Entry #1
I scream in pain. At this point James is laughing, thinking that I am just goofing around, soon realizing that it is much more than that. Experiencing so much pain right now, no words could escape my lips. Holding my leg, I know that I can’t walk. I shake my head no and just by that movement of my head, he knows that I can’t walk. James, now in a panic mode, starts to calm himself. He starts to lift me over his back and stumbles, hurting my knee more. James stands again and starts moving at a slow and steady pace.
I tell him that I have I don’t know if I have broke it. I can’t feel anything below my knee. He is taking deep breaths. Every time he takes a large step to clear out of the way of a branch of fallen tree, I feel the shooting pain up and down my leg. The next physical thing that I can feel is a wave of exhaustion. I have run for miles and miles today alone and now not being able to even walk is frustrating. I was running from my brother to get away from him and now he is practically saving me.
I know he was the one who should be getting tired but I felt like I was going to black out any second now. I told my brother I was going to rest my head on his shoulder for a minute. I closed my eyes and when I opened them he was building what looked like a makeshift house using a tree and some branches. I asked him how long I was asleep. He told me about four hours. I was shocked. It felt like I had just blinked.
As soon as I was fully aware of my surroundings, I started to get curious. I didn’t know why we were in this hut and not back home. There were so many questions that had gone through my mind, I couldn’t think straight. I tried to talk but as soon as I started to say something, my lips couldn’t keep up with mind. I decided that I needed to rest my mind some more.
I woke up again some two hours later with a more concrete thought pattern. I was in a hut in the woods behind our house somewhere, and that my knee was in pain. As soon as I was about to let sound escape from my lips, I looked over at James. Head laying on his sweater, which was upon a rock, sawing logs. I was in disbelief! How could he be sleeping at a time like this?
I was going to try to wake him up but I realized how much he has done today. He needs a little rest. I try to move some but my knee is in too much pain. I roll up my pant leg to see what is wrong. To my surprise the injury is worse than I think. My knee is very swollen and purple. Now, I realize how bad of a situation we are in. I decided against my kind nature and wake him anyways.
“James, you need to wake up,” I whispered. “This is worse than I thought. We need to move!”
He opens his eyes and sits up, with a puzzled look on his face. I show him my leg again, he says that it has gotten worse since I was asleep. He could tell by the look on my face that I was scared and just wanted to go home. He looked at me, “I'll make sure we get home soon.”
“How? I hurt my leg, pass out and wake up in this makeshift house! I don’t even know why we are here and not at home in the first place. How are we supposed to know where we are and how to get home from here?” I manage to say in a furious tone, without stumbling over my words.
“It should only be a matter of a few miles south from here. I don’t feel comfortable moving until dawn. I don’t trust myself and I surely do not trust these woods,” he replies in a soft voice.
“Why don’t you trust yourself, you have gotten us this far? Also, if you don’t trust these woods, why are we staying in them?”
“I had no other option. We ran farther than you think. We nearly made it to Narnia.”
“What? Well, we need to keep moving.” I say ignoring his comment.
“You need to rest more, that will only help. Are you warm?”
“Kind of? I mean yes, definitely.” I corrected myself quickly because I knew that if I hadn’t, he would be the one freezing throughout the whole night.
I shut my eyes hoping sleep would come soon, and it did.
When I wake up James is already awake. He asks how I slept.
“Fine, how long have you been awake?” I asked, concerned that he did not got enough sleep.
“I woke up around an hour ago,” he said. “I was looking for something for us to eat, but I haven’t had much luck.”
“Don’t worry, you don’t need to get me anything. I’m not hungry,” I said.
That’s when my stomach let out a very loud growl. James laughed and went back to looking for food. My knee was still hurting but not as bad as last night. Without thinking I try to move my leg. pain shoots through my body. I cover my mouth, trying not to scream. Knowing I cannot stand, I begin to look around the house. The house looks like it is under a tree, with sticks and branches covering up most of the outside. That's when I see a stick leaning on the wall next to me. I reach toward it, knowing immediately what James had carved for me. It was a well made crutch.
As soon as James realizes my effort to get up, he reaches out his hand to help me. Thinking of how tired and worn out he must be, I quickly shift my weight from on him to on the crutch. snap.
