Turtle Doves | Joel Miller

Chapter Sixteen

I tear my gaze away from him, not wanting to stare for too long, and move to hold my hair up off of my neck. My hair is wet from sweat and it makes me want to gag, I hate the feeling of being so sweaty and gross, and I'm sure I no longer smell of homemade soap. A hair tie would be a godsend right now, but unfortunately I have none on me. Instead, I opt to just hold my hair up and let the breeze cool me down to the best of its ability.

Joel shoves the sleeves of his shirt up his arms, bunching them around his elbows. From here I can see the sheen layer of sweat that covers him, his golden skin shining subtly in the sun. He reaches around and grabs the bag off his back and the two of us pause in the road as he crouches down. From his bag, he pulls out two water bottles.

"Grabbed these before we left. Here." He hands one of them to me and I waste no time in unscrewing the cap and drinking the warm water. I'm sure I could down the whole thing right here, but I know we have to conserve what we have. Once I've savored a little bit of it, the cap is screwed back on tightly and I put mine in the side pocket of my bag, where the dried bouquet of flowers once sat.

"Thank you." I say once my mouth doesn't feel like sandpaper. Joel only nods his head and we keep moving forward.

The rest of the day passes uneventfully, the two of us too hot to say something or focus on anything but putting one foot in front of the other. Luckily, once the sun sets on the horizon, the air loses its humidity and cools down immensely. I'm not sure I'd be able to handle a hot night too.

My hair falls back around my shoulders and the sweat has dried up on my skin, leaving a gross feeling residue. Thoughts of the shower float around in my mind and I wish I had appreciated it more.

Joel and I sit across from each other in the dark, both of us too exhausted to say anything. The heat practically sucked the energy from my body and I'm using most of my remaining strength to stay upright. Neither of us want to attempt a fire tonight and that's fine with me. The cool breeze is a welcome feeling, and I don't necessarily want to breathe in smoke right now.

"I can take first watch." He speaks up as I resituate, moving my bag to my side. My mouth opens to protest, but Joel shoots me a pointed look through the darkness, the moonlight showing how his eyebrow arches.

"Fine. But wake me up after a few hours so I can take over." I give into him, my body feeling wrecked from low amounts of sleep and the uncomfortable couch.

"Sure." He answers as I move my bag around to use as a makeshift pillow. My arms wrap around my body to give myself a sense of safety, even though I know that I'm safe with Joel here. As soon as my head hits the lumpy backpack, I'm dead to the world.

Bright red light shines through my eyelids and I squint from the severity of it. My arm comes up to block the light and I sit up from the ground, noticing that it's morning. Joel never woke me up for my turn. Looking from side to side, I don't see him anywhere, nor do I see his bag. My heart rate increases and my head swivels around to see if there's any sign of him. But there's nothing, it's like he just disappeared.

Quickly, I rise to my feet and shrug my bag back on my shoulders. My mind is still groggy from waking up but I know I have to find him. He could be in trouble. The sound of my breathing invades my ears as I start pacing in circles, a solid plan not coming to mind. Trembling fingers rake through my hair, unable to keep my panic at bay.

Where do I go? What do I do? Why didn't he wake me up? When did he leave?

Questions swirl around in my head, keeping me from being focused and rational. Finding him is the only thing on my mind, driving me close to insanity in such a short period of time. A branch breaking in the woods beside me causes my breathing to cease and I watch, grabbing my knife. The brush rustles around, thick green foliage concealing who, or what, is coming towards me. The smooth handle of my knife cuts into my palm from how tightly I'm grasping it.