“I’m hungry, Waya.” Jake whines in his ear. “I don’t have any food right now, Jakey. I have to find somewhere to stay for the night. It’s getting dark now. Besides, you just ate.” Jake crosses his small arms on top of Waya’s head. “So.”
“You keep on pouting, Jakey. It’s not going to magically put food in your belly. Ah, here we go.” Waya and Jake have stumbled across an old cabin. It feels kind of eerie finding an old cabin in the woods, but it’s the first real shelter they’ve found in months.
The grass is as tall as Waya’s waist. White tree limbs scatter the yard protruding like bones from the tall grass. Untrimmed bushes line the front of the cabin, their many limbs reaching towards the roof trying to reclaim the space taken from them by…show more content… “I want you to stay up here until I come back out, okay?” Waya says. “Nothing can get you if you stay up there, but don’t move around a whole lot. I’m not sure the roof will hold for much longer.” Jake nods and obediently scoots away from the edge grabbing his knees. His laughter fades from his face and seriousness takes its place. Jake is afraid of heights, so he closes his eyes and begins chanting:
“It’s okay to be scared. Being scared means you’re about to do something really, really brave. Scared is what you’re feeling, brave is what you’re doing. I have gone ahead despite the pounding in my heart that says: turn back. As long as I am breathing, I’ll be okay.”
Waya taught Jake to say his chant every time he’s afraid of something, which he is a lot. The chant gave his mind something to do so he didn’t think about what was scaring him. It usually works. Waya takes his backpack off and sets it down on the floor. He reaches into the front pocket and pulls out his knife. He decided the bigger knife will be a wiser choice than the small one he keeps on his side for emergency use only. He stares at the faded brown door and takes a deep breath. He turns the knob of the door slowly and gives the door a gentle push. It falls open with a noisy squeak and thumps against the wall. Waya is blasted with the smell of mildew and something dead. He stumbles backwards and coughs into his arm. He takes a deep breath and holds it as he steps…show more content… Waya walks towards it holding his knife up higher. The smell of whatever was dead is stronger the closer he gets to the living room. He glances around the corner of the kitchen out into the hallway, but it’s too dark to see anything. He turns his attention back towards the room ahead of him. “One room at a time.” he mumbles under his breath. The living room is huge. Waya can see a spot along the farthest end of the room where another wall used to be giving him the impression that it used to be two rooms. He inspects the rest of the living space working from the outside to the middle. The walls are lined with shelves that are full of little figurines of animals. One in particular catches his attention. A figurine of a velociraptor. It’s about two inches tall, so he puts it into his pocket rather than leaving it with the items in the kitchen. A china cabinet is against the wall near the entrance. The plates and cups still appear to be in perfect condition, but Waya ignores it and walks further into the room. He doesn’t need cups and plates. Furniture is thrown around and full of leaves and dirt a product of the collapsed roof. The hole in the ceiling is large enough that Waya would have no trouble climbing in and out of it. The debris from the ceiling has landed on the tv, crushing it. A large beige padded rocking chair sits facing a small fireplace, and looks just as out of place as the box in the freezer. It’s odd that the rocking
