Lonely

Chapter 24, Sadie

Ok, so I've decicded that I wont do another update until I get THREE votes. not many. but because i havent gotten more than two, i thought I'd start small! PLEASE!!!! It'll make me happy<3

We drove all day long. After a while, Hanger had decided that our chances of survival were better if someone other than me drove. It was dark by the time he pulled the car over. I was exhausted, and he wasn’t looking so enthusiastic either. We walked a ways into the woods, then settled with our backs against a massive bolder. I curled up next to Hanger, my head resting on his shoulder.

“Do you regret it?” he asked suddenly. I thought he was talking about the kiss. “Regret what?”

“Coming with me?”

“Of course not. If I hadn’t, I would probably be dead by now. And I wouldn’t be able to do this.” I said, kissing him. He kissed me back, pulling me so I was sitting on his lap. We broke apart, and I traced the scars on his arm. “You’re never going back, you know.” I said. He kissed the top of my head. “Back where?”

“The castle. You can’t get rid of me that easily. You’re stuck.” I said. He didn’t answer. I scooted off of him so I could see his face better. “Where’re we going?” I asked. I felt him shrug. “I don’t know. I’ll know when we get there. I just feel like this is the right thing to do.” He answered. I put my head on his shoulder and took his hand, resting it on his leg. I kissed his neck. “You know, when we get to where ever it is we’re going, we should do something fun. Other than walking or taking cars.” I said, working my way up his neck and jaw, pausing right before his mouth.  He raised an eyebrow. “Like what?” he murmured, turning his head so our lips were just barely touching. I smiled and kissed him, anticipating it just to be a little peck or something, unfortunately, my skills of reason were sadly out of control when I kissed Hanger, and that thought flew from my mind as I deepened the kiss, opening my mouth to breathe in his woodsy scent. He scooted away from the rock and flopped down on his back, dragging me with him so I was on top of him. I laughed.

“This is highly inappropriate.” I said, kissing him. He tightened his arms around my waist. “I dunno, I find this very fun.” He said beneath my lips, referring to my comment of doing something fun. I tried to roll over, but he simply did it for me, rolling over so we were both on our sides, facing each other. “You know, for a shy guy I found in a castle, you’re pretty good at this.” I murmured. He chuckled, a sound I never got tired of hearing. I sighed. “So, how much longer till we get to where ever it is we’re going?” I asked.

“Thanks to the car, we can probably make it there in two days.” He said. I pulled back, suddenly afraid. “Hanger, what if your instincts are wrong? What if this is a trap?” I said. He shook his head. “I can’t know for sure. We’ll deal with that if it comes, but for now, I have nothing else to go on.” He said. I nodded and curled up beside him, shutting my eyes and let the subject drop. I trusted his judgment.

I woke up to the sound of Hanger cursing. I sat up and rubbed my eyes. “You kiss your mother with that mouth?” I muttered, mimicking what he had said to me…how long ago? It felt like months. He pushed his black hair out of his eyes, glaring down at the pile of sticks on the ground that were smoking, then at his thumb, that had a burn on it from a red lighter in his hand.

“Stupid fire wont light.” He muttered. I bit my lip to keep from laughing at his disgruntled expression. He tried again, holding the lighter upside down to try and light the pile of twigs. I got up and went over, wrenching the lighter form his hand. “Quit it, or you’re gonna burn the whole damn forest down.” I said. I flicked it with my thumb and held the small flame in front of my face. “Don’t tip it upside down. Hold a stick up to it, light it, hold that stick to the pile.” I said, demonstrating how to do it for him. He grunted and sat back on his heels, examining his thumb.

“Why do we need a fire, anyways?” I asked. He smiled unexpectedly at me and gestured to a couple of squirrels. I raised my eyebrows in surprise. “You killed squirrels.” It wasn’t a question. “No, Rex killed squirrels.” He said, wagging a finger at me. Rex was sitting next to Hanger, looking rather proud of himself. I shrugged. “I must admit, as much as I love Twinkies and chips, I wouldn’t mind something not made in a factory.” I said, sitting down to the fire that Hanger was feeding.

Now, for all you weenies reading this going eew, if you hadn’t eaten anything but junk food for two weeks, you wouldn’t be too finicky about what you ate. Trust me. Rex sniffed at the squirrels, and Hanger swatted him on the butt. Rex gave Hanger a wounded expression before slinking off into the woods to sulk by himself. I found myself thinking about my parents. I should call them next time we come to a town, I thought. I wondered if they were worried. For a moment, I worried they might put out a missing persons file or whatever, and I would be on the news, which was the last thing we needed, but I knew they wouldn’t. That would sully there reputation as upstanding church people with a perfect life and perfect daughter. Well, maybe the last part was already sullied, but oh well.

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After we finished eating Bambi’s play mates, we packed up, covering our tracks for any of the monsters following us, and trudged back to the car. Rex even followed along, hopping in the back seat. I tried to roll down the window, but the pane of glass simply fell out of the car and shattered on the pavement below. I looked at Hanger.

“At least it fell out and not in.” I said, shrugging. “And my windows….down.” I put my arm in the edge and smiled over at Hanger, who shook his head and turned the key in the car, let the engine sputter to life and then rolled it onto the road. Literally. The engine stalled.

Just after noon time, the car stopped. Just stopped. I pounded on the steering wheel in frustration and tried the key again. It didn’t budge. “You think we can fix it?” I asked Hanger. He frowned and shrugged. “We can try.”  He said and got out of the car. Suddenly, there was sound a little ways up the road. There was a man, walking down the road, dressed in a black suit. He had his hands shoved in his pockets and was whistling cheerfully. Hanger and I exchanged confused glances. “Should we leave?” he said. I shook my head. “Probably just broke down up the road or something. We’re fine.” I said. I got back in the car and cracked open the area around the steering wheel. “Oh, I found the problem.” I said, but Hanger didn’t answer. I looked up to see him a little ways from the car, talking with the guy in the suit. He looked sort of awkward, and I guessed the guy wanted directions.

“Do you need some help?” I asked, smiling at him. That’s when everything went wrong.