by Redding, Mae
“Not this one!” I said drowning in embarrassment at his unfair pun. I walked up the hill and went to pull up the rope. I looked back and saw Kane as he ran up the hill towards me. I screamed and started to laugh as he grabbed me around my waist from behind and swung me around. With my legs curled underneath me I squealed again as he jumped off the edge of the cliffs with me at his mercy.
We played around most of the afternoon. As the day went by my happiness faded and I wished hopelessly for it to last forever. I needed to absorb a whole summers worth of fun into one amazing day. The only thing that could have made this day any better would be if Emery and Isabella could have been there.
Chale and Elias left and after a while, Kane and Joel dried off and threw on their shirts. It had been a good day and I wasn’t ready to go yet. I dreaded to hear the word that it was time to go.
“I’m going back so I can get ready, are you staying?” Kane asked. It almost sounded like he suggested it.
“I’m going to go too. I’ll see you back at home,” Trey said. He stood and put on his shirt.
“Hmm, okay,” I said and looked at Gage. “Do you want to stay?”
“Sure,” he said, then smiled with a flick of his eyebrows at the notion we would be alone. I pressed my lips together in a failed attempt to hide a smile of my own as I waited impatiently for the others to leave.
“I can see why you like it up here?” Gage said after the others left.
I slipped my arm through his and rested my head on his shoulder. “I didn’t want it to end.”
“Well, the day isn't over yet.”
“What do you want to do?”
He looked at me and gave me a sly smile. “I’m sure we can find something to do,” he said, and leaned over, pushed me gently, but yet determined onto my back into the soft sand and kissed me. He started to laugh as he teased. “Do you want to… Arm wrestle!”
***
Ken Richards. The name stuck in my head like a bad dream. I felt like I should know him but had no idea how. “Have you met this Ken Richards guy?” I asked Kane. Gage and I got back around seven, just as he was about to leave. I found him leaning under the hood of the truck. The tips of his fingers stained black as he wiped the oil dipstick on a rag then slid it back in place.
“No. Not exactly.”
“Then how do you know it’s safe for me to go there with him?”
“I’ve met Julia, she’s going to be going there with you. I trust her, and I trust him,” he paused, then turned to face me. “I’ve thought a lot about this. This is the hardest decision I’ve ever had to make. We don’t have very many options.”
“Who’s Richards?”
“Richards is the one spearheading the efforts on the other side of Colorado. He suggested you come when he heard of the trouble we’ve had. You might not live with him directly, but he’ll make sure you’re safe and you and Gage have what you need.”
“Morrison really stretches that far?”
“No, someone he’s working with is leading that Militia. Utah and westward is Morrison, a guy named Biggs covers the central part of the states and Richards said he knows nothing about you.”
“Okay,” I said reluctantly. “Thanks for today.”
“Don’t thank me,” he said. His jaw tightened as he slammed down the hood and he looked at me out of frustration. He turned and leaned against the front fender of the truck. “I’ve done nothing but create problems for you and that wasn’t my intension, I’m sorry.”
“No, you haven’t caused the problems. You are doing the right thing by standing up to Morrison. I’ll be fine.”
“I’m sorry you have to go. I promise I will bring you back as soon as I can.”
“You and Trey be careful, okay?”
“I’ll do what I can. I need to leave now but I’ll be back by morning.”
Suddenly and strangely I wondered once again when Kane ever got any sleep as I gave him a hug then watched him get into the truck with Joel.
I walked through the house and downstairs in a haze. This was it. I would leave in the morning.
“Hey Trey.”
“Hey what.”
“I’m going to miss you,” I said. The smile I had forced into place faded. “Our summer wasn’t supposed to be this way.”
“I’m going to miss you too. A lot has changed over the last year, hasn’t it?” He replied. “I guess we can’t be kids anymore.”
“I know but I just didn’t picture growing up being like this.”
“Yeah, I know. It wasn’t supposed to be.”
“Why do I feel like I will never come back here?”
“I don’t know… But you will. You’ll see.”
