I’ve never seen Jack this upset before. Noah’s arm tightens around me.
“Don’t kid yourself,” Warner says. “Michelle is dead too. She was supposed to be this brilliant lawyer, but she was too stupid to know not to go on a walk alone. And some wild animal killed her.”
Jack’s face is almost purple. “You take that back.”
“I won’t take it back. It’s true.” He shrugs. “At least I accept that my girlfriend is dead. You’re in denial.”
Jack scrambles to his feet. Before I even know what he’s doing, I see him bend down and reach for something next to Noah. It takes me a second to recognize he’s going for the gun.
But Noah is too fast for him. He places his hand protectively over the rifle. “Don’t do this, Jack.”
“Give me the gun, Noah.”
“Not a chance.”
“Give me the fucking gun, Noah!”
But Noah just shakes his head.
There’s a tense moment when I’m scared Jack might fight him for it. What if one of them got shot out here? What would we do? Warner is a doctor, but he couldn’t save Lindsay. If one of us got a bad gunshot wound, that would be the end.
“I’m gonna take a walk,” Jack finally says.
Noah nods. “Good idea.”
Jack takes one last look at the gun, then stomps off into the woods. I watch him disappear between two trees, not sure whether I’m scared or hoping he won’t return.
“Your friend is a real nut job,” Warner mutters.
I would have thought Noah would say something to defend his best friend, but he keeps his mouth shut.
“And you know what else?” Warner frowns. “That Michelle seemed like a real class A bitch. Not that I got to know her or anything, but you can just tell.”
“Yeah.” Noah rubs at the back of his neck. “She wasn’t so bad. She just… she and Jack had issues.”
I look at Noah, surprised he would defend Michelle, considering he never particularly liked her. But then again, if he really thinks she’s dead, there’s no reason to trash talk her.
“Tomorrow we need to go north,” Warner says. “We should follow the sun, not that broken compass that’s been taking us around in circles. The inn is north. I know that. If we go north, we’re going to hit something.”
Noah nods. “I agree.”
For the first time all day, I feel a twinge of hope. The compass was obviously our problem. If we follow the sun, we will get to the inn.
“I’m going to try to get some sleep,” Warner announces. “I’ve never been so tired in my whole goddamn life.”
“Me too,” I say. I let out a yawn as an almost painfully sleepy feeling comes over me. My eyelids feel like lead. It must be from all the walking. “I can’t keep my eyes open.”
I look over at Noah, wondering what’s going to happen next. Last night there was no question about whether or not we would sleep next to each other—we slept apart, as always. But now something has changed. I want him next to me. I want his arms around me while we drift off.
I lie down in my makeshift bed of leaves. Noah hesitates for a moment, then lies down right beside me. He drapes his arm around me, pulling me close to his body. Despite everything going on right now, a feeling of peace comes over me. I missed this so much.
I love you. The words are on the tip of my tongue. I haven’t said that to Noah in so long. We used to say it all the time. It used to be how we ended every phone call. We never say it anymore. This is the first time in years that I felt the urge. The only thing stopping me is Warner lying a few feet away from us.
Noah pulls me closer to his warm body. The fire fades away as my eyes drift shut. I’m so tired. It must be all the walking. I feel like I could sleep for days.
And I do sleep for a very long time. The only thing that finally wakes me up is the sound of gunshots.
Chapter 26
ANONYMOUS
The rules in our house were very strict.
Dinner was six o’clock sharp every night—you clean your plate or else. Come straight home immediately after school. Church every Sunday morning. Half an hour of television only on weekends, and no TV at all if any rules were broken. And every night before bed, my mother would watch me say my prayers:
Now I lay me down to sleep.
I pray the Lord my soul to keep.
If I should live another day
I pray the Lord to guide my way.
Amen.
If the rules were broken, there were consequences. When my dad was in town, it was usually something reasonable. No dessert. Go to bed early. But if he wasn’t around, the punishments were more creative.