“I didn’t know what the point of carrying was,” Peaches said, her face falling a little. “I took to my bed...I thought I might as well just die. What’s left for us on this Earth, Aby? I had no one and nothing...I’ve always had someone to care for me before and I don’t know how to do this thing alone. So I figured I’d just let death slowly take me. I wouldn’t drink anything or eat either. A coward’s suicide, I suppose.”
“Peaches...that’s awful. I’m sorry you felt that way,” Aby said honestly. She felt that even if Peaches was a bit of a nightmare, she didn’t deserve to feel so low that she wanted to die. “Well, I’m here now...maybe we can help one another.”
Peaches let out a dramatic sigh. “Well, I don’t have anything else to be doing....whatever you need, dear, I suppose I can help.”
“Well, first thing’s first, let’s get some food down you.”
“Oh, I don’t know...I’m not hungry,” Peaches said. Aby raised an eyebrow at the older woman to let her know that she saw through her. Peaches analyzed the look and then sighed, shrugging.
“Alright, I suppose some food wouldn't be so bad…”
They both went out to the kitchen and Aby prepared them each a slightly mouldy sandwich. The bread was so stale that it had a crunch to it and they had to pick lumps of mould from it, but it was otherwise okay. Aby forced herself to eat it and then watched Peaches eat every bite of her own sandwich. The truth was, she needed Peaches. Going it alone was hard. She needed someone with her to stop her going insane.
“Is this your home, then?” ABy asked, looking around her as Peaches finished her sandwich. Peaches shook her head.
“Holiday home. We come here to try and get some peace and quiet...look how that turned out,” Peaches snorted. “And we’re miles from anywhere useful. There aren’t many towns around here...and there are practically no houses in the area. I think it’s safer out here….but getting food somewhere like here was a task even when we had a car. That’s why it seemed so easy to give up….it would take maybe a full day of walking to find a store.”
Aby felt very lucky at that moment for finding the house when she did. Taking a sip of water, she wiped at her mouth.
“People will come for us eventually…”Peaches said darkly. “A house like this, out in the woods...it’s a safe haven. Somewhere people would be willing to fight and die for. I thought when you found me that it was over...I thought someone would end it all for me quicker. I’d rather die than have anyone find me...they might do horrible things to me...maybe they’d even feast on my body to stay alive…”
Aby winced at the horrible thought. She could see that Peaches was both dramatic and dark minded. She watched in horror as Peaches reached for a knife across the counter, staring at it lovingly as though it was her saviour.
“It would be easier to end things, don’t you think?” Peaches sighed dreamily. Aby leaned over and snatched the knife from her grasp.
“No, I don’t think that at all,” Aby said bluntly. “Give me one momnet…”
Unable to breathe, she took outside and took in large lungfuls of air. Of course the one ally she had found was on the edge of madness. She wanted to help Peaches, but she seemed like she was on a pretty dark warpath, trying to destroy herself along the way. Aby feared what would happen if she took her eyes off Peaches for even a moment. Would she try and hurt herself, or even Aby? She had been close to her own death and that was hard to forget in a hurry.
But the alternative was to go back out on her own again. How was she meant to find Jake and Megan if she was starving to death, or being hunted by those men in the forest? The house was the safest place she could be. Maybe she’d even find some things of use elsewhere in the house, like weapons. Aby turned the knife over in her hand. It was more of a weapon than she had out in the woods.
Aby took a deep breath and prepared herself to go back inside. When she entered the room, Peaches smiled up at her.
“Well...if you insist on keeping me alive, then I guess we’d better prepare.”
“Prepare for what?” Aby asked. Peaches’ eyes glittered with something between madness and glee.
“Everything.”
Six
Jake
Jake couldn’t stop the anger that seemed to surge through his veins permanently now. He hated himself for becoming this way. As Megan trailed behind him, clearly keeping her distance from him, he sighed to himself. He’d never spoken to her as harshly as he had earlier that day. He knew he was lucky she was still sticking with him, trying to keep him in check. His fight with the older man could easily have got worse if she hadn’t interfered.
He knew even at the time that it was happening that what he was doing was wrong. He’d never tried to start a fight with an innocent person before. Sure, he didn’t know the guy. He might’ve been a brute, willing to take down Jake if he’d been given the chance. But something told Jake that he was a decent man and he’d had no real need to hurt him. Something overtook him...thinking he had some possibility of finding Aby had turned him wild. It was becoming very obvious to him at this point that he’d do anything to find her, even if it went against his own moral compass.
He’d never spent so