I knew home would never be the same again. If I did get to come home, things would be different somehow.
“When you get back you owe me a ride like we used to, okay?” Trey said.
“Okay.”
An overwhelming sadness encompassed me. For some reason I had an awful feeling that we wouldn’t get that ride and it bothered me.
I left Trey and walked out back to the yard. I already missed my mom’s garden and my rides with Fire out on the trail through the trees. I walked out to the barn to say goodbye to her and she snickered at me as I walked up to her. I fed the horses and filled their water one last time, then crawled through the fence and rested my arms across her back while she ate. Her long black tail whipped at me softly as she swatted a fly as Dodger came up behind me and nudged me with his nose before he settled down to eat as well.
Gus crawled under the fence happy to see me. He plopped his old body down at my feet.
“I wondered if I’d find you out here,” I looked back to see Gage through puffy tear filled eyes. “Are you okay?” He asked, as he climbed under the fence and stood next to me.
“Yeah, I’m just saying goodbye.”
“You want to sit out on the porch for a while?”
“Sure,” I rubbed Fire’s forehead one last time, brought her face up to mine and kissed her nose. She flapped her lips at me up in the air. I smiled. “Trey better take good care of you.”
As the sun descended, we sat on the front porch swing. The sky, filled with increasing heavy clouds that weaved through the burnt amber glow from the sun was beautiful with the violet and corral colors that mingled with patches of blue sky.
I ran through the plans Kane had set up in my mind. We would drive as far as Colorado with him and meet some woman in Denver named Julia Larkins. From there we would travel with her through the eastern part of Kansas and out of Militia territory, then down to the northern part of Mississippi where we would meet a man named Ken Richards.
“Have you ever been to Mississippi?” I asked Gage.
“Yeah, we drove through it on our way to Florida… Are you afraid to leave?”
I thought for a minute and gave Gage a smile. “No, I don’t think so, just unsure what to expect that’s all.” I wasn’t sure how I felt. “I’m just going to miss home. I’ve never left like this before. But I'll be okay,” I said, as I forced a smile. I hoped I sounded convincing.
“Good, we'll be fine. You just need to allow yourself time to get used to it.”
“I’m just not sure you want to go. You wouldn’t be going if I didn’t have to.”
“You know how I feel,” Gage paused for a moment as he glanced at me with a surprised look on his face. “I know you’ve never left your home, but I’ve never been in one place very long. My home now doesn’t mean to me what yours does to you. My home is where I make it. I love this place too, but to be truthful Jade, the only thing that brought me back to Little Creek was you.”
“I’m the reason you came back here?”
“Yeah, after my dad died my mom thought I should finish school where we were but I bugged her to move us back every day until she agreed. I’m not leaving anything behind, Jade.”
“Your sister…”
“I’ll see her again… Joel’s here, he’ll make sure she has wh
at she needs.”
I looked up at the sky as it grew grey, hiding the sun under the cover of the increasing clouds. The air smelled of rain as the sound of crickets stopped. I felt a few drops on my sun kissed face and I closed my eyes. The rains mist the sky, light at first then it fell harder before it waned to a slow drizzle. The raindrops dripped from my face and ran down my cheeks and I looked over at Gage unknowingly to him. His hair, saturated with moisture and his blue shirt almost black as beads of water ran over the contours of his arm. Then the rain let up and formed a rainbow in the sky. I breathed in slowly, taking in the sweet scent of fresh cut grass and clean air.
My smile met his as he caught my stare. He was right. We would be fine, much better off. We wouldn’t have that constant need to look over our shoulders anymore and we wouldn’t have to be stuck indoors.
Today had been a good day. I was tired. We played hard at the lake and with the buildup of all the anxiety, I felt worn out.
“Should we go inside?” I asked. Goose bumps traveled up my arms and across my chest from the cool air.
Gage watched me. “If you want to.”
“Yeah, I’m tired.”