“Of course this would happen to us!” I yelled as I stumbled to the ground, however, it was a lot less painful than I expected. As soon as I turn my head I see James moving a large rock that is about two feet away.
“Why are you moving that closer to me,” I questioned quickly, scooting my way back a little farther, “it is not going to help us get anywhere faster!”
“I want to position it so that it is under your knee, keeping it elevated will help with the pain and the bleeding. You have lost enough blood already.”
“He’s right,” I thought to myself, “I will go into shock if I lose anymore blood.” When James got the large rock over to me, I slowly lifted my leg up onto the rock. When I set my leg down I was surprised to find that my leg actually felt a lot better.
“I need to go find more firewood and maybe some food,” James.said. “ You need to get some more rest.” I nodded my head and watch james walk out of the house. I rested my head on my pillow of leaves, and started drifting off.
When I woke up next, it appeared to be around noon. I slowly sat up, expecting great pain from my knee, but the pain never came. I slowly moved my leg off of the large rock, and set it down on the ground. My knee still didn’t prevent me from moving. I decided to try something. Slowly bending my knee, I waited until the pain set in. It didn’t set in until it was fully bent.
I showed James the range of motion that I have. After many different types of exercises, we decided that I was in the best condition that I have been since the accident so, we knew that it was time to move.
“I still don’t fully understand why we stayed in that hut all night?” I ask.
“I told you, we were almost all the way to Narnia! We were sprinting for about 20 minutes, after all?” James said.
“Something tells me that you are trying to avoid the subject, no?” I said as if I already knew the answer to the question.
“I’m not, I am just still a little in shock over your knee, that’s all, honest,” James stated.
“Okay,” I said pretending I believed him. We must have walked for around two hours before we decided it was time to rest.
“How did you make my crutch?” I ask.
“It wasn’t that hard, all I did was find a long enough branches,” James told me.
“Do you think you would be able to do it again?” I ask.
“Ya, I could but it would take awhile,” he said. We sat down on some rocks and things start to quiet down.
We should find another tree to burrow under for the night.” James said as he start to get up.
“No, I refuse. I’ll push through and make it home! We have to! I can’t stay out in the woods all night again!” I scream.
“I can’t let you do that, you can’t just assume that you can make it through a 2 mile hike through the woods with a broken knee!”
“Well, I would rather go through a minimal amount of pain walking then freezing for another night.”
“Okay, I don’t like this but I’ll do it for you. We only have about two hours of daylight left so … needless to say we are going to have to move fast.
Entry #2
We walked what seemed like forever, without saying a word. The pain in my knee has been tolerable up until this point. I want so much to tell him we need to stop, but I know that if I show the slightest bit of suffering, he will insist that we stop for the night. I can’t take another night in these woods; the hard soil as my place of rest for yet another night.
“James, how far away are we? You said that we were just about two miles away from the house and I feel like we have been walking for double that.” I question.
“Um... My calculations seemed to be off. It was two miles until we made it back into the neighborhood. We are about a quarter of a mile until we reach that point. Then, after we get into our neighborhood, it will be another five miles.” he revealed.
“What? When exactly did you figure this out?” I demanded.
“About half a mile ago, why?” he answered, as if it was no big deal that he didn’t tell me.
“What? Well, if that is the case then we need to stop once we get into the neighborhood. My knee is getting worse. Do we know anyone that lives relatively close to the entrance?” I responded.
“Yea, we have the Johnson’s. The family that always makes us cookies? RIng a bell?” James asked.
“Oh! Yes! I love that family. Do you know her address?”
“Da, I dated their oldest daughter, Karmen, when I was a freshman!”
“Right, whatever happened to you guys?” I question, trying to change the subject so, that I can get the now throbbing pain in my leg, off my mind.
“Long story short, she found someone else, the football jock, Aaron. It’s whatever now, we are still friends.”
“Do you think that that is why they always bring us cookies? She feels sorry for you?”
“Maybe?” he responded, as if he doesn’t care.
Most of the walk after that was silent. I stumbled along quietly, as James walked a few paces ahead of me. I felt lonely, as if he left me behind.
“The sun is going down; I thought you said we were almost there!” I said angrily.
“We are, just trust me.” I let out a sigh and we continued walking. When we stopped next the sun was gone.
