A/N: Thanks for the reviews! xoxo
Chapter 11 - White bag
Everything that crawls or shuffles around his camp he knows about. Squirrels bounding up a tree, he knows. Leaves whirling in the wind, he knows. An eagle flying by up high, he knows. Even the subtle squeaks of the mice crawling around his boots he knows well.
He's sitting on a crate, his palms submerged in cold water in a bucket. He's ready to splash it over his drowsy face, but he stops. The crunch of leaves by the boulder is new. He doesn't know that.
In just a split second, things go from calm to despair. He thinks this is it. It's over. He's found. All he sees is a crisp, white, plastic bag left at the edge of the camp. It's round, bulging with contents.
Then the sound of leaves become farther away, but still obvious, as whoever left the gift makes their way back out.
He stands.
He follows.
His steps are planned, zig-zagging, not even a twig is cracked when he walks.
Chocolate brown sways as she frantically makes her way out. As hastily as mice scattering when he thumps the ground to scare them off. She's a mouse, but a slow one.
Bella's heart may come out of her chest. She shouldn't have come. She shouldn't have planned a bag just for him and left it there. She should've stayed away.
She doesn't turn. She won't look. Maybe if she doesn't, she can pretend he's not mere inches from her back, towering over her.
She takes a step, so does he. She quits frantically trying to run away. Now she takes hesitant steps on shaking knees.
His shoulder brushes by hers. He turns his back to her, and takes the lead, because she's reckless. Her steps are sloppy. He has the random patterns he takes memorized. Not one leaves a trace. Not one leads back to his campsite.
They make it to a familiar trail, and that's where he leaves her.
He leans down by her ear and says, "Don't come back." His breath heavy and angry. Bella's is labored, caught in her throat.
She slowly makes it all the way back home barely blinking, never once looking over her shoulder.
But she thinks, maybe the loaf, eggs, and bacon among other cans she left in the bag will lighten his spirits.
Because tomorrow she's coming back.
…