I found us a blanket as Gage built a fire in the wood burning stove. The unpredictable weather sent us a cool night for the end of June. I rested on the floor next to Gage on the blanket and stared into the fire as it warmed my wet skin. Gage touched my cheek as he brushed a strand of my wet hair off my face.
I rolled onto my back to see his face. I tugged on his shirt and he moved down next to me. He leaned over and kissed me. “We’re going to be okay, Jade.”
I smiled at him. “I know. I don’t know why I’ve let it bother me so much.”
“You have no idea how relieved I am to hear you say that. I want you to be okay with us going.”
“It’s just so much to think about. I mean… what happens next month, next year, two years from now, what if you get sick of me?”
I looked up into Gage’s eyes for reassurance as he rested on his elbow over me. “That will never happen. I hope you don’t get sick of me. I know it's a lot to take in but you don’t have to think that far ahead if you don’t want to. You don’t have to make any decisions about us long term. I won’t pressure you for anything and I won’t abandon you there. I know what I want and I’m not going anywhere. We’ll figure it out. I know, we’re young and leaving tomorrow, together, just the two of us. I have no idea what next week will bring, let alone next year but whatever it is I know that I want it spent with you… If you’ll have me.”
My mind reeled from his commitment and driving dedication that surrounded me like waves crashing against magnificent rocks in the ocean and I wanted to dive right in. It all felt crazy and right at the same time. I was so in love with him and was ready to see where he would take me in every way possible.
“I’ll go anywhere with you.”
He rolled onto his back and pulled me to him. I rested my head on his shoulder and softly ran my hand over his chest. My fingers drifted to the pendant around his neck, I loved to hold it in my hand. I rubbed the smooth stone and felt an energy that connected me to him, real or not, I didn’t care. It was real to me, I felt it. I felt secure, close to him, inseparable. Like nothing could pull us apart.
“Gage,” I whispered. I looked at him and searched his eyes in the flickering light as I leaned up on my elbow.
“Yeah?”
“I want to…” Energy surged through my insides like white hot heat at what I wanted to tell him.
“Want to what?”
“I want to… be with you. When we get to where we’re going. Our first night alone together… I want us to…”
He propped up on his elbow, the space between us gone. The warmth of his body against mine. His fingers grazed slowly up my arm and feathered my neck as his eyes searched mine. His voice, low and husky as he said, “okay.” His fingers weaved through my hair as his thumb brushed over my cheek. He pulled me close and his lips met mine as he whispered, “we can… if that’s what you want.”
“I do…”
He smiled. “I do, too…” His arms encompassed me and he kissed me in a way that he hadn’t before. Like we belonged to each other and would for the rest of our lives.
For the first time, I felt a twinge of excitement about going. It didn’t matter if I would be a thousand miles away or gone for a long time. My life would be whatever I made it to be, not what Damian dictated. I looked forward to the morning when I would leave with Gage. I felt adventurous and I knew then, I would go with him, wherever life took us.
I watched the fire, mesmerized by the intoxicating dance of the flames my eyes grew heavy. I felt drained and exhausted but fought sleep as the fire died out into a dull glow of embers. Gage picked me up and carried me upstairs towards my room.
“What are you doing?”
“You don’t want to sleep on the living room floor… You should sleep in your bed tonight. Who knows when you will get to again?”
“Thank you,” I said sleepily.
“Good night beautiful, see you in the morning.”
I smiled inwardly as remnant memories of today lingered softly in the back of my mind. What started as a day I dreaded most, turned into a day that would be one of my most cherished and at that moment, I felt nothing could take that away…
CHAPTER 24
I woke suddenly to a crash and the smell of toxic smoke. In a panic, I plunged my feet into pajama bottoms under my nightshirt and ran into the hall. The thick, grey cloud stung my eyes as I blindly felt my way along the wall, down the stairs. The boarded makeshift window covering raged in flames on the floor. I looked on, stunned, horrified as a wave of angry orange consumed the curtains. Gage's strenuous attempts to smother the fire with a blanket only seemed to fuel the inferno.