“James, I think your calculations were off again.” I said sarcastically.
“Oh be quiet.” James said facetiously.
"Well what do you expect? My knee is only getting worse the farther we go. I told you that I refuse to spend another night out here! I at least need a bathroom with running water to wash my leg off!" I say urgently.
"We are almost there, why can't you just accepted the fact?" James said raising his voice.
“Why can’t I just accept the fact? Because I have been walking on my broken knee all day! I need to relax, no, not relax, I need to breathe. I need to see a doctor! My knee needs to get fixed! This is ridiculous! You have lived here longer than I have and you should know how to navigate through the neighborhood! “ she barked, stumbling over every other word.
James stood there and tried to comprehend what was just said, silently.
“I’m sorry. We have been walking all day and I am in pain but I didn’t want to tell you because I didn’t want to be the reason why we didn’t make it home tonight! I thought that I could just tough it out until we made it home, I guess I was wrong. Sorry, how far until we reach the Johnson’s?”
“You don’t need to be sorry, It’s my fault we’re here in the first place. My guess is it will take at least another twenty minutes. Don’t worry, my calculations aren’t off this time.”
“How is it your fault? I was the one that was running away from you! Besides, that’s not the point, I think that I could make it another twenty minutes, but after that, if your calculations just happened to not be correct again, I will need to rest a little. Okay?”
“Okay, we should get going then. Hang on, I have an idea. ” James answered as he reached down and grabbed the nearest stick. “Here, try using this, but don’t use all of your weight on it otherwise it will break again.”
“Yeah, I think I learned my lesson last time. Thanks, and by the way, I ate the last of the chocolate chip cookies that Karmen brought over last week.” I added quickly.
“If you get too tired, let me know. Wait, that was you?” James said even though no was listening because she was already 20 feet away.
Avoiding the subject of the cookies altogether, she replied, “Come on, I’m the crippled and I am still faster than you.”
As he began to question her again, he hesitated and ran ahead to catch up to her. They walked for a few minutes before the cane broke again.
“Alright, I’m done, let’s just camp out here. I am tired and fed up with all of our bad karma!” I screamed.
“You can’t give up now, I see the house, oh wait never mind thats a tree. Just come on we’re almost there!”
“I can’t believe I thought you would know the neighborhood better than I do!”
“I do, you just can’t stop now I know we are almost there!”
“That’s what you said several hours ago!”
“Please, just come on!”
20 Minutes Later
“So, you still know where you’re going right?”
“Of course I do, why would you doubt me?”
“I don’t know, you’ve only let me down the wrong path twice already.”
“I guess so but this time I know we are getting close!”
“Oh ya, how can you be so sure?”
“I’m not sure, I don’t know if we'll ever get home and,” James stops and turns around, with tears in his eyes. “I’m scared.”
“Of what?” I asked -- looking around to see what he was looking at.
“Never making it home, I don’t know if we are even going the right way anymore.”
“What happened to being so sure? I can’t believe that you are saying that you’re scared. Of all the things you could be saying, you’re scared?” I said getting frustrated
“I was never sure, I was trying to make sure you weren't scared.”
“Trying to make sure I wasn’t scared? Really? Is that what you have been thinking about the whole time? Me being scared? I could care less of my scared feeling, I put all my trust in you even after you lead me down the wrong path twice!”
“You mean, you still trust me?”
“I don’t know, not so much anymore. Yeah, you’re my big brother I would think you would know how to get home or at least to your ex-girlfriends house, but I would have been understanding. At least, I wouldn’t have been walking around all day trying to follow you, without question, all the while, you never even knew if we were going north or south?” I babbled as I was walking away.
“Wait, a second. I do know where we are! I would always sneak away to see Karman. Right through these woods. That means, the house is very close now. This time, I promise!”
“I can’t believe you! First you tell me that you never actually knew the way home and now you're promising that you know that their house should be right around? No, I will figure something out and get home. Don’t follow me!” I yell at him, with tears in my eyes turning away, stumbling as fast I can down the path.
“No, wait. You can’t, it won’t work. If you get hurt anymore and don’t make it home, I would never forgive myself.”
