running

chapter 2 A new home and a new set of minds

Tav and Alex came up ten miles downstream and found a place to go to shore. Alex was exhausted, he spent the last nine miles, trying to keep Tav above the water. When Tav finally came to, she was confused. She tried recalling what they just did but couldn't, Tav had no recollection of what happened a few minutes ago. Alex told Tav that he was the one who kept her alive, he was the one who pushed her into the water, and of course, he said he was sorry for pushing her. So they sat on the shore for half an hour, they talked about what they wanted to do in the future but probably wouldn't get to do now. They moved on but the bag that Alex brought with him was soaked and all the contents within it too, they walked on for a couple more hours. Finally, they came to a house that was scheduled for demolition in a few days, they slept inside. It was a little cold but the heat from the sun-warmed the place up a bit. They settled into their new abode, Alex brought an air mattress so they could at the very least sleep comfortably. Unfortunately, they just couldn't sleep, they needed more excitement, so they went around the house and played tag because Tav felt like being in her littlespace, Tav won of course. Tav won because Alex was sent into daddyspace, daddyspace is for the caregiver for those in littlespace. Tav still had the energy to burn, so they spent about ten minutes running around. Tav finally laid down and Alex kept watch, he liked watching things. He stayed up all night just to keep watch over Tav. He thought to himself "She looks so peaceful when she sleeps, I wish we could stay like this forever." Alex did fall asleep but he wasn't asleep long until Tav woke up. All she wanted to do was get on the move Alex wasn't up to it, all he wanted to do was sleep. For Tav's sake, he went out but dragged his feet. They finally left the house and went to the next thing on the list of things to do while out in the world. They went to a Walmart just down the street and got new supplies for the next few days since it had been two weeks since Alex ate he needed to eat something and soon. After buying non-perishable foods that would last a while, they left Walmart and went to go hideout. The last thing they needed was the cops on their trail again.

(Alex's POV)

When we got to shore, she looked at me in confusion and said "what the hell happened"

"I kind of pushed you off the cliff and you hit my chest I'm sorry. Now we're here, wherever here is" we found a house that was almost falling apart it was going to get demolished in a few days, so we went in. We spent a few hours getting settled in our new home for the night, the construction company had cut the electricity so it was cold enough that we could see our breath. After a while of looking around, we found a room with a nice view of the river we just came from, I set up an air mattress, with a hand crank blower cause he knew that they would be away from electricity for a while. I called Tav to see how she like how I set the room up. I started to get worried cause she didn't answer me when I called her a few times. I looked through the whole house, I even looked outside I sat down on the bed and started to cry cause I knew I wasn't enough, I knew that she didn't love me she was just using me to get away from her parents. I couldn't believe that I fell for her stupid trick. I should've known that it wouldn't last. Then out of nowhere Tav pops into the room and runs to me and wraps her arms around me, and with tears in her eyes, she tells me " I could never do that. It would hurt too much. Promise me that you'll stay with me." I promised her that I would never leave her. We sat there for a few minutes just crying with each other. After a while, it started to get dark and I told Tav that it was time for bed, and I guess she was thinking about littlespace because she started running around the house yelling "daddy try to catch me" so we played tag for maybe ten minutes. Then she told me she was tired so we went up to the room I laid her down and put a blanket over her and soon enough she fell asleep. I sat against the wall looking at my baby girl thinking that I don't deserve her, I don't deserve any of the love that she gives me. I tried to stay up all night but I fell asleep all of a sudden Tav woke me up it was light outside. I got up Tav didn't want to be here any longer she had a bad feeling so I rolled up the air mattress next was the blankets. We finally left the house for the last time and left a little memory on the building we carved our names into the wall that they slept in. "now we need food" but where to go, we found a Walmart a few minutes down the road. We bought some canned foods and went back out to hide from the cops.

(Tavs POV)

We walked into a house that was going to be demolished soon. They left the doors unlocked so we technically didn't break-in. Alex decided it would be a good idea if we stayed the night there. I wasn't tired yet so I convinced Alex to play tag with me. Of course, I almost immediately went into littlespace. I giggled any time Daddy got close to tag me. We kept running around until I finally felt tired enough to attempt sleep. Alex kept watch and must've fallen asleep because when I woke up he was asleep. I woke him up because I didn't want to stay here longer than necessary. I didn't want to get caught. He was dragging his feet about getting up but with enough of my whinnying, he got a move on. He hadn't eaten in a while so we went into the nearby Walmart. We bought foods that would last for a while. It took a lot of strength to not beg Alex to let me buy a pacifier. I knew I couldn't because we needed the money to buy the necessities. Nothing else.