Backwoods

Chapter 2

You woke with a start feeling someone shaking you firmly. Blinking rapidly, you rubbed your eyes to see the man standing next to you. He smiled at you shyly stepping back to tug at his finger nervously.

"Oh sorry, I must've fallen asleep. Is there anything I can get you? Are you feeling alright?" You asked standing slowly as you reached down to grab your mug.

He mumbled incoherently as you set your dish in the sink glancing back to him. You could tell immediately he had troubles speaking so you just smiled sweetly at him to calm him.

"Do you have anyone you can call to tell them your okay?" He nodded eagerly in response to this.

"Phones on the wall by the front door. Ill whip something up to eat while you take care of that." He nodded again and walked off as you dug out a bottle of shake and bake.

At this point you refused to let your self think of the situation you were in just wanting to make sure this poor guy got home. You went on auto pilot as you cooked up some pancakes adding the broken pieces of a Hershey bar to a few.

You had just plated a few when the man walked back in smiling at you a bit more confidently now.

"You get in touch with your people?"

He nodded happily as you motioned for him to sit sliding a plate in front of him.

"Haven't got anything to drink other than tap water so I hope that's okay."

He nodded once more picking at the food.

'oh my goodness is he shy about everything. His appearance would have one think otherwise.' You thought to yourself as you set your own spot up though realizing he really wasn't going to eat in front of you, excused yourself giving him the opportunity to do so.

You simply walked into the living room and move some boxes into your bedroom wasting time before returning to the kitchen to see he had eaten almost half the stack.

"So, would it be rude of me to ask your name?" you asked innocently enough as you dug into your own, slightly cold, breakfast

He hesitated a moment before shaking his head.

You watched him and waited as he glanced around. Reaching behind him he was easily able to reach the pen and note pad you had left on the counter having made a list of everything you needed to buy for the house.

At the bottom of the list in very poor hand writing read 'Thomas Hewitt'

"Thomas, its nice to meet you Thomas." You smiled at him warmly and he let out a soft laugh as you in turn told him your own name.

He nodded and little to your knowledge he committed your name to heart.

Thomas had never known an outsider could be so kind. You had gone out of your way to help him. Even his family was surprised when they picked up to here him babbling excitedly doing his best to explain he was next door at their neighbors.

They were taking their time to come get him thankfully as now that he was sat here talking to you, he didn't want to go yet. Thomas wanted to learn more about you as you asked him questions, he wanted to ask you as well.

You both conversed for a sizable amount of time Thomas getting a few genuine laughs from you before there was a firm knock at the door.

Thomas stood and joined you at the door. Pulling it open you found an older man in a police uniform standing there. He glanced between you and Thomas before smiling at you politely.

"Morning ma'am. So sorry to hear what happened last night, though Mrs.Hewitt sends her thanks for taking care of her son." He said as you read his badge.

'officer Hyott huh'

You nodded saying there is no need to thank you. It was the right thing to do.

Though as Hyott turned to leave you held up your hands to stop him.

"I hate to ask but could you come and check my barn with me? I don't wanna go out there and get like ambushed or something."

Hyott nodded leading the way as the three of you walked around the side of the house to your barn. Hyott went in first and you followed at a distance with Thomas close at your side, your arms brushing occasionally. You were a bit happy he was so near as you were more than happy to leap behind the large man should something attack you.

Walking over to where you found Thomas you could see the trail in the dirt floor from where you had pulled him inside though the spot where the body of the attacker should be was empty. There wasn't even any blood.

"You said you fired two shots correct." Hyott asked looking around at the barn walls as you nodded astonished. You were a few feet from him there was no way you missed.

"Well, it seems you have a ghost miss. No body and no bullet holes." Hyott commented as he kicked at the dirt though it did little.

"I'm sure you just missed and the bullet bounced off some of that scrap metal back there. The noise was probably enough to scare the guy into giving up." Hyott reassured you though you weren't entirely convinced.

None the less you nodded staring at the spot on the ground as Hyott strode back to his car saying something into his walkie-talkie. Thomas grumbled to you and you shrugged it off walking with him to the front porch.

Stepping up onto the porch you looked at Thomas now at equal height to him. He mumbled worriedly his eyes speaking volumes and you could guess he was asking if you would be alright.

"I'll be fine Thomas thanks for asking." He nodded though he hesitated to walk to the car as If he wanted to say something more yet couldn't.

"Well, if you would ever like to talk under more normal circumstances your welcome to stop by for a visit." You announced and he lit up smiling as he nodded enthusiastically before waving farewell to you.

You waved him and Hyott off before stepping back inside your house the smell of pancakes still lingering.

You took a deep breath closing your eyes and coming to the executive decision that it would be best to just forget about the attacker in the barn for now. If not, you had no choice but to return to your old home and give up on your dream here.

Steeling your determination, you grabbed the radio setting it in the living room and cranked it up to full volume as you set out to get some work done.

The moving truck should be there tomorrow and you wouldn't be able to bring any of it in with all these boxes.