“How do you know that it won’t work? Anyways, don’t worry about me. I can do this, I don’t really feel like being lied to anymore. . . If you are really worried about me getting hurt, I guess just, just follow my lead. Don’t you even think about talking to me though! I love you, but sometimes I can’t stand you, James! Why did you have to go and do this?You knew that I trusted you and you abused it!”
“I love you too, and that’s the whole reason I, and always will, worry about you. Always. It’s my job as your big brother. “
“I hate you! Why do you have to do this to me?” I said, as I was stumbling back and gave him a big hug. Practically falling into his arms, I let the weight off my foot. Comforted for the slightest moment, until I realized that we still didn’t have anyplace to sleep.
“Now If you can, just trust me one last time, I can get us home, or at least somewhere to sleep!”
“You should be so glad that I trust you so much! But, don’t you dare lie to me, or I’ll kick your butt!”
“James, how far away are we? You said that we were just about two miles away from the house and I feel like we have been walking for double that.” I question.
“Um... My calculations seemed to be off. It was two miles until we made it back into the neighborhood. We are about a quarter of a mile until we reach that point. Then, after we get into our neighborhood, it will be another five miles.” he revealed.
“What? When exactly did you figure this out?” I demanded.
“About half a mile ago, why?” he answered, as if it was no big deal that he didn’t tell me.
“What? Well, if that is the case then we need to stop once we get into the neighborhood. My knee is getting worse. Do we know anyone that lives relatively close to the entrance?” I responded.
“Yea, we have the Johnson’s. The family that always makes us cookies? RIng a bell?” James asked.
“Oh! Yes! I love that family. Do you know her address?”
“Da, I dated their oldest daughter, Karmen, when I was a freshman!”
“Right, whatever happened to you guys?” I question, trying to change the subject so, that I can get the now throbbing pain in my leg, off my mind.
“Long story short, she found someone else, the football jock, Aaron. It’s whatever now, we are still friends.”
“Do you think that that is why they always bring us cookies? She feels sorry for you?”
“Maybe?” he responded, as if he doesn’t care.
Most of the walk after that was silent. I stumbled along quietly, as James walked a few paces ahead of me. I felt lonely, as if he left me behind.
“The sun is going down; I thought you said we were almost there!” I said angrily.
“We are, just trust me.” I let out a sigh and we continued walking. When we stopped next the sun was gone.
“James, I think your calculations were off again.” I said sarcastically.
“Oh be quiet.” James said facetiously.
"Well what do you expect? My knee is only getting worse the farther we go. I told you that I refuse to spend another night out here! I at least need a bathroom with running water to wash my leg off!" I say urgently.
"We are almost there, why can't you just accepted the fact?" James said raising his voice.
“Why can’t I just accept the fact? Because I have been walking on my broken knee all day! I need to relax, no, not relax, I need to breathe. I need to see a doctor! My knee needs to get fixed! This is ridiculous! You have lived here longer than I have and you should know how to navigate through the neighborhood! “ she barked, stumbling over every other word.
James stood there and tried to comprehend what was just said, silently.
“I’m sorry. We have been walking all day and I am in pain but I didn’t want to tell you because I didn’t want to be the reason why we didn’t make it home tonight! I thought that I could just tough it out until we made it home, I guess I was wrong. Sorry, how far until we reach the Johnson’s?”
“You don’t need to be sorry, It’s my fault we’re here in the first place. My guess is it will take at least another twenty minutes. Don’t worry, my calculations aren’t off this time.”
“How is it your fault? I was the one that was running away from you! Besides, that’s not the point, I think that I could make it another twenty minutes, but after that, if your calculations just happened to not be correct again, I will need to rest a little. Okay?”
“Okay, we should get going then. Hang on, I have an idea. ” James answered as he reached down and grabbed the nearest stick. “Here, try using this, but don’t use all of your weight on it otherwise it will break again.”
“Yeah, I think I learned my lesson last time. Thanks, and by the way, I ate the last of the chocolate chip cookies that Karmen brought over last week.” I added quickly.
“If you get too tired, let me know. Wait, that was you?” James said even though no was listening because she was already 20 feet away.
Avoiding the subject of the cookies altogether, she replied, “Come on, I’m the crippled and I am still faster than you.”
As he began to question her again, he hesitated and ran ahead to catch up to her. They walked for a few minutes before the cane broke again.
