Coming Undone

(…unrevealed story more…)

Jade was sitting cross-legged facing the little bed in the treehouse, snacking pickily on some good things she found in Alex’s coat pocket. Alex squinted with his head on his�"no pillow. His heart sank because he snapped into the realization he wasn’t at home in bed. There was Jade, and he thought about what to do or more accurately where to go next. Jade must have heard him stir; she stood stock still and shortly after turned around to look at him with a face that somehow expressed guilt behind the weariness. Alex chuckled in his heart at her haphazard expression, something was fond on, regardless of who it was, really.

She swallowed. “These are for me, too?”

“Yeah, go ahead.”

Alex pushed himself up into a sitting position. “Are you,um. Better?” He scratched his head.

How was she supposed to answer this question anyhow? Better as in…fuller? Rested? She wasn’t much better than she’d been the past four years when her brother {had {taken advantage of her and} was convicted of possessing [an illegal drug]. There was her mom. The judges mallet slammed down, even though Jade didn’t hear it, and her mom�"her mom, she saw her�"she was sputtering, covering her mouth. Jade had yelled in her insides, “Mom say something! Why won’t you say anything?” but outwardly she only whispered, “Mom…” and she didn’t know what else to say. Her brother was there standing with his head up and cocked over. Jade wondered what jail would be like and really had no idea. She had felt something indescribable in her soul toward her brother�"it was shame and anger, which are words too hard for a young mind to grasp�"but she also didn’t want him to go. Her mom squeled; she jumped. She found her eyes were wet and now streaming and somehow (it is a mystery how these things happen) she knew what was happening to her brother.

To answer the question, she was more hopeful and lighthearted this morning. And rested and fuller as well, of course.

“I promise I’ll get you home. I promise.” A breeze just cold enough to be shocking to the skin flew through the cracks in the house. Alex made a huff of frustration at the blasted cold which he’d grown to hate even though it had been mild. “I can still carry you if you need.”

“I think I can walk now.”

“But climb down the ladder…” Alex murmured to himself.

“Why did you take me?”

This was the question he had not stopped preparing for and was still not ready for. He clenched up with anger at his own foolish actions. That expectant face before him begged for words and drew them out of Alex’s gut. “Jade.”

He examined her protruding ears. What they called ugly but truly complimented her personality to say “I am open to all and cute at that” He examined her inexcusably large forehead. Not abnormally large, but hey. What they called ugly but in reality matched the depth of her chubby cheeks. He hoped these cheeks would not go away.

“Jade.” He said again. “I like you. You know why I took you? That’s why. It was very stupid and a bad thing, too, I know now. I wanted to go out and start a life by myself…with you.” He was really lost for words at this point. He noticed his voice was shaking and dreaded looking at Jade. But when he did, he saw amazement. He then felt suddenly bold.

“Jade I love you. You are beautiful in some way.”

She folded in her lips and fiddled with her hands. “Really?” she whispered.

“I think so.”

She was now rubbing her eyes with her fists. A tear rolled down her gentle cheek. All at once she fell on Alex, hugging him with such an innocent, friendly, and yet heartfelt hug. Inside Alex melted, outside he was as rigid as a board. It was really rather a brief embrace, the kind that a young girl may do spontaneously to another young boy out of the blue, but he pushed her away when he felt something instantaneous which is not very fitting to record here.

He looked over her head at the wall. He looked her in the eyes�"they were very different now, but it is hard to describe it without you seeing them yourself�"and said, “Jade.” She stayed her gaze. “You can come with me.”

She looked bewildered. This had never crossed her mind.

Words began pouring out his mouth, convincing words, all she wanted to hear; warmth filled Alex with each word he exhaled. He was expression that she’d be safe and taken care of and Alex did believe this himself. Ten minutes passed of talking, questions, and in the end, for better or for worse, Jade, twelve years old, was going. She was going.

The obvious was still before them. First, the sleep in the treehouse would have to be enough. If they went back, it seemed they’d be moving closer to the police. Alex thought this way, Jade didn’t, for as I said, she was oblivious that the pursuit was very hot. Hotter than they both knew, really, but for now�"the campgrounds: that was the next best, most solid safety. Outside it was beginning to sprinkle snow again, a little chiller, not much. Alex went down the ladder behind Jade. He had to hold up his hand to steady her twice; they were soon safe on ground. Alex went back up to gather the blankets and the other stuff he’d brought up the night before. Off they went. They could surely be at the campsite by the noontime, but Alex bit his lip at the worry that Jade would not be able to endure that long. As they began�"she was straddling behind as she had days ago (and he wished she would just walk by him)�"this wasn’t the same Jade, surely. And yet it was a little more like the real Jade. She spoke at off times and hummed until her legs were tiring her again. A crow flew ahead in the distance. How many times would the young man have to lie, maybe steal, before he was in a place to provide everything for himself and for Jade? He’d do it if he had to. He didn’t want to because he was torn between doing right and doing what he felt he had to to be free to do what he wanted, but he would, because he doubted everything he’d ever been taught about God, about religion. In the mumbo-jumbo of contriving and scheming on how to get into a nice warm cabin, the words, “…you will reap a harvest if you don’t give up.” It was a Bible passage. He hadn’t given up, he hadn’t. He had left his house, and ran away, and kidnapped, and left everything because he hadn’t given up and yet nothing happened. There was no harvest. He remembered his dad saying, leaned over his study desk beside a steaming mug, that God doesn’t always do things in the way we expect. The question was, then, how to trust him.

Alex turned to Jade with a question of whether she believed in God or not.

