Saving Serah

Chapter 8: Locked In

"I'm sorry Sarah but that's final. If you refused to work with Jacob then a real job is in order." I scuff. "And what about you?" He sighs. "You know I've been trying." We sit in silence for a moment. "Maybe you should talk to Jacob." I chuckle. "I'd rather go back to Seattle." He retreats back into the kitchen and I keep my place on the couch. "Come on Sarah. You aren't exactly being fair." I huff. "I don't expect you to understand." He steps back into view and I look at him.

"Either you'll go to work or I will and trust me I'm sure you wouldn't want that." I smirk. "I'd like to see you try to work on his farm." He nods. "Fine don't call my bluff kiddo. I've never bluffed before." I scuff rolling my eyes. "Fine. I hate you for making me do this." He hums. "I'm okay with that." He retreats back into the kitchen and I huff standing to go back to my room to prepare myself for the worse.

*

I raise my hand knocking on the front door. I wait for a few minutes and there's no answer. I raise my hand to knock again but hear a distant bang come from the barn acres from me. I sigh heading down the side of the house and across the field to the barn. I squeeze through the crack in the door hearing Jacob curse under his breath. I find him moving the tanks of feed around to clean out a spare stall. A pile of buckets and random metal account for the bang I heard.

He huffs. "Geez Jacob you just had to go and messing things up with the assistant or this would have been so much easier." I lean against the post to my left. "Why don't you take a break then?" I whisper just loud enough for him to hear. He glances over his shoulder at me. "Sarah." He whispers softly.  He turns to face me and we stand in silence. I clear my throat. "You...ugh....needed a hand?" He shakes his head.

"It's too heavy I could never ask you to do this." I sigh. "Well I've been sent by Dylan for duty so..." He swallows. "Let me finish here and....ugh....I'll find you something?" I nod softly. He takes a breath turning back to lift the last tank of feed but I see him struggle. I step up next to him and he glances at me. I grip one handle and be grips the other. Together we are enough to move it. He huffs. "Thank you." I nod.

"What are you cleaning the stall for anyways?" There's a silence while we catch our breath. "One of the stall doors broke so I'm having to move Violet." I nod softly. "How about we move her and then call it a day for you?" He nods softly with a smile.

*

"What do you mean?!" He grabs the handle leaning his weight on it. "The door won't open Sarah." I can hear the wind howling around the barn as the storm brews in. "What are we supposed to do?" He shrugs. "Guess we are stuck here but don't worry this door get stuck all the time. If we get higher up in the barn I've got emergency supplies. We just need to wait the storm out." I frown softly. The power was out and it was so dark I could barely see. "Jacob..." He hums softly. "Preserve your phone battery, who knows how long we will be here."

I flinch as he grabs my arm bringing it over to his shirt. "You might want to hold on to my shirt so we don't get lost." I nod grabbing his shirt. He leads the way and I follow softly hearing the wind and the horses getting a little riled up. Eventual he leads us up a latter. He eventually stops pulling my hand from his shirt. "Sit here." He whispers and I do. I wait patiently in the dark and eventually he lights a match. It startles me but he then lights the old kerosene lantern that he had stashed away. He sets it in front of me and picks a bundle of hay to lay on.

"It's not my bed but it works." I frown. "I'm scared Jacob." He smiles. "Why? I'm here." I huff. "Never been trapped in a barn during a massive storm before." He shrugs. "It's not so bad." We fall silent and it's awkward.  "I'm sorry Sarah. I was wrong." He whispers and I look down at my hands. "Can you ever forgive me?" I frown and a tear rolls down my face. "I...." The thunder cracks making me jump and causes the lantern to somehow go out. "Sarah?" He reaches out for me touching my arm.

He feels me start to shake. "The lantern can't stay lit forever." I sniffle. "I'm not cold. I don't like the dark." I hear him move the lantern tugging on my arm. "Come here Sarah." I start to cry. "I don't trust you anymore Jacob." He huffs as if that hurt. "Can you at least let me comfort you?" I swallow wiping the tears from my face hearing the thunder boom again. "Would you rather sit there alone in the dark?" I still say nothing. After a long minute he scuffs. "Fine. I'm trying Sarah. Goodnight I guess." After it's been a bit I thought maybe he fell asleep but I move to lay next to him. I use his arm as a pillow and lightly grip at his shirt. "Thank you." He whispers gently to me. "I'm just too scared to sleep. Don't thank me." He huffs but leaves that at that.

Enjoy.