Lost

            It was starting to get dark and Jeff realized he had miscalculated the distance to the camp site. He had gone in as straight a line as possible but he realized he had let his mind wander too much. He figured he must have past wide to the left or right of the camp site when he tried to get back to Trish. It was supposed to be a walk meant to cool down after an argument but he now regretted doing that and wished he had just stayed with her at the camp site.

            Nothing was looking familiar now so he changed direction again in an attempt to find her without calling out and admitting he was lost but as the last rays of the sun disappeared behind the horizon he started to panic. Finally he called out to her and waited a few minutes to listen for her voice. The silence was eerie. Jeff realized something was wrong but he didn’t know what it was so he called out her name again louder this time and waited once more for a response.

Darkness

He sat alone in the empty house. He hated being alone but he didn’t know how not to be, so he sat and watched TV. He wasn’t really watching it was just noise to keep the silence at bay. Silence would be too much to take and he knew silence would lead to despair for it is one thing to be alone and another to feel alone. He needed the noise if for no other reason than to trick himself into not feeling lonely.

It had been four months since she left and part of him just didn’t want to continue playing the daily game of pretending he was OK. In the end he knew it was for the best. Since he was a child he had been alone more than most. In some ways it was a comfort or a blessing. She of course had found someone else, someone more interesting who thought of things less but he could not help how his mind worked. He always had to question and know how things worked but not practical things or useful things. The things he felt the need to understand were things like gravity and biology.

Hunted

Fear pumps through my veins as I run from the creatures that chase me on this moonlit night. They were determined to kill me, I know this even though I can’t understand them. At first I had hunted them but I had only hunted them for food. Now those I hunted were hunting me and they seemed to enjoy the hunt.

I could hear the creatures getting close. I heard the heavy footsteps of the large group as they crushed the dry leaves that covered the floor of the wooded area near the town. Not trusting my hiding place anymore I sprint deeper into the woods I know so well. The creatures whistle to each other and take off after me but my fear makes me fast and I am able to distance myself from them.