Runaway

Chapter 9

Chapter 9

I jerked awake the next morning and sat in my bed, listening. Nothing, silence. I sighed. Lezlai must have gone out to the fields without saying goodbye. For some reason that bugged me. Ugh. Oh well.

I stared at my bed. I groaned. I’d only been awake for less than a minute and I was already bored? What was this?! I looked around the room for something to do, but there really wasn’t anything. I stared at the large wall to my left, and remembered my star mapping.

It was sad that it was one of the few things I missed about my own home. Beyond Aylin, Mother, maybe the twins, and my star mapping, I felt no desire to leave that house and go home. Oh, and maybe my telescope.

Hmm…maybe I could build one. I remembered Bernard telling me how it worked, since he’d built mine. I was sure I could remember, and it wasn’t like I could really go anywhere.

And while I was making a telescope, maybe I could fix the house too. That couldn’t be too strenuous, if I was really careful. I was sure that Belle couldn’t complain if I was making her home a safer place.

That decided, I climbed out of bed, ignoring the pain. The stairs were the hardest part, but I was soon down them and outside, getting the old rusty toolbox. I found a hammer, a few nails, and a few other odds and ends. Hmm…I’d have to fix small things for now until I could get some more supplies.

“Hey, Zander.” I turned around to see Briar grinning at me. “I came down to see you. Sorry I didn’t get any flowers, but I’m not good with those anyway.”

“No problems. I’m allergic.” I grinned.

“So what you doing?” Briar stepped closer to look in the toolbox.

“I want to fix up the house, since I have nothing else better to do.” I motioned at my white bandage and puffy eye. “But I don’t have enough nails or tools to do it.”

“Not to mention wood.” Briar added, grinning.

“Yeah, I forgot about that.” I blushed. He slapped me on the back,

“Not to worry my friend. You have a worthy cause, and I always help worthy causes! Just give me a little while. I’ll go grab my ax and get some more supplies.” He winked.

“Thanks, Briar.” I laughed.

“Eh, I was thinking about fixing up the place myself. It’ll be good to have such a HEALTHY buddy to help me.” He teased. “I’ll be back.”

He walked back down the path, whistling as he went. I smiled and shook my head, pulling the toolbox into the house. I gave it another run down. First things first, I needed to haul all the junk out.

I started by picking up the large pieces of wood and hauling them out. I found a wheelbarrow buried in the weeds and hauled it out, the pain stabbing into my sides, but I ignored it.

By the time Briar got back with everything, I had all the wood and other garbage out of the house and it already looked better.

“Easy, tiger.” Briar teased. “I don’t want you throwing anything out.”

“I’ll do my best.” I teased back. He laughed and started to chop down trees for wood. I helped him sand it and level it off before we started to make the railing for the staircase. He taught me how to carve without straining myself too much and I soon started on that.

By lunch time the stairs were done, and we couldn’t help but admire the beauty of it. Briar whistled and I just grinned at it like an idiot.

“What’s next?” Briar asked. I looked around the room. Now that the old wood was cleared, I could tell there really wasn’t much to fix.