Sunlight finds a way into my eyelids and I take notice of the soft voices around me. I avoid the urge to open my eyes when I realize that Lucas' parents are talking about us.
My eyes snap open just as the surface of whatever I was laying on, moves.
My eyes meet Lucas' confused ones as we both sit up. I stretch my neck, noticing that Lucas and I had fallen asleep outside the night before. Nothing like sleeping under the stars...
He yawns and stretches as well.
A cough then brings us back to reality.
Lucas and I meet the amused eyes of his parents who were sitting across from us on the other side of the fire pit. They smile at us and laugh softly.
Lucas's mother speaks up, while preparing breakfast.
" Lovely night last night, did you two sleep alright?"
Lucas' face Flushes and he scratches the back of his neck.
"Yup..." Lucas gives his mother a pointed look and smiles sheepishly.
His parents continue to speak, "A perfect night to sleep under the stars..."
Lucas' eyes widen with embarrassment and he avoids eye contact with me. I laugh softly with his mom although Lucas didn't share our humor.
Simon peeks out of the tent, making eye contact with Lucas and smiling.
"Good morning..."
Simon then tip-toes out of the tent.
"Why were you and Celeste outside last night?"
Ohh...
Lucas and I both stare at each other for an explanation. How do I explain that Lucas and I fell asleep outside after a long talk together, without making Simon think we were deep in love. I can only imagine the kind of remarks he would come up with if he suspected that we were "in Love."
Lucas spoke up first and I hoped that he had a believable explanation for the younger child.
"Well, we were watching the stars for comets and we accidentally fell asleep..."
Simon didn't seem to believe him so I added to the end of Lucas' excuse.
"...Lucas was too heavy for me to carry to the tent, so I decided to wait until he woke up to tell him to return to the tent. I must have fallen asleep too..."
Simon grinned, still not believing us entirely. He must have already made his conclusion. Kids these days...
He spoke a few seconds after, while failing to hold back a smile. "You guys are weird."
I laughed softly and became aware of Lucas' inquisitive stare. He then grinned and broke eye contact.
The conversation of last night re-surfaced in my mind and I fought the urge to shake my head. Exhaustion always brings out the cheesy side of my mind. Seriously, I remain silent for nearly a year and then I strike up a conversation about how thankful I am to be here?
It's a good thing that I immediately fell asleep afterwards before I came up with anything worse to say. Like admitting that I have a storm of opposing emotions within me which would be far to dangerous to tell him about...
My thoughts are all spiraling out of control and all of them seem to involve Lucas. I need to regain control of myself. I'm stronger than this.
Lucas' father shatters my thoughts.
"Do you and Lucas want to go fishing with us today?"
I find Lucas from across the fire pit and he shakes his head. Must not be munch of a fisher.
I raise an eye brow at him and he takes over the conversation.
"Actually, I was thinking that we could get a row boat and meet you later. You know how bad I am at fishing...I'm sure that I would bore Celeste pretty quickly..."
I smile. I don't remember the last time I had been in a row boat and a relaxing day felt like a nice idea.
Lucas' mother smiles. "That's a lovely idea!"
Lucas' father then pauses and smiles. "You should take the grey one, then when we meet up later we can all go together."
Lucas nods. "Perfect."
I wave at Simon as we turn to leave. "Catch a good one!"
He nods enthusiastically. "Of course I will."
Lucas waves me over and we both begin walking on the trail. The row boats are near the cabins that we visited the day before. I assume that the long walk is what he preferred for more conversation. Just what I needed.
The trees sheltered us from the sunlight above and the wild flowers lined each side of the trail. Lucas was silent at first and he seemed to be enjoying the views around us. Silence is nice for thinking.
The soft tendrils of light that filter through the trees cascade across Lucas' dark blonde hair and lighten his bright eyes. He smiles when our eyes meet and sighs.
"What are your plans after we graduate?"
His question catches me off guard and it takes me a few moments to answer. I might not even make it to graduation if my kidnapper goes after my family.
My eyes find Lucas' inquisitive ones while I answer.
"I'm not sure..."
I can't think of an honest answer to his question. I haven't applied anywhere and had no plans to follow. The only thing that has been on my mind is the fear that follows me everywhere. I fear my kidnappers timing.
I don't know when or where he will decide to find me once more. I wasn't expecting a future.
Lucas locks eyes with me while we walk down the winding path.
"I don't know who I want to become."
Lucas grins softly, staring at the path ahead of us. I can tell that he's thinking - maybe looking for the right words to say.
He finally speaks, a moment later. His words through me off guard.
" You don't need to become someone...The person you are now is the person that I know you as. You don't give up - you never stop fighting..."
He laughs as if to hide embarrassment.
"You don't need a plan when you are strong enough to face every obstacle that goes in your direction."
The cabins come into view and the tenseness that had filled the air vanishes. I hadn't even come up with a response for what Lucas has said.
Whether I needed a plan or not, I had one. I need to keep that plan ready for use if I want to keep Lucas and my family safe.
Lucas walks ahead and starts to drag a decent sized grey boat from the shed. His face is red with focus while he heaves the heavy boat from its resting place.
My mind snaps back to reality and I jog over to Lucas, helping him drag the boat towards the hill. A steep trail between the trees shows a clear view of water below. Somehow Lucas and I needed to get the boat to that water.
The two of us begin to drag the row boat towards the trail, the muscles in Lucas' arms were straining. I removed my eyes from his biceps and focused on the task at hand.
I stumble to catch myself when my foot catches a tree root above ground. My knee betrays me when it buckles and allows me to fall. The boat shutters and slides to a stop at the side of the trail. I breathe in relief when Lucas catches my upper arm, stopping me from falling down the steep trail.
When we realize how close we were standing towards each other, Lucas and I take a small step back. Our eyes never leave each other's and for a moment, I see something cross Lucas' eyes. He breathes a sigh of relief and releases my shoulder, a chill settling in the spot that his hand used to be.
"Are you alright?"
I nod, not able to find my words. There is something about the way he stares into my eyes that tells me he meant much more in those three words, than what he led me to believe.
It takes a few moments later to drag the boat to the water. Finally we reach the shore and we allow the boat to float into the water. Lucas tosses two oars into the boat and climbs in.
He takes my hand and helps me into the boat, not leaving any chances for me to stumble into the water.
His eyes lock onto my waist, the shirt that I was wearing lifted enough to show skin when he helped me onto the boat.
It wasn't just skin that he had noticed though. His eyes had found the seven cuts that lined my waist. Each one carved into my skin from my kidnapper.
I tuck the shirt down, but the damage was done. He rowed the boat silently, his face twisted in thought.
When his eyes met mine, I knew he was going to say something.
He took that moment to start the conversation that I have dreaded since my return from my kidnapping.
Once you travel to that conversation, there is no going back.
-
Hey readers!!!
I'm sorry that it's taken me so long to update! The end of summer was extremely busy and I just started senior year... I don't know how to explain how busy the start of this year has been.
Anyway I've been really wanting to update because I have some crazy things planned ahead in this story...
Thank you for reading! I really appreciate all of your support, the readers are the most important piece to any book.
Enjoy!