surprising. I thought of the way he looked so confused, and smiled.

“What?” he said suddenly. “I was just thinking, you know that girl was like, over the top flirting, right?” I said, trying to subtly dig for what he really thought about it. Confusion crossed his features. “Flirting?” he repeated. I nodded. “It was amusing actually.” I said. “You don’t even know flirting when you yourself is being flirted with.” I said. He looked down at me with those deep black eyes that made me feel like I should just fall right into them the way I had with the castle.

“Do you flirt with me?” He asked a hint of mocking in his voice. My throat closed up. I didn’t, did I? No, he didn’t even know what it was. Before he could tell what I was really thinking, because that would have been embarrassing when he realized the idea actually appealed to me. I snorted. “If I flirted with you, you would know.” I lied. I was awful at flirting. I stumbled, and he grabbed my arm and pulled me back up so I was an inch from his chest. I felt the sudden urge to wrap my arms around his waist, to reach up and kiss him. I stepped back before I could do anything foolish. Unfortunately, the feeling of wanting to kiss him didn’t leave, and I realized with some surprise that I was fantasizing. We began walking again, wordlessly after the awkward moment that had just passed. I kept a safe distance between us so I didn’t ruin anything.

We walked the rest of the day, for the most part in silence. I enjoyed the fact that silence with Hanger was comfortable, and I didn’t feel compelled to say anything. Every now and then, Rex would make an appearance before wandering off again. Hanger seemed distracted. Basically, nothing happened. It was boring walk, and a long one. I wished we could just reach Connecticut already. I was curious what was there. I thought about asking Hanger, but he would probably give me some vague answer that would raise more questions than it would answer.

Several times I caught myself fantasizing. I was forced to admit that I felt something for Hanger. I tried to deny it, but it was there. I knew it probably would lead to nothing in the end, because he didn’t feel that way about me. I probably would get over when I got back to my regular, awful life. If I ever did. I really wasn’t tired when the sun started to set. I cleared my throat to speak.

“You tired?” I asked Hanger. He looked at me with those deep black eyes. “No, but I’ll have a Twinkie.” He said, giving me that crooked smile that made my heart stop. I handed him my pack and he dug around for a while before coming out with a dozen different junk food items. He shouldered the bag and dumped half a bag of chips down his throat.

“How did you get food in the castle?” I wondered. “Someone brought it to me every now and then. Along with clothes and books and stuff like that. Clothes and books only came once a year, but they always had plenty of food. I guess some one kept tabs.” He said, shrugging. I just nodded.

That night, we decided me might s well sit down for a while. Rex had come back and was sitting up in a tree, his red tail swishing back and forth. “So, when do you think we’ll reach Connecticut?” I asked. He seemed to think about it.

“I don’t know exactly where we are now, or where we’re going in Connecticut, but I think we have a week of walking left.” He answered. I almost groaned. Suddenly, Rex landed on the ground next to me, his ears swiveling and twisting around. He turned to my right, and growled, stalking towards it. Hanger stood up, his eyes wide in the dark. “What?” I asked, standing up. I thought I saw something shift in the dark, and then it stepped forward.

I squeaked in fear and shifted closer to hanger. If there was one thing I learned from these experiences, it was don’t move or make a sound. Do what Hanger told me to do. It took me a moment to see what it really was. Basically, it was a six foot tall spider. It hundreds of glittering black eyes, each one trained on us. It’s hairy legs supported a massive stomach with a big stinger on it. On its face were two pincers big enough to eat me. I swallowed hard. There was nothing I hated more than spiders, other than the dark. Hanger shifted beside me, and I looked up. He didn’t look worried.

“What are we gonna do?” I whispered. The spider jerked his head and lifted one big, black, hairy leg the size of a tree branch. “I’ve dealt with him before. Stay right where you are.”  He said. He waved one arm and the spider ducked its head and shot a stream of white string past Hanger and started spinning a massive, Hanger and Sadie sized web. “This is the plan?” I muttered. Hanger didn’t answer but stood perfectly still. Within moments there was a massive web behind us that was just waiting for us to fall into. The spider took a step forward, and I took a step back. “Don’t. Move.” Hanger instructed me. “Its gonna eat us.” I stated, frowning. He shook his head. “Only if you back into its web like it wants you to.” He said. Suddenly, I understood very well. It was trying to scare me into the web. It took another step, and when we didn’t move it clicked its pincers together. Every nerve in my body told me to back away to run, but I trusted Hanger. The spider stopped, realizing its initial plan wasn’t working and bunched it legs and muscles together. Just as it lunged at us to push us into the web, Hanger shoved me to the ground and jumped to the other side. The spider flew past us and right into its own net, tangling it’s legs up. It struggled and let out a high pitched squeal that made me cover my ears.

Hanger stood up and looked at it. I did the same, breathing hard. It was still struggling, just making it worse. I put my hands on my hips. “Who sends these creatures?” I asked. “No one. They’re trained to come find me on their own.” He explained. I was going to have to ask him about that.