“Alright, I’m done, let’s just camp out here. I am tired and fed up with all of our bad karma!” I screamed.
“You can’t give up now, I see the house, oh wait never mind thats a tree. Just come on we’re almost there!”
“I can’t believe I thought you would know the neighborhood better than I do!”
“I do, you just can’t stop now I know we are almost there!”
“That’s what you said several hours ago!”
“Please, just come on!”
20 Minutes Later
“So, you still know where you’re going right?”
“Of course I do, why would you doubt me?”
“I don’t know, you’ve only let me down the wrong path twice already.”
“I guess so but this time I know we are getting close!”
“Oh ya, how can you be so sure?”
“I’m not sure, I don’t know if we'll ever get home and,” James stops and turns around, with tears in his eyes. “I’m scared.”
“Of what?” I asked -- looking around to see what he was looking at.
“Never making it home, I don’t know if we are even going the right way anymore.”
“What happened to being so sure? I can’t believe that you are saying that you’re scared. Of all the things you could be saying, you’re scared?” I said getting frustrated
“I was never sure, I was trying to make sure you weren't scared.”
“Trying to make sure I wasn’t scared? Really? Is that what you have been thinking about the whole time? Me being scared? I could care less of my scared feeling, I put all my trust in you even after you lead me down the wrong path twice!”
“You mean, you still trust me?”
“I don’t know, not so much anymore. Yeah, you’re my big brother I would think you would know how to get home or at least to your ex-girlfriends house, but I would have been understanding. At least, I wouldn’t have been walking around all day trying to follow you, without question, all the while, you never even knew if we were going north or south?” I babbled as I was walking away.
“Wait, a second. I do know where we are! I would always sneak away to see Karman. Right through these woods. That means, the house is very close now. This time, I promise!”
“I can’t believe you! First you tell me that you never actually knew the way home and now you're promising that you know that their house should be right around? No, I will figure something out and get home. Don’t follow me!” I yell at him, with tears in my eyes turning away, stumbling as fast I can down the path.
“No, wait. You can’t, it won’t work. If you get hurt anymore and don’t make it home, I would never forgive myself.”
“How do you know that it won’t work? Anyways, don’t worry about me. I can do this, I don’t really feel like being lied to anymore. . . If you are really worried about me getting hurt, I guess just, just follow my lead. Don’t you even think about talking to me though! I love you, but sometimes I can’t stand you, James! Why did you have to go and do this?You knew that I trusted you and you abused it!”
“I love you too, and that’s the whole reason I, and always will, worry about you. Always. It’s my job as your big brother. “
“I hate you! Why do you have to do this to me?” I said, as I was stumbling back and gave him a big hug. Practically falling into his arms, I let the weight off my foot. Comforted for the slightest moment, until I realized that we still didn’t have anyplace to sleep.
“Now If you can, just trust me one last time, I can get us home, or at least somewhere to sleep!”
“You should be so glad that I trust you so much! But, don’t you dare lie to me, or I’ll kick your butt!”
Entry #3
“So, we’ve been walking for twenty minutes, can I kick your butt now?”
“What are you talking about? The house is right there! I know you knee is hurt but do you need glasses too?”
“I don’t know do you need a kick in the butt?”
“Well maybe, but we don’t have time for that, we need to get to the house. If its bad enough you might be able to get a ride to the hospital to have them look at you leg. and maybe get you eyes checked while you’re there.”
“If it’s bad enough? If you don’t how bad my knee is by this point you must be blind and deaf; and no I don;t need to get my eye’s checked, captain obvious!”
“Did you really just call me blind? I have glasses.”
“Yup and deaf! Maybe you need a better prescription! Let’s go, again crippled and faster than you!”
“I’m not deaf.” James said under his breath as he ran to catch up to the cripple.
“Well, thank God for that! And you thought I was hard of hearing.”
“Well I’m still faster that you!” James said as he ran ahead of the cripple.
“That’s debatable! If I wasn’t a cripple, I would smoke your butt!”
“Yeah right!”
Next Scene
After they entered into their house, they realized something odd was going on. The house seemed lifeless and boring.
“Hello?! Anyone home?” James shouted.
“James, I can’t find anyone. They're usually home at this time of day.” Karmen said.
