End of the Line

“There’s a scary man,” Paige mumbled sitting up.

  Lauren titled her head, “There isn’t-”

  “No, he’s over there,” Paige voice cried out as she pointed out in the dark.

  “Paige, if there was anyone in the woods, I would have heard it. Just go back to sleep. You just had a nightmare,” Cole yawned before turning to his other side.

  Paige glanced back over to a section of the woods. My own eyes scanned to see what she could be seeing.

  “Paige, go back to sleep. We’ll keep an eye out,” Lauren soothed Paige, stroking her back till she fell asleep.

  “How are you feeling?” I whispered to the girl next to me.

  Since the attack, Lauren had been sticking closer to me while being a little on edge to the touch. She rested her arms on a fallen log for her head to relax on as she lay on her side so she could face me. Lauren’s eyes weren’t fully open as she looked up at me.

  “Yeah, I’m fine. Why are you asking again?”

  “Are you mostly healed now?” I answered with a question.

  “Eh for the most part. It’s been a bit since that the attack.”

  It had been a couple weeks later and we were outside of the town once more, but Lauren had put her foot down about actually going back into the town.

  I was just impressed we had gotten so far without a marked trail. Because I felt bad for her, I decided it was best that we stayed out of the wild town.

  “What’s with the weird questions?” Lauren inquired.

  “Asking how you are is a weird question?”

  “Only when you ask how much I’m healed, yes then it is weird.”

  “I guess that is kind of personal question.” My voice softened even more.

  “Just a bit.” She used a weird voice.

  I scooted lower so I could be more on her eye level. Her once purely blue, innocent eyes were dimmer as more reality was thrown at her in the past months. She gave me a weak smile, which I returned as I took her hand in mine. Her wrist was still slightly red, so I used gentle touches. I looked up at her again to find that she was closer to me with her eye lids slightly lower.

  “It seems when something goes wrong, it only happens to me,” she whispered sleepily.

  “A good portion of the stuff that does happen, happens to you. Remember I was shot in the arm?” I questioned her, my thumb rubbed hers.

  “The bullet just grazed your arm, it wasn’t much.”

  I raised an eyebrow and looked at her straight in the eyes.

  “You only say that because it wasn’t your arm.”

  Lauren smiled a little more as her eyes grew heavier. I curled up next to her as she lifted her head. She shifted her head so that she could rest it on my shoulder. I wrapped an arm around her as I leaned my head against the top of her head. I started to close my eyes and listened to her breathing as the two of us fell asleep.

  Chapter Eleven

  Lauren