“Trey!” I screamed, as I grabbed a pillow from the couch to help battle the blaze. He ran up from downstairs and looked in disbelief at the room, then grabbed the extinguisher from the kitchen to douse the fire. The hot angry flames seemed to laugh at our futile attempts as it took on a life of its own, taunting us as they grew wildly out of control.
The offensive smoke and strong fumes of gasoline burned my throat, constricting my ability to breathe. Violent, uncontrollable coughing erupted from my lungs, forced to breathe the toxic air. With my skin scorched and my hair singed, tears streamed from my eyes. I wiped them with the back of my hand, only to see flames quickly chew across the ceiling toward the kitchen.
“Jade, we need to get out!” Gage yelled, over the roar. I fell to my knees. Dizziness swept over me as the deafening sounds of the fire around us roared angrily, devouring everything in its path.
“NO!”
I covered my mouth and nose with the neck of my nightshirt but it did little to help. I felt myself fade, my muscles wouldn't work with my last attempts to fight the fire.
“Now, Jade!” Gage grabbed me around my waist and pulled me through the kitchen.
I staggered for my footing as we followed Trey out the back door. Plumes of smoke billowed out the back door behind us as the flames spread to the walls of the kitchen. I coughed, gasping, as I hungered for fresh air while we stumbled down the back steps onto the lawn.
Grabbed unexpectedly from behind, I screamed as my arm ripped from his grasp.
“Gage!” I cried, as turned to see the wild eyes of my captor with a cigarette clenched tightly at the corner of his lips. Damian, with steely resolve and a glare as hard as stone, towered over me unaffected by the rain as he held a death grip on my arm. A black bandana concealed his dark hair wet from the rain. Rubin stood at his side, both of them dressed in Militia uniform.
Before Gage and Trey could respond, men camouflaged by the black night, burst into the flickering, shadowy light of the fire. In a blur of motion, members of the Militia restrained Trey and wrestled him around the side of the house as I watched him disappear into the darkness. My heart sank as Gage, also largely outnumbered fought with an anger tha
t I hadn't seen in him before.
He received blow after painful blow that caused my own chest to wrench. Tears flooded my eyes. I watched helplessly as four of them forced him to the ground and pinned him down with no means for defense while Rubin stepped up and kicked him in the gut.
“Stop! Stop it!” I cried, as Gage gasped for breath with no relief from his attackers. “What are you doing?”
I pulled my arm free from Damian's grasp and swung, cutting his cheek. A sharp pain shot through my hand but I didn’t care. My minuscule triumph was short lived though and I immediately felt bad as he retaliated in return against Gage, whipping him in the head with the butt of his pistol. Damian returned his glare to me as his injured eye twitched slightly under the fierce look he shot me.
“If I were you, I wouldn't do that again!” He growled, and then ordered his men to stop. Gage lay writhing on the wet ground, bleeding and severely injured by the brutal beating.
“Why are you doing this?” I screamed, and then looked around at the destruction Damian caused. Gage seriously hurt, Trey gone. The flames grew and the house totally engulfed. Despite the downpour, my home, destroyed. Rain combined with tears, ran down my smoke stained cheeks. The smell of smoke and burnt, wet ash mingled with raw blood left me nauseated.
He grabbed me by my hair and pulled my head back with his stoic face inches from mine. “So you and everyone else around here knows… I am in control here! Little Creek is mine!”
“You think you can take what isn't yours? You are not a man! You are a coward!” I yelled back in his face only to receive a backhand to my cheek. I staggered off balance into Rubin from the blow only for him to shove me back into Damian's grasp. I grazed my fingers over the rawness of my cheek as I glared at Damian. The pain increased exponentially with intense throbbing as each second passed. “You will always be a coward…”
“Shut up! Shut your mouth!” He glared at me through the dark night. I knew I crossed the line and he would never forget it. Rage thundered in his eyes at my verbal attack, as if I just threatened his manhood, the very core that gave him power, that made him stronger than me, that drove his sick desires and merciless ambitions, as warped as they were. He turned to his men and my heart sank as he glared at Gage.