“Well, I guess but where else would they be?”
“It is a Saturday, I think. May be they went to the movies? THe house just seems so deserted.”
“What should we do?”
“I don’t know, wait it out, I guess. Otherwise you could walk over to the neighbors to see if they know the whereabouts of our parents.”
“Okay good idea, let’s go!” James says as he starts for the door.”
“I said that you could walk over there. I have been out in the woods for three days, not to mention with a broken knee, I would like to take a bath and take a nap in my bed before we have to explain what all happened to mom and dad and then to the emergency room.”
“Alright I’ll go check with Mr. and Mrs.Lee, you lay down and rest your knee.”
“Thanks! Oh, and knock when you get home, I wanna take a bath.”
“Okay, bye!”
After the bath
It is so nice to be in my own home, and my own bathroom with my brush and comb. Ow! I just wish this whole knee problem would go away. It would make this explanation to mom and dad ten times easier! As Karmen made her way from the bathroom to the bedroom, her knee hurt more and more with every step. She managed to get into shorts and a t-shirt before her body no longer wanted to cooperate, and she passed out on the floor of her bedroom.
James started pounding on the door.
“Karmen I’m back and we have a problem!” No answer. Maybe she’s still in the bath, James thought. “I’m coming in!” James shouted. He opened the door and still there was no answer. He slowly walked up stair hoping that if she was still in the bath that she had the door closed. What he found was that the door was open, but the lights were off. “Karmen?” James said. He saw that there was a light on in the bedroom. He slowly walked over and saw Karmen sprawled out on the floor. James gasped and quickly ran over to her body. He checked for a pulse and when he found that it was there, he gently picked her up and layed her down on the bed. He then felt to make sure she wasn’t sick or getting sick. She didn’t have a fever or appear sweaty. James wasn’t sure what to do. He decided that he needed to stay by her side until she decided wake up. He sat at her side unsure if it was okay to leave watching and hoping that she would wake up.
Karmen started to wake up, startled by her brothers presences next to her.
“What are you doing?” Karmen inquiries.
James gasped and said “You’re awake!”
“Well, ya! I had to wake up sometime.”
“I know, but I was afraid something was seriously wrong, that you weren't just sleeping.”
“I don’t exactly remember what happened. I know that I took a bath and that I was able to manage to come in slip into shorts and a t-shirt but, I don’t really know what happened after that. I just went completely black. How long have you been sitting there?”
“Around 2 hours. I was actually getting ready to call an ambulance or something.”
“Did you even try to wake me up?”
“Yeah, a few times you didn’t even react.”
“Sorry, I guess that my bed was just really comfortable looking!!!”
“You were on the ground.”
“Guess I um, never made it to the bed.
“Well, I came in and you were sprawled on the floor like you had fainted.”
“Well, ya, um, I think that I should probably get some more sleep before I faint again, I mean ‘not make it the bed’.”
“Yeah, that would be a good idea.”
I soon drifted into deep sleep. Dreams flooded my subconscious. Thoughts of this miraculous journey that I had just been on with James. The smell of being back at home and being in my own bed. The look on my parents faces when they see that I’m, I mean we’re home. Until my pleasant thoughts were interupted by my brother.
“There’s still a problem i need to tell you about” James said shaking Karmen awake.
“I hope this is important! You woke me up from a very good dream!”
“Well, if there being no one around anywhere is important, then yes this is very important!”’
“What are talking about? I told you to go and get the neighbors!! Why couldn’t you have told me this before I fell asleep again?”
“Because i wanted you to sleep, it’s something you needed. This could have waited. Anyway while you were asleep i checked out the rest of the neighborhood and there was no one there, no one anywhere.”
“What do you think we should do?”
“This time, I don’t know. We could call 911 and see if anything is wrong here and maybe get you an ambulance.”
“Why would I need an ambulance? i’m just tired!”
“Really? Let’s check out your knee then!”
“Okay, you're right, let’s just call an ambulance. I don’t want you touching my knee!”
“Okay I’ll be right back.” James said as he rushed out of the room. He ran down stairs to the
house phone. He dialed 911 and waited for an answer. Instead he was met with a familiar voice saying. “The number you have reached is unavailable, please hang up and try again.”
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