“Yes. I accepted Jesus in my heart…” she looked up into the sky, and blinked, for the flurries coming down. “Like five years ago.”

“I thought. Okay.”

They were at the narrowing pass by midday. Climbing the backside of the mountain was dreadfully slow due to Jade’s pace. It’s easy to forget how small and feeble others can be when you are big and strong, which is what Alex did. At one point she didn’t want to up any higher because she was afraid of the height. The official entrance to the camp was about half a mile away over a few more hills that weren’t so high, so Alex just went up and looked over the campsite to orient himself, came down, and started another way toward the entrance with Jade.

Once they arrived at the broad pinewood sign that read, “Western View Campgrounds” with “the home of peace and harmony” in little block letters under the name, they stepped over (or under) the steel gates. “Remember what I said, right?”

“I do. Behind that rock is a good place.” She pointed to an enormous boulder which threatened to crush anyone who drove on the road it overshadowed. But it was too far from the check-in house. Alex walked with her up until twelve feet of the house and shoed her away behind some ornamental bushery. He stood up straight and knocked on the door. At first there was no answer. Then he heard a man shouting�"probably at his wife, Alex presumed by what he could hear�"and the door swung open. The man was in a scraggly looking grey robe. The smell of fried bacon and eggs, and the heat of it as well, bathed Alex’s face.

“Welcome.” The man smiled artificially behind a hairy chin and mouth. His face contorted into a scrunched up ball, then his eyes widened, then he pouted, then he gestured for him to come in. “Please make yourself comfortable, young man. But excuse me.” He strode out of the room and was back in less than twenty seconds, smiling brightly. Alex didn’t mind standing because he only wanted to rent a cabin, if he had enough money, check-in and get out. “Please sit down.” Alex sat across from him.

“I would just like a cabin, for a day, week maybe, if I can.”

“Oh really,” the man beamed. Suddenly he became grave to conceal his real emotions. “We have a few cabins available. Any in particular you’d like? If you take a look up here,” he motioned to a poster on a tackboard to their left, “you can see the two different cabins we have.” Alex squinted to read the details. “They vary subtlely from cabin to cabin. But you’re always going to have a bathroom, a fireplace, bed, dresser, you know, the staples.”

“How much do they cost?”

“Sixty-nine a night for the second model, thirty-nine a night for the first model.”

“Okay. Is there air conditioning?”

“On campgrounds? That’s cheating son!” He laughed. But he assured him there was also air conditioning. “The fire places are fake anyway,” he added.

“I’ll take a small cabin for…well…”

“You know what, how about this,” started the man and it is obvious he already had intended to say this, “you stay there for three days free. If you enjoy it, if you like it and want to stay longer, you can rent it for a few days if you’d like.”

“Really?”

“It’s all on me. That’s how we do here at Western View, that’s how we do…” he was gloating as he stood up when Alex interrupted him.

“What is that?” A flyer was tacked to the board speaking of “tranquil quaint resorts on the calm of a lake.”

“A dung hill, that’s what I wish it was.” Alex didn’t get it. “My uncle,” the man waved his hand in disgust toward the flyer, “he cheated me and stole that land from me�"we were in a partnership. I fought for that, but you know how life goes, and I lost it. Curse it. Darn court order dictates we’ve gotta advertise both properties, so that’s all he’s getting from me.”

“But, what is it?”

“Just what it says. Lake properties you can rent out for a weekend or however long you want. Lands really big, so there’s a whole lot of space between each one�"real nice. Agh, it works me.”

“Is, is it nearby? Or far away? Could I have a map if you have one?”

The man stared intently at him. “It’s about fifty or sixty miles up from here. I don’t have a map, but really just follow the river and you’re there.” He stared at Alex silently again. As for Alex, his inside was tingling with excitement. Properties amidst wide lush land, over a lake…it sounded wonderful. And space. Space equals distance which equals non-discoverability. He had a new passion birthed in him to reach this place. But, man, he needed a fishing rod or something, something to sustainably catch food.

“Are there any houses hidden in the woods?”

“Yup, all that too.”

“Is there a check-in thingy like this camp? Could you sneak in there? Just a question.”

“Strange questions. Are�"“

“Or, okay, suppose someone decided to sneak in there and find an empty house, would they be discovered, if no one ever stayed at that house?”

“Eh�"probably not. Hm.” The man pondered about it a moment before he fetched the key for Alex’s new cabin, and the young man grasped it proudly. The camp manager was already leading him many steps from the welcome house before Alex remembered Jade! Alex asked exactly where the cabin was and then assured him that he was able to get there himself. When he resisted, Alex insisted, and eventually the man allowed him to have his way. He kept his eye on the boy to make sure he didn’t try to flee�"just in case�"yet was puzzled to see him turn around partway up the ridge and come back. Just when he was going to open the door and ask what in the world he was doing, he saw Jade.

“Marilyn, come here. Hurry, look at this, the girl’s here too!” His wife came rushing out from the back of the small house.

“Oh my god, call the police!” she screeched.

“Shh! Shut up, they’re right out there! Yes, go finish breakfast, I’ll call the police.”

When Alex fitted the tiny metal key into the door lock, he opened the creaking door and found the inside cozy and roomy. It was better than the picture made it look. Jade sat on the oak-framed sofa in the room and bounced her bottom up and down on it. It seems the camp manager overlooked the fact that his special guests could see almost the full of the campgrounds, including the entrance, from this cabin up on a ridge. Because when Alex looked out the window again he saw the shimmering badges of six police men coming toward the ridge.