Total pages in book: 47
Estimated words: 44304 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 222(@200wpm)___ 177(@250wpm)___ 148(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 44304 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 222(@200wpm)___ 177(@250wpm)___ 148(@300wpm)
“Aslin!”
“You guys definitely didn’t mention the terrible weather on the website,” she says. “Also, I think something tried to eat me. I had to wave a fiery stick at it, and it went away, but it might be back.”
“Aslin!” Soren grabs her and holds her close, crouching to hold her against the rocks near the remnants of her fire. That thing would not have lasted much longer, but she’s done fucking well to set up so much camp with so little. That’s what connects us all. We’re survivors.
“Aslin, why?” Soren’s voice cracks as he asks the question. I can’t hear if she responds. The wind has started to shriek and squall as the weather turns worse and worse. We could go back down to camp but trying to traverse this terrain in the wet is asking for broken bones and maybe broken necks.
“I reckon we set up here,” Soren says. I nod in agreement.
We have come prepared. We have a tent designed to withstand high winds, and we have warming packs and foil blankets. We have sleeping bags, and we have food. It’s going to be a tight, intimate fit, but we’re going to make it.
Soren
Aslin wipes her eyes and her nose. She’s been sniffling and perhaps crying for a long time. Thick tears have traced lines down the windblown dust clinging to her face. Having her in my arms, I feel pure relief. I feel as though I was just handed back the most important thing in the world. She’s shivering against me, though I do not think she is cold anymore. I think she’s in shock.
She looks small and scared, and all the anger I felt when I realized what she did has quieted for the moment. We found her. Fate has been kinder than she, or we, deserve. I can’t stop remembering how she looked when I came around the corner. Aslin was there, curled up against the rocks, knees up to her chin, arms wrapped around her legs. The wind was whipping around her loudly enough that she didn’t hear us coming. She was tucked up in herself, a little pink bundle of misery waiting for the elements to take her.
Now we have the tent up, and Aslin tucked up inside it, wearing a sleeping bag and wrapped with air activated heat packs. She’s looking better already, though she’s still cold and scared.
“You need to eat,” I tell her. “And you’re going to.”
“Yes, sir,” she says. She’s never called me sir before, and I don’t know if she ever will again, but for this small moment, it’s quite sweet. I think she knows how big of a mistake she made, and how much trouble she is in.
“Never thought I’d be happy to see one of these,” she says ruefully, taking the MRE from me. “I’m sorry I dragged you guys up here. I really didn’t mean to put you in danger. I just had to get away.”
There’s something haunting about the way those words come out of her mouth. It’s like it’s not a simple apology. There’s a weight to the words, a meaning I don’t think we understand.
“What did you have to get away from?” I activate her heat pack for her. Her fingers are shaking too much to do it for herself.
She shakes her head, wordlessly. I can feel something between us. Something lurking beneath the surface of her skin, hiding behind her dark eyes. It almost surfaced for a moment, but it is gone again. I feel a deep sadness, some of it mine, but most of it hers. There is so much pain in this girl, so much that has gone unsaid, perhaps forever.
“Aslin. I’m here for you.”
“I’m a client,” she reminds me. “I’m a pain in the ass client. You don’t need to be here for me, you’ve just got to survive until the supply boat comes and then you can be rid of me.”
“I don’t want to be rid of you.”
“Soren, now’s not the time,” Jason says. He’s right. This is not a moment to have deep conversations. Aslin is barely alive, and we all have to focus on surviving the night.
“I’m sorry,” she repeats. “I’ll be gone soon.”
Her teeth are chattering. Her shock is getting worse. Jason wraps another foil blanket around her and breaks out the warming packs, but he’s shaking his head as he does it.
“We should get in with you. There’s only so much these packs can do. Two bodies produce a lot more energy than a few of these packs.”
Aslin
I nod. I am cold. More than cold, I’m frozen to my core. It’s not just a matter of temperature. I came all the way up here to try to get away, and all I ended up discovering was that my biggest problem was still there. Me. I am my greatest enemy, and I’m never going to be able to escape me.