As dusk grew near, Nev started watching for a good place to spend the night. She found a small cave that seemed clean and dry enough. It was nowhere near as large as the cave they’d been in a few nights prior, but it would make a decent spot to sleep.
Over the past few days, they had trudged many miles. More importantly, they had not seen any sign of the prowler since their brush with him before the flooded cave. After pointing out their camp for the evening to Wyatt, Nev set out to gather food as per their established routine.
Lately, Wyatt no longer even pushed to accompany her. It was something Nev strangely missed. She knew, however, it would be unkind to urge him to ask simply so she could deny his request. As a consequence, she hadn’t mentioned it to him.
As she came across a stream that was fat with large lazy fish, she pulled out her dagger and hovered just about the water for several minutes. She seized her opportunity when a fish swam beneath her ready hand. In an instant, the fish was skewered on her dagger. She watched as he flopped for just a moment before Nev ended its futile struggle. Make it right, she thought, remembering a moment from her childhood. With food and water in hand, she headed back to camp.
Wyatt had found the last five days to be particularly challenging. He knew a more sensible man would likely have been relieved to not be under such the immediate threat of death that had preoccupied their first two days together. Being sensible, however, was never his strong suit. Instead, he struggled with the prolonged stretches of silence between them that now seemed to be becoming the norm.
He wanted to give her the space she appeared to want but was finding that to be a more and more difficult task. She’d barely slept since that first night in the carved-out hollow following their daring escape from Serenity Falls, and she was eating less and less. At least, her shoulder seemed to be firmly on the path to recovery.
What really pained him was that with each night, her nightmares had become more intense. While with each day, the distance between them seemed to have grown. Just shy of a week ago, things had felt different. Now, Wyatt could scarcely believe that the kiss they shared in the blue glow of the cave had ever really happened.
Nev finished eating the piece of fish she had picked at over the past several minutes. After putting another stick on the fire, she then curled up on the ground. The rain had granted them a much-needed reprieve, but the air was still particularly chilly. She was grateful as the spreading warmth of the fire filled the cave and helped to calm her aching muscles. As she closed her eyes, she heard Wyatt sigh deeply. Despite every fiber of her being aching for sleep, she sat up and looked at him with concern. He was staring out at the darkness with a somber look on his face.
“I’m sorry. I know you are tired, exhausted actually,” Wyatt said, sounding drained. After a long pause, he continued without looking at her, “I should have said something earlier in the day, but I didn’t. And for that, I am sorry—but I can’t keep doing this. I’ve tried because I felt like it was what you wanted, but I can’t spend all day with you in silence. Neither can I spend every night watching you suffer through nightmares and being shut out from helping you.”
Nev sighed regretfully and nodded slowly, “I know. It was wrong… is wrong for me to expect you to. We will reach Birclan soon and then,”
Wyatt interrupted her, “And then what? As hard as these past five days have been, the thoughts of just sending you out to face that prowler alone and how many other unknown dangers are worse. Look, maybe you think our kiss was a mistake, and maybe you don’t. It honestly doesn’t matter. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself either way if I just walked away. So, you tell me. How am I supposed to just let you go knowing what is waiting for you?”
Nev felt all the pain she kept bottled up begin to bubble to the surface. Blinking back tears, she looked at him. “You don’t understand. We can’t do this. I can’t do this. And no matter how much I may wish that was different, it just isn’t. I already let you get too close. I knew better, but I did it anyway,” she stammered through her building emotions.
Wyatt looked at her, and his angry expression immediately grew soft. “I want to help you. I want to understand. Please, help me to understand,” he said tenderly as he moved to sit close to her.
She felt heartbroken and overwhelmed. Looking at Wyatt, the images from her most recent nightmares came rushing into her thoughts. This time, she was powerless to stop them. “It has always been him in the chair, but now… now it is you. You can’t understand,” she responded in anguish.
He sighed heavily and looked at her with immense concern, “What chair? Nev, please talk to me,” he pleaded gently.
Nev knew she shouldn’t. That knowing the truth would put him in even more danger, but she grew weary of carrying her secret alone. “Alright,” she relented, as a tear ran down her cheek.
Wyatt reached out and gently wiped the tear from her cheek. “It’s going to be okay,” he reassured her softly.
Nev took a deep breath and started at the beginning. She told Wyatt about her father and how he had raised her deep in the woods. How he had taught her the skills she would need to survive on her
