Chapter 39

We woke up the next morning without being forced to wake up. There were no Erasers or humans trying to disturb out sleep, no doors being busted down, nothing. It was the normal noises of the forest that had woken us up, the chirp of a bird in the trees, the rustle of leaves being blown in the wind, little things like that were what we woke to this morning. I sat up with a sigh and looked around. Cass had gone to collect more firewood by the looks, to start the breakfast fire, Dean was still asleep and Laura was no-where to be found.

I wonder where Laura is? I thought to myself, but quietly. Dean was a telepath, no matter how much of a friend he is, I still like to have some private thoughts. I got up and walked around our makeshift camp, stretching the stiffness out of my muscles and loosening up my limbs incase of a sudden departure. I circled past Laura's bag and remembered what Cass had mentioned earlier last night, about giving her something. I pondered what I could give her, there wasn't much, most of my stuff had been either left at Haven, or back at my old house, the one I no longer lived in.

I sighed; girls could be so complicated at times. They seem to understand us guys, but we can never understand them, yet we are the ones best at patching things up? I mean when a fallout happens between two girl friends they get all spiteful and hold grudges, yet with us guys its just one big fist fight later and we're all sitting around a bar table sharing drinks with each other. I sighed and continued walking around the camp, preparing things for a quick departure if I had to. We could never be too prepared.

I rustle in the bushes had the knife half formed in my hand before I realized it was Cass returning from collecting firewood. I dissolved the knife and walked up to her to help her with the firewood.

"Do you know where Laura is?" I asked Cass, shifting a small pile of firewood out of her arms and onto the remains of the old fire, "She wasn't here when I woke up."

"She said she just needed to be left alone for a while," Cass replied, "She needed to clear her head out. Sort out all the things that have happened. She hasn't felt emotion in years and now she experiencing the full thing. She will need someone to help her, Nathan, but not at the moment. If you want to talk to her, I won't be attending your funeral."

"That's a comforting thought," I replied, "At least I'll have a funeral, not die out in the middle of nowhere and become some forgotten fossil that people will wonder over in years to come."

Cass rolled her eyes at my sad attempt at humor and continued to start the fire for our breakfast. I got the food out of one of the bags and handed it to her then walked off into the forest to find Laura. After about a couple of minutes of wandering around the forest, I began to hear the sound of running water. I approached it, remembering I had forgotten to get a drink when I woke up and was thirsty. My mind just didn't want to work today. The water was a crystalline clear stream that had come down from the mountains a few miles away.

I dipped my hands into the bone achingly cold water and cupped them together; bringing them to my mouth so I could drink the water. It numbed my teeth right down to the core and left me gasping from the cold alone. I took a couple more mouthfuls of water and stood up, drying off my mouth and hands. That was when I saw Laura sitting on some rocks a few meters away from me, near a small pool of water large enough to swim in. Her clothes were absolutely saturated with water and she was chilled to the bone, but she sat on the rock in the sun drying out, seemingly asleep, but I knew better. She sat up upon hearing me approach and her damp golden curls fell around her face, leaving me breathless. In that moment she looked so fragile, as if all her defense had been let down. I felt as if I was looking at the real Laura, the person she used to be before all of this happened. I looked into her eyes and saw all the confusion she was feeling in them, I started to turn back to camp, but her voice stopped me…

"Don't…" She said quietly to me, "I just want some company right now."

"Really?" I asked, "Cass said she wouldn't be attending my funeral if I came and talked to you? I thought you wanted to be left alone?"

"Then why are you here…?" Laura asked, a ghost of a smile in her eyes and on her face, "If you believed that?"

I gulped. It was not a good idea for me to be alone with Laura right now. She may be confused about her emotions, but I was confused about my entire life. God save me, I silently prayed and sat down beside her…

Chapter 40

I sat in silence; not sure talking was the right thing to do because I didn't know what I might end up saying. I let the water run through my fingers as I held my hand under, letting it flow through the gaps between my fingers. I felt a fish slide up into my hand and closed my fist, grabbing the fish before it got away. I pulled it out of the water and took a look at it. Its scales glimmered in the sunlight as beads of water dripped off its scales. Its mouth opened and closed, trying to breathe in the alien atmosphere. It wasn't very large, maybe about fifteen centimeters in length, scrawny and not very tasty looking.

I felt rather than heard Laura moving to take a look at the fish in my hand. Her hair brushed my shoulder as she moved to have a closer look and I ended up turning my head slightly so I could see her out of the corner of my eye. She reached out to grab the fish and ended up putting her weight onto me. I wasn't expecting it and both of us ended up falling into the water, the fish escaping my grasp and thrown into the water slightly further downstream, letting it survive the breakfast plans I had for it.

The water wasn't deep, but it was deep enough to get me completely covered and I came up gasping for breath from the coldness of the water. Laura was still recovering from the fall into the water when I resurfaced and we ended up face to face so close we were almost touching. Her hair hung down around her face, brushing against me. I stopped breathing as I stared into her eyes, I could sense she had stopped breathing as well. It was so tempting to just close that gap, to move those last remaining centimeters and kiss her.

But it wasn't me who moved, it was Laura. She leaned down and kissed me fully on the lips. I saw taken of guard by the sudden move and lost my balance as my hand slipped on a smooth rock on the bed of the stream. I was suddenly dunked underwater and came up spluttering water and coughing. So much for a romantic moment. Laura had moved off of me and had climbed out of the stream.

"I shouldn't have done that," I heard her mutter. She turned and saw me getting out of the stream fully soaked, "I'm sorry, Nathan, I shouldn't have…"

I broke her off before she could say anymore. I placed my hand under her chin, drawing her closer to me and kissed her back on the lips, passionately, taking in the full taste of her lips, the smell of her skin, the feeling of her hair brushing against my skin. It was a few moments before we broke apart for a breath. We just stood on the edge of the stream, gazing into each others eyes, making sure what just happened wasn't a dream.

"You don't know how long I've been waiting for you to do that," Laura exclaimed, still breathless from our kiss.

"You don't know how long I've wanted to do that." I replied, "I fell for you a long time ago, I've only just got the courage to let you know now."

I kissed her lightly, a mere brush of the lips and pulled her close to me, not wanting this moment to end, but unfortunately it had to. A breeze began to blow from the north and it began to chill us.

"I think we need to change out clothes," I replied, "I don't fancy surviving all of this, just to freeze to death. Cass is cooking breakfast and it should be ready by now. You hungry?"

"Famished," Laura replied, "let's see if the foods finished, shall we?"

I nodded and we walked back with our arm around the other. Man, life was good at times like these…