NOVEL NEXT Chapter 6: The Cycle Continues
The morning light filtered through the trees. Jake stirred awake, his breath shallow, his body sticky with sweat. For a moment, he stayed curled up in his makeshift shelter, clutching the thin blanket tighter around himself. The world outside felt too big, too dangerous, and his small shelter the only thing keeping it at bay.
But his heart wouldn't stop racing. His mind was still replaying the events of the day before—the sound of his bat striking the man's hand, the way the stranger's desperate eyes burned into him as he backed away, defeated. Jake felt the weight of the bat in his hands, even though it was leaning against the wall beside him. He'd gripped it so tightly his palms still ached.
He sat up slowly, rubbing his face with small, shaky hands. His knees were pulled to his chest, and he buried his head in them for a moment, wishing it had all been a bad dream. But the empty feeling in his stomach and the cold breeze brushing against his face told him it was all real.
"It was scary…" he whispered to himself. His voice cracked, and his throat felt tight. "I… I didn't want to hurt him…"
His gaze drifted to the bat, the crude bow slung beside it, and his tattered bag with what little food he had left. He wasn't supposed to be fighting for his life. He was supposed to be home, in his room, playing games or reading comic books. His mom would have made pancakes, and his dad would've been sitting at the table, reading the paper. Jake closed his eyes, trying to picture it. The smell of syrup, the sound of his dad's low chuckle. But the memory felt like it was so long ago..so distant that it seems like it had been a lifetime ago.
He thought of his parents, "Mom..dad...I don't want to do this anymore....I am lost, I don't know what to do.."
He sniffed, his small hands curling into fists. "Why did you have to leave me? Why couldn't you take me with you?" His voice cracked, raw and filled with anger and frustration. He hated how small and helpless he sounded and he felt helplessness at the fact that crying won't help him survive.
Jake looked back at the bat, The wood was stained and splintered, a tool that had saved him more times than he could count, but one that also terrified him.
It reminded him of what he'd done yesterday, of the person he'd had to be to survive. His mom would've hated it—hated the idea of him hurting someone, even if it was to protect himself.
And his dad... his dad would've told him to stay strong, to keep going. But how could he stay strong when he felt like he was breaking a little more every day?
"I don't want to hurt people," he murmured, his voice quivering. "I just... I just want to go home. For everything to go back how it was."
But he knew that it was impossible, that it won't go back to how it was. Home wasn't home anymore and the people he knew were....those things....
Jake pressed his forehead against his knees, letting the tears come this time. They fell silently, streaking down his dirt-covered face and dampening his pants. He didn't sob or cry loudly. He just sat there, shaking.
"I miss you..." he whispered, his voice so soft it was almost swallowed by the forest around him. "I miss you so much..."
For some time, he let himself be like that. The sound of the wind brushing through the trees and the distant chirping of birds the only thing going on.
For a brief moment, Jake let himself believe that his parents could hear him somehow, that they were watching over him.
He wiped his face roughly with the sleeve of his jacket, sniffing hard as he forced himself to his feet.
The bat felt heavy in his hand when he picked it up, but he tightened his grip on it anyway. "I'll keep going," he said softly, as if speaking to his parents. "Even if I don't know how. I'll... I'll try. But I don't know how much longer I can do this."
The words felt both like a promise and a plea, carried away on the morning breeze.