Speak Quietly

Chapter Six - "Normal"

   Fighting back the urge to shove him off of me, to embrace him even more, to kiss him, to hit him, to love him, to hate him, etcetera... Everything just jumbled up in my mind to where I didn’t even know how to react to this situation. Standing there stiff while he hugged, no, embraced me, was just quite awkward and lovely all at the same time. He smelled of the wilderness, not the terrible atmosphere of society but clear waterfalls and small sprinklings of pine needles. I slowly raised my hands and draped them lazily over him while burying my face into his slightly moist neck, probably from the humidity. The little droplets on his neck seemed to give off their own scent. A slight cologne aroma slipped into my nostrils and enticed me. He let go of me right when I had the slightest thought of never letting go. I felt safe in his arms and once he let go, I felt that security rush off of me like an avalanche.

“Where are you headed, exactly?” he asked, obviously realizing that I ran into him, literally, in the middle of the woods.

“Well, why are you out here, exactly?” I countered him with, also realizing that he was in the middle of the woods when I literally ran into him. He kicked some dirt and left his head down, he wasn’t telling me something.

“Joseph, is something wrong?”

“Yes,” he spoke softly, it was dead silent but it was still hard to hear him, “something is very wrong.” I could only look at him in confusion. I didn’t know if I wanted him to tell me. He took a deep breath in, “I’ve been lying to you this whole time.” he spoke and faintly tried to make eye contact.

“Then tell the truth.” it was simple, but it was all I could think of to say. I didn’t quite understand and that scared me. What could he possibly be lying about? I asked no deep questions, he didn’t even give me information on anything this whole time.

“Obviously, I’m not here for my dad and his girlfriend but I’m sure you already figured that out. I’m a terrible liar. After the accident, I tried to contact you. That didn’t work, obviously, since you haven’t heard from me since the day in the hospital. I went to your house and your mom, well; let’s just say she told me to leave. I saw you at some point when I was walking and followed you. I had to make sure you were okay. You are okay, aren’t you?” I was quiet and I wasn’t really sure what to tell him. I was running away. I was not okay. I was just raped and, now, I’m on the run. What’s okay about that?

“I’m fine, Joseph. There is no need to worry about me.” I faked a quick smile and continued on my way to wherever my feet led me. Before they led me too far I took an opportunity to glance back and see Joseph one last time, but to my misfortune he was already gone. I stared at the space he was standing in moments ago for a few more seconds before walking farther from civilization. This is my only hope to start living a “normal” life, again.