The Ring

Chapter 16

                                                                  Addie's P.O.V.

     Luckily, the Boys didn't get back until later in the evening, so Ben and I had time to get everything ready. We each had a pack to carry that had everything from food and water to extra hides for tents. After we packed, we practiced our swordplay for about two hours straight. I was glad to see that even after another battle with death, I hadn't lost my touch one bit. I could tell he was going easy on me the first time around, so I pushed myself even harder to make my point that I was not weak and that if he didn't stop holding back, I'd knock him on his butt. He got the hint and gave me a pretty good fight. He won a couple. But I won more. And it's so cute to see how upset he is. I know he hates it that I'm just as good of a fighter as he is... maybe even better.

     Walking back into the hideout to clean our swords and triple check our packs, I start to feel sick. Sick as in 'I'm not going to be able to do this' sick. I wearily went through my pack. Three bags of homemade beef jerkey.... check. Two canteens filled with water... check. How can I break their little hearts? Extra canteen for more water... check. Blankets...1, 2, and 3... check. They'll hate me forever because of this. But they need to understand that I can't stay. Tear Drop Necklace... check. Extra dagger.. check.

     "I've got everything." I report to Ben.

     "Same here!" He calls back.

     I can't do this. I can't tell them! i need to.. I can't-- My inner panicking is interrupted by tiny voices shouting my name and battle cries. The Boys are back. I take a deep breath and plaster a smile on my face. I think I might be sick.

     Chuck ended up catching the biggest fish. And he was beaming when he handed it to me. Neverland fish must take steroids or something, because this fish was about three feet long and weighed at least ten pounds. But all the Boys were pleased with their catches. I set Chuck's fish on the table to start gutting it, begin wrapping up the rest for their meals while Ben is gone, and told the Boys to wash up. Somewhere along the way they had decided to have a mud war and were caked from head to toe in black gunk. It turns out it was caked on so bad, that they didn't come out all clean and ready until after I had set the table.

     The Boys and Ben thanked me and dug in right away. Their compliments and "Mmmmm's" echoed throughout the hideout, but I barely heard them. I tuned out the world around me to try and figure out what the hell I was going to say to them. I almost started crying when I realized again that this was going to be the last night I saw them. The last dinner I'll cook for them, the last bedtime story I'll ever tell them. But I didn't want to ruin their dinner, so I sucked it up and locked away my emotions.

     I didn't want them to catch on to the fact that I hadn't spoken a peep since I started cooking, so I decided to actually eat something, even though I still felt like I was going to be sick. But all of that aside, it did smell amazing. And obviously something was good about it, because everyone was taking seconds and thirds. I also knew that this would probably be the last decent meal I would have until I got home, so I stabbed a small piece of fish into my fork and placed it on my tongue. I'm sure it tasted great for everyone else, but it just tasted like ash to me. I sneakily spit into my napkin and quickly cut into my fish to make it look like I had eaten.

     I couldn't even look at Ben. But I could feel his eyes on me. But I just kept staring at my fish. All of this made me miss Gramma even more. She'd know what to do. She'd hug me and tell me everything was going to work out, then give me advice about what to say to the Boys... and what to do about Ben. The feeling that I was going to be sick was long gone, now all I wanted to do was burst into tears.