TWLEVE

~Jake~

Day 379

We are camping. The car ran out of fuel so we raided a supermarket and now we are sleeping up in trees. Things are better between me and Adrian. He is definitely nicer to me now. We are going to have a Christmas between the three of us sometime this week, I promised Richelle. I think that Adrian might have been abused. Either that or he was in a bad accident. He was changing yesterday and I accidently saw him when he didn’t have a shirt on. He has long scars down the length of his back and on his chest. I feel bad. I am kind of scared of asking him about it though. How will I explain seeing them? I wasn’t supposed to see him when he changed and I didn’t mean to. It was sort of an accident. Its early morning now and I can’t get back to sleep. I could really use a nice coffee right now. I miss coffee. I think that I hear Adrian waking up. Have to go.

            Shutting the book Jake shoved the notebook inside the thin blue pillowcase. Sitting up, she carefully grabbed the branch she hung from and untied the hammock. Following its slow decent to the ground, she landed with a thud. Neatly folding the hammock and blankets she put it away in her bag and pulled out the collapsible pots and pans. She pulled out the cheap dissolvable coffee flakes and the box of cream of wheat. Digging through her bag she found the matching collapsible measuring cups and bottles of water. Lighting another fire, she set up the cooking stand. She didn’t think that Adrian was waking up; he moved around in his sleep an awful lot.

            She hooked two pots to the steel rack above the fire and waited for the water to boil. As the small bubbles started to roll inside the pan she measured out the cream of wheat and mixed it into the pot. She slowly mixed until the porridge thickened. Removing it from the heat, she poured in a mother lode of sugar and stirred it in. With that finished, she moved on to the other pot which was still boiling. She measured out the dissolvable coffee flakes and stirred them into the water. Instantly it blackened and the smell that wafted off was comfortingly familiar. She removed it off the heat also and stirred powdered creamer and sugar.

            Jake’s mouth watered as she rummaged through her bag and brought out a box of plastic spoons and Styrofoam cups and bowls. She poured cream of wheat into each Styrofoam bowl until the pot was empty. She did the same with the coffee and settled down on the stretched out blanket. A familiar gurgling and bubbling made her smile. She grabbed the soiled pans and ran towards the recognizable noise.

~Adrian~

            His back ached. Rolling around in his cocoon of blankets, he tried to get comfortable. He cracked his neck, getting a loud pop. It didn’t do much to ease his aching but it felt a little better. Freeing his face from the swaddle of cloth, he stayed curled in his hammock, that is, until a familiar smell enveloped his nose. Sitting straight up in his make-do bed, he looked down at the ground.

            A fire was steadily crackling where it had burnt the night before. Sitting off to the side of the blazing flame were tall cups full of that proverbial light brown liquid. Smiling, Adrian wobbled to his feet, climbed onto the broad tree branch and detached his hammock’s rigging. Following its quick descent to the ground, he folded it up and put it in his bag. He looked back up at the tree, there was only one hammock left up in the tree. Where was Jake? A sinking sensation filled his chest as he looked around for her bag. Surprisingly, it was still sitting against the base of the tree they had slept in. Stumped, he sat down on the folded up blanket and waited. The fire popped as a piece of wood broke in half. He watched the fire dance around itself; smoke pirouetting into the early morning sky.

            Quiet music started to rise over the popping of the flames. Standing up he followed the sound to a nearby stream. Surprisingly it wasn’t frozen over. Jake was standing in the water. The crystal clear water was flowing quickly past her bare chest. She stood with her back to him, hands floating out on the water in front of her. He noticed the gigantic green bottles sitting on the shore. Her clothes and towels hung from low branches of a slender tree. Hiding behind his own tree he tried to sneak away without being noticed. But not without noticing, first, a long puckered scar from her right upper back trailing all the way over her shoulder. Edging back far enough, he turned and sprinted for camp.

            Making it back without being noticed, he was relieved to see that Richelle wasn’t awake yet. Planting himself back down on the blanket he continued to watch the fire which was burning just as brightly as his now crimson cheeks.

            Keeping his head down, he waited for Richelle to wake up. The bare trees were silhouetted against the sky like thin bony fingers. They tangled around each other, swaying back and forth. He shivered as a sharp rush of wind flew past him. Standing up, he moved to his back and pulled out his black beanie. Stuffing it onto his head he wrapped himself in a blanket and sat back down. It was a while before Jake appeared between the trees. She was dressed, carrying two collapsible pots. Under her arm were the two large green bottles. Folded over her arm was another pair of clothes.

            “Good Morning,” she said, beaming at him. He gave a small nod and pulled the blanket in tighter. He waited as she folded everything away into her bag. “You can have breakfast,” she laughed. “You didn’t have to wait for me.” He smiled, unraveling the blankets he grabbed a bowl filled with porridge and a cup of coffee.  

            “It’s good,” he said, indicating the cream of wheat. Delicately he sipped the coffee. It was obvious that it was a cheap brand but it didn’t taste too badly. He gulped down half the cup before he set it down and dug into the porridge again.

            “Thanks. I’m glad you like it.” She smiled and grabbed her own bowl. They sat next to each other in silence, eating their food. It was a long time before Richelle rolled out of her hammock and joined them.

            When breakfast finished, they piled their trash up into the base of their tree and repacked their bags.

            “Alright let’s go. We have a lot of land to cover,” said Adrian. Quietly they stumbled through the forest, snow crunching under their shoes.

Reviews

[Sylvana]

Hehe, awkward~
Although, this chapter could of had more, no?
Either way, yay.