Forsaken

Lost

I awoke to the frigid cold of the early morning. I sit up and rub my temples. Turning toward my mother, I realized that the fire went out.

No wonder why it's so cold, I thought. I get up and go to one of the windows and peek out through the blinds. The shy is light gray and it's snowing. As soon as the snow hits the ground, it turns a light gray because of all the ash.

I walk towards my mother and grab her backpack. I rummage through it and pull out two corn cakes in plastic wrap. I also take out a butter knife and cut them in half.

"Jenny," James says, his five-year old voice weak and tired.

"Yeah?" I put the knife away.

"I'm hungry," he says, sitting up. He starts rubbing his eyes.

"You have to wait till Hope and Mommy wake up, okay?"

"Okay." He lies back down.

About fifteen minutes later, Hope gets up and goes to the bathroom to do her business. By the time she gets back, our mother wakes up.

"James," I say, handing him a corn cake. "Here."

"Thank you," he replies back to me, sitting up from where he lay. I turn around to Hope and give her one. She nods a thank you. I give one to Mom, too.

"Thank you, sweetie." She starts to eat it and so do Hope and James. Then I eat mine, the smallest of them all.

"Alright," I say when we have finished. "Let's start walking."

***

We've been walking for at least an hour now and it's still quiet early. I would say about eight or nine-ish by the light gray of the sky. The snow is practically neon against the background of the highway, but the moment it hits the ground, it just turns gray like everything else.

We're near some wooded area. On both sides of the road are woods that are quite dense. It would be good if we needed to leave the road...

I remember a time, a few years ago, when our dad would take us to the woods near our house and we would go swimming in the lake there. Hope was about five and I was eight. We would start playing 'Marco Polo' and tag and other water games.

Once, we went down there and we were having fun as usual. That's when our dad asked us if we wanted to fly. Hope immediately said yes and he took her by the waist and threw her as hard as he could into the air. She came down screaming and they did that, like, ten times before it was finally my turn. He grabbed me by the waist and threw me up with all his might. Then I was in the air. Everything was happening so fast that I got butterflies in my stomach. But when I started falling, I got so scared that he wouldn't catch me and I started screaming my head off.

Then I fell into his arms and started laughing like crazy. We did this a couple more times and each time I felt the same exact way. After, like, the seventh time, the sun started to set and we headed home. We took showers, ate dinner, and went to bed, hoping we would do it again tomorrow. But that was the last time I ever saw him happy.

***

I was in the middle of day dreaming when we heard the noise. A loud, truck-like sound that was pretty close by. James tightens his grip on my hand.

"Jenny," he says in a frightened voice. "I'm scared."

"Yeah, I know," I reply. I turn towards the rest of my family. "Guys, follow me!" I put james on my shoulders and start sprinting as fast as I can into the woods, trying not to drop him. My mother and Hope start racing right after me. We hear another honk from the truck. After about five minutes, I had to stop, so I do and take James off of my shoulders. Hope and mother stop too. I stand there panting looking at them. Then I look around us. Nothing but trees and gray snow. No sight of the road.

That was a little too close I think to myself. I close my eyes, take a deep breath then open them again.

how about we make Camp here tonight I finally said breaking the silence that engulfs us.

all right mom says. She puts her backpack on the snow and starts rummaging through it and pulls out a folded blue tarp. she unfolds it and puts it on the ground on top of the ashy snow. we sit down on the tarp. Describe blue turns a dark shade of gray.

I'm cold James complains, shivering very violently. His teeth are chattering with the cold.

I'm sorry James but we can't make a fire tonight I say in a soothing voice. it's too wet right now. He's shivering as if you took a shower in Alaska then stepped outside.

wait I think to myself does Alaska even exist anymore never mind. Not like it matters at this point in time. It probably doesn't anymore but whatever.

I take out the lamp we made from a beer bottle and let it literally as soon as the sky darkens. it's the only source of light that we have against the endless void of Darkness that surrounds us. James pulls out his blanket and wraps it around himself and so does hope. Mom gets out two cans of beef stew and the two foldable cups she pours out half of each Can in each cup and hands them to Hope and James then a can to me we eat our dinner cold and in silence.

James and hope lie down covered with their blankets when they finish. my mom takes out her blanket and does the same. And then I take mine, lie down and fall asleep.

***

I wake up early like usual with the sky a very light Shade of Grey. I said, rub my eyes and Ian. I go through my backpack and find my water bottle and take a few sips. When I'm done I put it back in the bag, zip it up, and slide it away from me. I look over to hope and mother. Then I look where James was sleeping... but he isn't there. My pulse starts to race and I wake up my mother.

"Mom! Mom!" I say a little too loudly. "James is missing!" Hope wakes up because of how loud I am.

"What?!" she exclaims, panic rising in her voice. She sits up. "What do you mean 'missing?'""i just woke up and he was gone." she looks toward the spot where he was supposed to be sleeping. She throws off her blanket and gets up. She starts running and Hope and I follow her.

"James!" she cries. "James!"

"Mom?!" he yells back, his voice a little distant. She starts sprinting in the direction of his voice.

It doesn't take long to find him, and when we do, my mother falls down on her knees and hugs him very tightly. "You can't do that," she scolds him. "You can't do that to us, okay? You almost gave me and your sisters a heart attack.'' She's crying now and so is he, adn just for a moment, time seems to stand still, keeping us in the same position for what feels like forever.