The Forest

Chapter 4 - Rose

I wake up feeling really groggy. So I groan. I sit up on my elbows. I see Elijah watching me with such an intensity I think my heart will beat out of its chest. I smile and say hi. My voice is so hoarse I sound like a dying seal. He states the obvious saying I need water. I nod. He says he need to do laundry. I go to ask 'what?' But he shushes me. How rude. I get dressed and realize he was watching when I looked up. He walks out the door. I just stand there in disbelief. He watched me get dressed! He tells me to c'mon. So I hurry out the door.

 I follow him down the ladder. Was he looking at my butt? I don't dare look down. What if he was. And I caught him. That would be embarrassing for the both of us. We get down to the bottom of the latter and we just stand there for a second. I planned on talking to him about watching me dress but I'd didn't have time he kept on walking. He was walking really fast. I had to fast walk to keep up. For one of his steps it took three of mine to stay beside him. He starts to talk to me. I didn't hear much just that he wondered how old I was. I held up one then seven fingers. Showing him I was seventeen.

 We got to the river and he pulled out a tin can. The edges were folded down. Probably so you wouldn't slice your lip open when you drank out of it. Then he pulled out a small little white thing. He put water in the white thing the put the white thing in the cup. He repeated this till the cup was full. I realized it was a filter. I drank the water gratefully. It was gone in a matter of three gulps. I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand.

   After I was done drinking he started washing the clothes. I watched him wash listening to the rhythmic sound of him washing. I watched his arm muscles flex and tense. I sighed. He hung the clothes on some branches. Then he turned around and pulled his shirt off. I sputtered. "Elijah! I'm a girl!" I holler at him. He doesn't seem troubled about that fact. "We barely know each other! I'm a stranger! I don't want to see your junk!" I holler. Except for the fact that I truly wouldn't have minded seeing him naked. He was beautiful. But he couldn't know that. Again, he didn't seem bothered by that fact.He said he was just going down to his underwear. Ha! Ya right! He is just making that up so he didn't have to explain that he was going to be naked in front of me. Again, not that I minded.

   He unfolds his arms and it all happens so fast. My eyes followed the motion. And I saw his chiseled chest. Then I remembered my tracker. Implanted behind my ear. That the guard could track that. Then my vision became like a tunnel. At the end of that tunnel I saw Elijah reaching out towards me. Then the tunnel closed. I saw Elijah holding me in the bed at sunset. Whispering in my ear. Me telling Elijah my past. Him storming off into the woods. Him showing me basic survival skills. All of my future  involves Elijah.

  Then I zoom forward. Through the tunnel. Then I collapsed. I felt my knees give way. Then I was falling. I wasn't worried. Until I heard the roaring of the rapids in the river. I gasped. Mid gasp I fell into the water. Inhaling a little bit. I couldn't cough. I would lose more air. From what I knew about rapids. I probably wouldn't have a chance to get another breath. I had to open my eyes. I had to know what was happening. I felt myself being swirled and pushed farther downstream. I curled into a ball. To help myself not hurt as many parts of me as possible. 

  I opened my eyes. It burned. I couldn't see much. Leaves. Silt. Muddy water nothing helpful. A sudden current jerked me upwards not quite towards the surface but close enough to hear. Over the roar of the water I heard Elijah screaming my name. That's when I realized I had something to fight for. Elijah. I needed to see his god face one more time. See that sly smile again. Get to know him. My lungs were burning. Aching for the nonexistent oxygen. I whipped my head back in forth. Something I needed something.                                       

   Suddenly I got smacked into a rock. I hadn't seen it coming. It hit my back. Moreover I hit it with my back. The impact knocked all the air out of my lungs. I thought my lungs were burning before? That's silly. This, the dull aching throb, the burning in my throat. The feeling of my lungs about to burst. This was hell. Then I realized I wasn't getting to the surface. I was going to stay here pressed up against this rock. And drown. Then I got smacked in the face.

  I inhaled some water it made me choke. It was a branch. It was flapping by my shoulder now. I grabbed it and pulled. It held. I pull my hand higher and higher. Till I break the surface. But I couldn't inhale the air. I tried and all I got was more water which didn't make sense. I pulled myself to the bank. I layed down on my stomach. I heard a whispering in the background. I coughed. Then I heard footsteps. Then I saw Elijah. I heaved a spout of water. And coughed a little. I looked back up at him. "Sorry." I told him. I don't know why but I felt the need to apologize. "He scoffed The yelled at the top of his lungs, "Why the hell are you sorry!?!" He helped me up and carried me back to camp.

  I shivered against his warm skin. He was buff but not bodybuilder buff. The perfect amount of muscle. I shivered again. He wrapped his arms tighter around me. He put his clothes back on and shoved the extras back in the bag. He helped me walk back to his little cottage on the trees. When we got there he set me in the chair and gave me a quilt. He sat on the bed. I know I should be traumatized. And I am. But all I could think of is it's worse the second time you almost drown.

  Also how cold I was. Then thinking logically it's probably my wet clothes making me cold. I tell him my clothes are wet. "And...?" He questions. I huff and tell him the obvious. They are making me colder than the air. He didn't seem to understand. "Ugh! Your so ignorant!" I complain. Boys are clueless. "What?" He asks defenseless. "I need to take them off!" My voice rising an octave.

 He looks shocked. He mumbles then turns around. I wait a couple seconds. Then I drop the quilt to the floor. I pull my shirt over my head and drop it to the side. I shimmy out of my jeans and put them by the shirt. I unclasp my bra and put it under my shirt. I peel my undies off. They're wet so they stick to me. I put those under my shirt to. Then I very care fully position my jeans half over my shirt. Making it look careless. I wrap the quilt back around me, and sit down. I tell him it's ok. He turns around.

  He stares at me. Like I'm a prize to behold. Or something fragile and doesn't want to touch it in case it breaks. He looks strangled. Like he's really concentrating in something. "You're staring" I say. I liked him staring at me. It made me feel good. His eyes widen at my statement then he looks away. He looks back and his eyes travel down my body. He stops at my legs. I glance down and most of my leg is exposed. So I get up and waddle over towards the bed and flop. I curl up into a ball. I was so wore out. I layed there and fell asleep into a dark void of nothingness.