kindred

Chapter 36 : Despair

Addie sighed for the hundredth time. She had got off the bus twenty minutes ago, it having finished its route. The woman had given her an odd look but let her pass anyway. 

It was completely dark now, the sun having been drained from the sky and she was wandering a dark road by herself. It probably wasn't the best idea, partly because she couldn't see where she was going and secondly who knows who was wandering in the dark. 

The howling wind seemed to call out to her, whisper her name as it taunted her, nipping her cold skin. But she ignored it. 

Every few minutes or so a car would pass with its headlights on and she would turn away from its gaze, pull her hood down and grip the lethal weapon in her hands tightly. 

The shivers that wracked her body made her long for her warm bed. Her brothers. Joe. 

"No" She said. "Someone will have helped him. You didn't kill him" 

As much as she was trying to deny herself, the guilt was gnawing at her stomach, making her feel sick. She shouldn't have left him. She should have waited it out and someone would have helped them. 

Dark shadows overfell her figure as she stumbled over tree roots. It would have been easier to walk on the road but she didn't want to be seen. 

A fire had been lit inside her body and she was struggling. She had been almost 2 whole days without taking any of her medications, something her body was hating for her. 

She stopped for a moment, leaning against a tree. The edges of her vision danced as her brain bounced in her brain. 

She shook her head, trying to clear it, but it was no use. She continued walking, following the snaking road. Hoping one of the arrow sharp pine leaves would come down and end her misery. 

The darkness was a cover, hiding the surprises of nature. She veered off to the side slightly as she tried to get her footing, her ears registered the crack before her body could move. 

Soil gave way beneath her and she felt her body tumbling down a creeping ravine. Addie rolled down to the bottom with a thump, barely registering the sharp pain that pierced her lower leg as her eyes rolled back. 

She welcomed the darkness, anything to escape her pain.

*********

It was the smell of the rich earth and tree sap which she registered first. The shining sun only secondary. 

After a moment her vision corrected and she wandered where she was. 

A cookie would be nice, she thought, like the ones she and Joe used to eat at night together. But instead she went hungry. 

The piercing pain in her leg bought her back to reality. Pulling herself onto her elbows she glanced down at her left leg. A thick metal piece of tubing was stuck inside her leg, probably half an inch wide. 

"Why are you always so difficult" She reached down, clenched her eyes and yanked it out in one motion. "Fuck, that hurts" She winced. 

Addie pulled her sock and shoe off, gently resting her leg in a small babbling brook that was running through the ditch, watching the blood merge. The second time she was watched blood run from her body in 2 days. 

She ripped the bottom of her shirt, tying it tightly around her shin, hoping it wouldn't get infected. 

Birds tweeted as they awakened from their nests, excited for the day.