Dawn Hollow

XIV

PJ began to get a grip on his body, slowly his toes wiggled in his broken sneakers, his hand climbed up to rub the back of his head before sliding up and down his groggy face. Sounds entered his ears like the fog, small drums of raindrops with crickets chirping along. He began producing thoughts again. What time is it? Was one of the first. His eyelids exposed him to the light of the outside, blinding him immediately. A groan released deep inside his throat, followed by a forced out yawn ejecting tired breath into his own nose.

As his body checked in with itself, his right arm was registering small amounts of discomforting pain. Shifting it around seemed to do nothing like it was stuck in place or broken. But it didn't feel broken, not like his foot felt when he first hurt it. With a stiff neck, he clicked his head over to see what was going on.

On his arm was Kane's head, sending pins and needles through his skin as peaceful sleep was scribbled all over his face. PJ didn't want to disrupt the boy, so he calmly inched his arm back, feeling returning to it by the second. Kane never stirred or troubled as his head collapsed onto PJ's side instead. He remained still to keep him comfortable, doing his best not to move when he reached out in front of him to his backpack to find his phone.

After blindly fishing for it, he hit the small button when the phone was in his hand, and the screen came alive. He gasped at what was waiting for him; 34 missed calls from his mom and two from his dad. PJ nearly choked on his spit, rushing to sit up and get all of Kane's food out of his bag.

The rush launched Kane's head to the floor of the hut, immediately waking the forest boy and making him groan in pain, "W-What's going on?" He grumbled sleepily with a yawn. PJ turned back to him, his backpack strapped up with a panicked look on his face, "P-PJ?"

"I'm really sorry, Kane, but I have to go back home!"

"Is everything okay? What's going on?"

"Yeah, everything's fine....I think, but we both fell asleep. It's been like three hours, I think, and my parents are just super worried, so I gotta get down the hill in time for dinner before they literally call the cops on me. But, I'll be back soon, okay?" Kane just nodded and watched PJ runoff. He followed his gut to the gravel road that led back to the town. His legs were already in pain despite not running for very long. He continued faster and faster, taking more significant and riskier strides down the mountain. Finally, he could start to see the lights of the town through the thick fog-like clouds.

The roar of cars racing by exiting and entering the city, lifting up the edges of his jean jacket as they whisked past, just trying to get to their destination as he was. His hands were shoved deep in his pockets, playing with a small ball of lint between his fingers. How could this have happened? He barely even remembered falling asleep. Blurs of Kane and him talking about who knows what while drifting between plains of consciousness before they both lost it to their own exhausted souls.

Grimy and dirty fingers brushed along the stone wall fence rounding the corner down to his street. The sun was starting to set in the gray skies, tucked away in a blanket of darkness, street lamps beginning to flicker on each stream of sidewalk he hopped over. He breathed out hot air through his lips when a winter chill passed, the colder season that was soon to set, giving him a small hello.

But he had made it, jumping up the steps of his home, the porch lights comforting and helping him find his house key deep within his bag. The shake in his hands surely did not assist him, but his fear was unstoppable. The adrenaline flowing throughout his system was acting like a sick high he was craving to get off of.

The key attracted his hand before immediately being stuck in the keyhole and throwing the door open. Inside the warm house, his skin screamed at the temperature change, but he loved it. His mother poked her head out of the sweet-scented kitchen, relief flooding her, "Peter John Thomasson Marshall!" She full-named him, throwing her hand towel to the floor and rushing out to graciously wrap her arms around her son, "Gosh, you'd be in so much trouble if I wasn't so glad to know you're okay; I was so worried! You know what it does to me when you don't answer your phone, or at least tell me you're going somewhere where you can't!"