Out of Sight

Chapter Five

The smell of the fresh air and the fire that burned inside the pit located next to her feet, swirled together in her nose as she breathed in the heavenly smells of the nature all around her. The tall trees surrounded her spreading left and right and only stopped at the edge of the lake beside the campsite. Trout jumped to the surface, attacking small flies that had come out in the late night air.

Ivy had gone there to escape from the horrors going on within the walls of her parents' home. Her father had had one too many to drink, and his yelling and throwing of things only made Ivy want to run away even more. 

She had found this place after her father had chased her on foot out of town. She had reached the edge of the woods and kept running, but her father had continued yelling into the trees for her to come back to him.

But now, that was the last thing on her mind. She sat in the quiet, staring at the fire in front of her and enjoying the silence. No voices, no cars, nothing. Just peace. Almost similar to when she would run into the backyard at home. There weren't as many places to hide as there were in the middle of nowhere. But the option of a quick escape into the backyard had once brought peace to Ivy, when she was a child and had nothing else to worry about other than her father's yelling. 

Unfortunately as she got older, a better hiding place was much needed as her father began taking his drunkenness out on her in newer and worse ways.

A twig snapped behind her and Ivy quickly turned to see who the intruder was, holding a pocket knife that a friend at school had given her for protection. A tall man with short blonde hair, appeared into the light provided by the fire. His shoulders were broad underneath the black t-shirt he wore, and by his body structure appeared as if he had played sports. 

Holding his hands above his head in surrender, he spoke. "And what is a pretty girl like you, doing out here all by yourself?" His expressions showed curiosity with a hint of tease. 

Ivy stood from the fire, and held her pocket knife tighter in her hand. "Who are you?" She questioned him. After years of abuse from her father, she wasn't likely to invite the stranger to her campfire. 

The man seemed to study her for a moment. His gaze glanced to the pocket knife in her hands, and he slowly started returning his arms to his sides. "No need for that, I'm not gonna hurt you." He gestured to the empty spot on the ground beside her, "Mind if I sit with you for a while? I promise I won't stay for long, I'm just cold." 

Ivy paused for a moment to study the man who had so rudely intruded upon her campsite, before signaling for him to come sit. 

"What's your name?' She asked the man cautiously.

"Adrian," he smiled to her, "Who are you?" He asked politely. The tone of his voice suggested he had discipline, but also hinted that he was used to getting what he wanted when he wanted it. 

Another pause of silence filled the air as she gazed at him, and pondered whether or not to tell the truth. Most people already knew who her father was as he had a good respectable reputation with everyone outside of his home. But she wondered if it was worth telling the stranger beside her, who she really was. He would more than likely ask questions about what she was doing in the woods. 

She opted to tell the truth and figured that honesty was the best policy. "Ivy. Ivy Tyler." She said shortly. 

Adrian nodded skeptically before proceeding to ask the very question she knew he would. "You're Paul's daughter, right? The guy who owns the liquor store in town? What you doing way out here?"

Hearing her father's name sent chills down her spine and she thought long and hard for a moment about whether or not it was worth it to completely unravel her fathers reputation. 

"I just like it out here," She said cautiously, leaving out the real reason she was in the middle of the woods in the middle of the night. "What about you?" Ivy asked Adrian. She had her reasons for being in the middle of nowhere, what were his?

Adrian jumped at the question as if he were waiting for her to ask the whole time. "Actually, I'm training." He answered proudly. "Practicing my survival skills before signing up for the Army this fall." 

Taken by surprise, Ivy nodded. "Good for you," She stated flatly. 

Adrian appeared disappointed in her reaction, but remained physically unphased. Instead he got up from the ground and disappeared into the trees behind her before returning with two large sticks. "May I borrow your knife?" He asked as he looked down at her. His eyes were soft and showed his hopefulness of her answer. 

Ivy handed him the knife slowly, and watched as he began carving a small hole in the middle of one of the sticks.  She watched him as he worked, and found herself in awe of his concentration. He appeared as if everything in the world around him, had disappeared and he was now in his own happy place. 

She could see that his very manurisms changed when he began carving the stick. It was such a small thing, but it appeared to do the same thing for him that being in nature did for her. 

"What are you doing?" She asked curiously. In the short period of time since he had begun, she had felt a connection to him. The similarities of the things they both enjoyed, brought peace of mind to her in a new way she hadn't experieced before. 

"I,"  he said breathlessly, still carving the piece of wood in his hand, " am going to teach you how to start a fire by yourself with nothing but this pocket knife and these two sticks." He finished carving the hole and looked up at her with a smile. "You ready?" He asked hopefully.

Reluctantly, Ivy nodded and agreed to let him teach her the new trick. They talked for hours about their interests and their plans for after high school. He told her all about how he plans to join the Army and spend his life in service to his country. His words were, "I want to die knowing that I did everything I could to protect the country I was allowed to be born into."

The night was long and they fell asleep on the ground next to what was now two fires, shortly before the sky began to fill with light from the early morning sun. 

Ivy awoke to the flashing light above her, and did her best to rub the sleep from her eyes. The dream had brought her both a sense of peace and a sense of sadness. Her and Adrian never had the best relationship, but they had their moments in the beginning where everything seemed to be just perfect. 

But everything had changed. For example, here she was sat inside a cell with no idea where she was and he was probably out there sitting in his nice apartment space with a new girlfriend, living it up with his new job and pension from the Army. But who knows? She hadn't heard from him since their daughter died twelve years ago. Last she knew,  he was planning on leaving the service. Maybe he stayed, maybe he died, maybe he left. 

Ivy's heart was heavy with the memories of what love once felt like. Since the death of her daughter and her divorce from Adrian, she hadn't trusted anyone enough to let herself actually fall in love. For the last twelve years, she had found herself slowly becoming more and more lonely as more and more people slowly dissipated from her life, one at a time. Until all that was left was her and her dog, Brother.

Sitting up and rubbing her neck, Ivy searched around the room hoping to find herself back at home once again only to find herself still locked away in the cell. 

The light in the hallway outside the door was once again on, and helped bring extra light into the dark and gloomy cell. A small cup sat perfectly upright on the ground in front of the cell door. 

Ivy scurried across the cell and found herself downing the cups remains before checking to see what was actually inside. To her luck, water was in fact the contents of the cup. 

The dryness of her mouthed soothed as she gulped down every last drink of the water. Tipping back the cup, Ivy pounded on the bottom to ensure that every miniscule drop of the cup's contents would make it into her mouth and down her throat. 

It wasn't anywhere close to the amount of water she needed, but it was enough to keep her alive for a little bit longer.