Chapter Three - Nightfall

Jake puts his arms around me and holds me close. We huddle together to stay warm. The sounds of the night cause my imagination to run wild. My eyes are wide open while Jake falls soundly asleep. The minutes creep by as my mind goes to a dark place. I look up at the night sky and see the stars twinkling like diamonds. It reminds me of the lullaby.

I have no idea how long I slept but I wake up alone. I don’t see Jake anywhere and I start to panic. I get up and frantically look around for him. I lose my bearings and I’m not sure where I am. Then I turn and walk right into him.

“It’s okay” he says as he holds me tight, “You’re going to be okay.” The warmth of his body is reassuring but I quickly snap out of it.

“What are we supposed to do now?” I ask as I cross my arms and bore a hole in his forehead with my eyes.

“We are going to need to eat. Have you ever gone fishing?” He asks. After he says this he starts off toward the lake.

“It will take us all day just to get to the lake on foot.” I protest.

“Where is your sense of adventure?” Jake shoots back as he keeps walking. I have no choice but to follow him. It’s either that for fend for myself.

“What about getting into the Assembly Hall?” I ask.

“I’m starting to get hungry.” Jake says, “We’ll worry about getting into the Assembly Hall later.”

It takes us a couple hours to walk to the lake. Once we get there I fall down on the cool grass. The warmth of the sun feels good on my body. Jake takes a small stick and digs in the dirt for worms. As I lay in the grass he is doing something over at the lake. I think he’s trying to catch a fish. I close my eyes and soon I drift off to sleep.

I am awakened by a smell. It’s starting to get dark. I look up and several feet away from me there is a fire. Some fish are cooking on a stick. I am really hungry and it smells really good.

“You actually caught some fish? You actually made a fire?” I ask in astonishment.

“Well, while you were catching up on your beauty sleep, I was working hard.” He said proudly as he hands me a whole cooked fish.

“How am I supposed to eat this?” I ask with a disgusted look on my face. Without answering, Jake digs his hand into the fish. He pulls out some meat and puts it in his mouth. It looks disgusting but I follow his example and start eating my fish. After a while I’m not so hungry anymore.

“Did you know this was going to happen?” I ask Jake.

“Of course not!” Jake replies.

“The preacher knew.” I explain,” He told me so after you were captured. I should have believed him but I didn’t.”

“Neither one of us knew. We were both kept in the dark.” Jake says.

“What are we going to do?” I ask as I start to sob.

“We’ll figure it out together.” Jake answers.

“What do we do now?” I ask.

“Do you want to go for a swim?” Jake asks me.

“A swim? Now? Are you serious?” I ask him back.

“Yeah, how else are we going to clean ourselves off?” He says not waiting for an answer. He did have a point. It’s not like there are any showers close by. He starts taking his clothes off. I turn my back to him.

“Are you going to swim in the nude?” I ask him.

“Do you want to wear wet clothes?” He asks back.

“No” I answer.

“Well, then you’re going to have to take your clothes off. If it makes you feel better, we can take turns. Since I’m already half naked. I’ll go first. After a few minutes then you can go.” I don’t turn around and I hear him splash in the lake.

“Man that’s cold!” He says out loud. When he is done swimming, he grabs his clothes and sits by the fire to warm up. As he walks past me I turn around again so I don’t see anything I don’t want to see.

“Okay, now it’s your turn. I’m not looking” He assures me. I turn around and he is facing the other direction and his back is to me. I slip out of my clothes and get into the lake. The water is cold. It makes the hairs on my arm stand up. I can hardly stand it and after a few minutes I get out. I pick up my clothes and go sit by the fire. Jake has already put his own clothes back on and when he sees me coming he hides his eyes and turns his back to me.

“Would it shock you to know that I’ve seen a naked girl before?” Jake asks me.

“No” I answer back and after a few moments I add, “Yeah, kind of”. I am not sure what he is getting at. Maybe he thinks I am being too modest. Maybe he is trying to flirt with me. He seems to be taking this whole situation too casually. Doesn’t he realize that we may be the last two people on Earth!?

“There something I need to tell you about your blackout.” Jake becomes real serious like he’s about to make some big confession. I don’t say anything back.

“This is going to sound crazy but while you were having your blackout, I was in control of your body.” Jake confesses. I’m not sure what to think about this revelation.

“You’re right, it does sound crazy. So while I don’t remember anything for weeks, you were living my life pretending to be me?” It would explain a lot, why everyone said I did stuff and why I would be attracted to Lidia. Emotions start to flood my mind the more I think about it.

“Yeah, I tried not to screw it up but I did. I hope you can forgive me.” After he says this the emotions overwhelm me and I faint.