Found

Chapter Three: Week One

I open my eyes and see Josh still asleep next to me.

Last night we basically watched television. Qwin went to sleep at ten. Josh and I stayed up and went to sleep at eleven.

"Morning," Josh whispers. He smiles at me.

"Morning," I whisper back. I smile and kiss him lightly.

"How'd you sleep?" He asks.

"Good. How 'bout you?"

"Good." He says. I hear some noises coming from downstairs.

"Sounds like Qwin is already up. You wanna get up too?" I ask, even though I wish time would stop and Josh and I would be stuck in this moment right now. We're together in a real bed and we're happy. I kiss Josh again, hard. He puts an arm around my waist and pulls me close. I smile.

Josh and I have been through so much. But in between the bad moments, there have been great ones. Like when we had our first date, our first kiss. Whenever I'm with him or in his arms, I feel safe, like a daughter feels when she's with her mother. I feel protected but not smothered with protection. Josh makes me feel loved and when I'm with him I never feel alone. I will never be alone again.

I get out of the bed, but not before kissing Josh. I pull my robe around my shoulders and slip my slippers on my feet. I wait for Josh to get out of bed. He slips some house shoes on his feet and grabs my hand. We walk down the stairs side by side, smiling.

Qwin is in the kitchen when Josh and I reach the bottom step. She has a fresh pot of coffee brewing and something baking in the oven. It smells like a bakery in here. I sit down at the table where Qwin has set out plates and mugs for breakfast. Josh sits next to me and takes my hand. I take his and squeeze it between my fingers.

"Let's eat." I say happily. I scope a spoon full of scrambled eggs onto my plate and do the same for Qwin and Josh. I grab two small pancakes off the platter they sit on. Josh grabs three. Qwin grabs two. Qwin pours orange juice into all our glasses and we dig in.

I pick up my dishes and bring them to the sink. I wash them with a scrubber brush my dad left in the house since the house has no dishwasher. Josh comes into the kitchen and sneaks up behind me. He wraps his arms around my stomach. I lean into his collarbone, loving his embrace.

"Hey." He whispers into my ear while I scrub.

"Hey." I whisper back. "You wanna go hunting later, I could use a break from this house, it's getting to feel cramped in here."

"Sure. How's your abdomen? It still hurt?"

"Not really, would you like to look, Dr. Josh?" I say, chuckling.

"Not to be too controlling but yeah maybe, if you don't mind?" He says, nervously.

"Fine, after I'm done here, in my bathroom, okay?"

"Okay see you there." He smiles, kisses me, and walks out of the kitchen. I finish washing the dishes and set them on the drying rack. I walk out of the room and head up to my bathroom. Josh sits on the toilet with the lid down, waiting.

"Please, sit." Josh says, getting up from the toilet. I sit down on the toilet. Josh closes the door, probably to give us some privacy. I do know that even though Josh doesn't remember much, he is good with medicine. So, I trust him to know what he's doing.

"Can you maybe – if you want to – lift up or take off your shirt, please. I need to look." Josh says.

"Sure." I say. I take the rem of my T-shirt and lift it up with my hands. I lift it over my head and put it on the vanity next to me. Josh tells me to lay back, so I do. He leans in so close to my abdomen that I can feel his warm breath. I'm only in my bra, so his warm breath feels good against my cold skin. I feel like a group of butterflies just burst in my stomach, goosebumps prickle my skin. I feel them crawl up my skin, like someone tip toeing across the floor to not wake somebody up. The way I always feel when Josh and I get so close. I close my eyes and enjoy the moment.

"The wound looks fine, if you see and bruising around it or it hurts more than usual, tell me okay?" Josh says, peacefully.

"Okay." I say. I kiss him, go into my room, put on a new T-shirt, and go back downstairs.

Qwin is sitting in the living room watching television when I get back downstairs. Josh is right behind me with my bow, quiver, his knife, and our holsters. My father sent the paperwork to the state to give us a license to carry.

"Qwin, Josh and I are going hunting, you wanna come?!" I shout.

"No! You two have fun though!" Qwin shouts back.

"Okay!" I shout.

"You ready?" Josh asks.

"Yeah, I just need to change and get some things from my room, give me five minutes okay?" I say.

"Okay." Josh answers.

I go upstairs to my room. I go over to my closet and pick out a sweater, a pair of leggings, and my leather hiking boots. I put a tank top on and put the sweater on over that. I slip the leggings on my legs, and zip the boots on over my nice warm socks. I twist my hair into a braid, tie it off with a hair tie on my wrist, and grab the car keys off my dresser. I head downstairs to where Josh waits for me.

I get into the driver's side of the car and put the keys into the ignition. Josh puts our weapons into the back of the car and gets into the passenger's side. We buckle our seatbelts. I put the car in reverse and step on the gas. After we're out of the driveway, I put the car in drive and we go behind the house, to the patch of woods in which we live in front of.

I sneak up behind a tree and get ready to shoot. Josh and I found a group of turkeys not far from where we entered the woods. I pull the bow string back, arrow in hand, I breathe in, and on the breath out, I release the string. I hit the animal straight in the eye, killing it instantly. Josh goes and retrieves the body.

Josh wraps the body in a dark blanket and throws it in the back of the car or truck, whatever you want to call it. I'm right behind Josh as he goes back to retrieve the rest of our stuff. I stop and look over at the horizon. Loving the sound of nature and the crunch of leaves beneath Josh's feet. I hear Josh talking to someone else, he sounds frightened.

"Josh, everything okay?" I ask, looking around. I find Josh laying on the ground, someone knocked him out. I kneel down to make sure he's okay. When I lean down and look at him, I feel a sharp pain in my neck, I feel around on my neck, and find a knock-out dart. I try to fight what was just injected into my body, I feel the poison running through my veins. It feels like I'm going into a sim, but I'm not sure what I'm going into. Whoever they are though, I know they mean trouble.