One Life For Another

18

The night air is cold, especially on the open field. "Why don't you just call Thomas?", I ask. "He is busy around this time of the night", Jayden says while heavily leaning on my shoulder. I sigh soft, feeling so much tiredness coming over me. "Are you tired princess?" I nod and stop walking. "I just want to sleep." "We will sleep soon enough okay?" I started to walk again and my legs start burning with every step I take. 

It is 5 a.m when we reach the forest that separate the west from the east. It is a wide forest and it takes a whole day to cross it. Jayden had stopped walking once because he found a big piece of olive green plastic. He had picked it up with the words, "We will need it later." Now he stopped when we are 10 minutes in to the forest. "It is time for you to sleep princess." I shake my head, "I don't think I can sleep." "I know that you will be asleep quickly." I sigh softly, feeling really tired. Jayden lets go of me and looks around. He collects some branches and ties them together, forming a body for a tent out of it. I watch him build it and yawn a little. He digs a deeper hole and rips a piece of plastic of and cover the hole with it. He places the construction of branches around it, making sure that they are sticking in to the ground. Then he puts the left over plastic over the branches and ties it to them with strips of a black T-shirt he once gave me. He looks at me when he is done, "Our house is done." I chuckle, "It looks okay. You did a good job." He smiles and pushes the plastic aside a little. "Look, I made some air holes so we won't choke in there", he says while pointing at some holes. "Good job baby", I smile at him. Jayden lets the backpack he was carrying roll in to the tent and gently takes mine of my back. I let him and yawn again. "I knew that you were tired, exhausted maybe." I nod, "My legs are burning and I really have no energy left." Jayden gets in to the tent and pulls me inside too, making me fall down in between his legs. He closes the gap between the two sides of the plastic and opens one of the huge backpacks. He made the hole just big enough for one person to sit straight up with spreaded legs and two backpacks on each side. He pulls out two blankets, wraps one around me and one around his shoulders. Then he gets my pink blanket out and pushes it into my arms. "The ground is not soft, but it will be okay for now right?" I nod and lean against his chest while sitting on my knees. It is not very comfortable but I feel safe like this. Jayden wraps his arms around me and whispers sweet nothings to me. I doze off pretty quick and fall into a peaceful but uncomfortable sleep. 

Jayden is still awake when I wake up again. "Did you sleep?", I ask while rubbing my eyes. He shakes his head, "I stayed awake to make sure that you were safe and fine." I smile thankfully at him, but at the same moment I feel a bit angry. "I will look over you the next night okay?" "No, you are the one that deserves a lot of sleep." "But you are sick", I mumble, but realize that a fight could make our situation even worse. I press my head against his chest, waiting for him to be mad at me. But it doesn't happend, he rubs my back instead. I stay silent and lean even more into his arms. He pushes me a bit back and kisses my lips. I kiss back and start to cry suddenly. Jayden keeps kissing me even tho the tears are falling down onto our lips. He breaks the kiss after a while and starts drying my tears. "It will all be okay princess", he whispers, "We will be at Thomas's room before we know. Only one more night outside." I sigh softly and hide my head in his neck. I never knew that things could get this worse. Hailey, the person who promised to never leave me behind actually left me. Sam who promised to take care of me, kicked me out of the house. Both of them are probably to busy with their own things, not thinking about my situation anymore. The only person I have left now is Jayden. He pulls me out of my thought by coughing loudly. "It is time to move on with our walk", he says. I nod, break the hug and get up. We break the tent up and Jayden takes everything, except for the branches with him.

We walk for the whole day, slow because Jayden is struggling to walk with his broken foot. But we actually reach the other side of the forest after walking for 10 hours. It is now 9 p.m and I am already exhausted again. Jayden stops again, "This will be our place for tonight." He builds up the tent again and softly pushes me in. This time he spreads one of the blankets out on the plastic of the bottom and makes a pillow out of two sweaters. This time he didn't dig a hole, but he made a little hill instead. "Rain is coming", he said, "Else our tent will get filled with water." And what he said came true, it started raining as soon as we were done building the tent. "Baby lay down", he commands me, "Tonight we will sleep like this." I nod and look around the tent. He actually made a little wall inside the plastic and covered that with some new plastic he found. He had put the the two bags beside each other so they are laying  in front of me, while he is laying behind me. But I decide to turn around, my back pressed against the bags an my chest against his. The heavy rain pours down on the tent and spreads chilly air around. Jayden pulls the other blanket over us to keep us warm, but I keep on shivering. He sits up after a while and rolls me onto my stomach. Then he lifts up my sweater and starts rubbing my back. A great feeling warmth spreads over my back and I feel warm again after 10 minutes. Jayden lays back down and pulls me into his arms again. "I never knew that we would end up sleeping outside again." "Me neither", Jayden says, "But this time we have a tent and that makes it a little better." "Yes you are right." "Are you warm enough now?" "Yes I am baby, thanks." "No problem princess. Are you still sad about the fact that Hailey left you and Sam kicked you out?" I nod, "I will feel that way forever." "Awh poor princess. Now you need to stay with me or else you will die because you can't stand being alone." I nod again, "yes, I can only survive with someone around me and who else would stay with me beside you?" "I don't know princess." "No one would." "Then I am glad that I am here." I smile, "I am happy with you." "I am happy with you too. I don't know where I would be if I didn't have you." "I might have died if you didn't safe me that day." "I might have been in jail or dead." "In jail?" "Yes. You know that if a gang member gets caught by the police, they will go to jail right?" I nod, "I forget about that." "That is okay princess. You are safe, they can't arrest you unless the got prove that you did something. And you never killed anyone so you are doing nothing wrong." "But you can be arrested." "I know how to stay out of jail princess, don't worry about me." "But.." Jayden interrupts me, "No buts, I won't go to jail. And you know what? I promise to quit the gang life a year before get married okay?" I thankfully nod and hide my face in his sweater. The rain is still pouring down, making soothing sounds. Jayden strokes my back with one hand. "Maybe you need some sleep princess." I shake my head but fall asleep after 10 minutes. I am laying a bit more comfortable then yesterday, but now my sleep is a bit restless.