[WP] "Can you be lost if you have nowhere to go?"

<style> div { font-family: "Times New Roman," Times, Serif; margin-top: 1px; margin-bottom: 1px; margin-right: 2px; margin-left: 2px; text-align: left; } p { text-indent: 50px; } </style> <body> <div> <p>Have you ever caught your reflection in the corner of your eye, and just for a second, didn’t recognize that you were seeing yourself? For a brief moment, you have the opportunity to see yourself as a stranger, without any context. You see only the surface, and without thinking, you make a judgment about what you think that person enjoys, what they do, who they love.</p>

<p>Clara had been walking for one hundred and sixteen days when she saw her reflection for the first time since the storm. She felt a flood of relief as she turned toward the shop window where she thought she saw her – a woman, perhaps a little older than her, with tired eyes, dirt and blood smeared across her face. She looked just as desperate for human contact as Clara felt. But just as quickly as it came, the feeling of comfort left her when she recognized her own face under the dirt and exhaustion. </p>

<p>She stood for a moment and took in the desolation that surrounded her. Nearly all the water from the rain had evaporated in the increasingly harsh sun, leaving behind a vast of dust that, when stirred by the wind, hurdled stinging grains that seemed to permeate the layers of cloth she used to protect her skin. Clara marveled at the seemingly limitless dust storm rolling across the distant landscape, and the sun setting behind it.... and soon realized she needed to find food and a place to sleep for the night.</p>

<p>She heard a creaking behind her, and she turned quickly to see that the strong wind had moved aside the branches covering the entrance to see a street of small homes, shielded from the dust and wind by the surrounding forest. Clara was surprised by how well preserved the homes appeared – she hadn’t seen a house that still had the paint on it since the storm. They appeared to be abandoned, so she cautiously approached the first home to scavenge for food.</p>

<p>The first home she entered seemed like if there had been someone there since the storm, they hadn’t taken much, and she was able to find cans of beans and corn. She thought this seemed way too good to be true, but she wasn’t about to let her apprehension get in the way of a hot meal. She removed her pack and began opening the cans with her knife when she heard a sound that had now become foreign to her – footsteps.</p>

<p>For the second time today, Clara felt hopeful that, perhaps, her solitude was coming to an end. She stood to face whoever was coming toward the kitchen from the back door, and her hope quickly turned to fear – Why hadn’t anyone called out? To say, “Hello, I’m not here to hurt you,” or anything like that? She had always believed that finding another survivor would provide relief, and companionship. Standing there, with her meal warming over the stove, she realized that she suddenly had something that someone else could want – especially someone as desperate for food as she had been sometimes since the storm. </p>

<p> In a panic, Clara picked up her knife and dove under the kitchen table. She saw two pairs of boots enter the kitchen – a man and a woman, maybe? But still they said nothing. They must have communicated somehow, because after a moment, they both left the kitchen, the larger pair of boots moving toward the front of the house, and the smaller toward the back. </p>

<p>If Clara was going to get out, alive, this was her chance to run. She thought about her pack, now sitting on the floor by the stove, out of sight of the entrance to the kitchen. Maybe they hadn’t seen it? If she could grab it before she got out of there, things might be okay. She would still have her collection of supplies that had become essential elements to her survival. After a moment of consideration, she decided it was worth it to make a grab for her pack before jumping out the kitchen window, and making a run for it.</p>

<p> She slowly backed out from under the table, stood up, and picked up her pack in one smooth motion. She listened for footsteps, checked the kitchen door once more for signs of movement, and turned to open the window. She had just begun to unlock the pane when all of a sudden, something struck her head, hard. As she faded from consciousness, she heard the two men – boys, from the sound of it – talking softly to each other about maneuvering her now-limp body to the ground. </p>

<p>Clara had no idea how long she had been unconscious when she began to come to. All of a sudden her head began to ache, and the memory of her capture returned. Before she even opened her eyes, she began to tremble in fear as her mind raced through every possible outcome of her predicament. She tried to move, and felt her hands bound behind her back by some cloth, or fabric. </p>

<p>She smelled fire, and felt its warmth close by. She had the feeling she was being watched, and took a deep breath before finally opening her eyes. </p>

<p>Sitting on the other side of the fire was a young man, perhaps a few years older than her, staring at her intently. The light from the fire played across his features, making it difficult to tell whether his hair was more brown then blonde, or his eyes more green than blue. He didn’t appear angry, or malicious. Just…curious. Clara stared back at him, trying to figure out this stranger who had abducted her. </p>

<p>An older man, maybe in his late forty’s, walks over to the fire and sits next to the young man. In the distance behind them, a girl her age and a young boy watched with caution as the older man began to question Clara. </p>

<p>“Who are you?” He asked.</p> <p>Clara was silent as she considered how she should answer. She was just about to make up a name when she realized that now, after all that had happened with her family, and with Rob, her name meant nothing to her. It was hers to give away as she pleased. </p> <p>“My name is Clara. I’m alone, and have been since the storm. I don’t have anything to my name other than that pack of clothes and supplies and the beans you didn’t let me eat.”</p> <p>The older man seemed to ponder this for a moment, and then his face softened. His tone was much gentler now, and he asked, “What happened to your family, Clara?” </p>

<p>Clara started hesitantly, but soon her story rushed out in a flood of hurt and loss that had been pent up inside, ever since Rob left her the day the rain started. She told the two men how he had promised to come back after he picked up more supplies, and they would go to her parent’s house together to get them to a designated safe zone. She was so busy getting their things order that he had been gone for over two hours by the time she found the note: “I’m sorry, I have to save myself. You’ll be fine. – Rob.” She told them how her world was crushed when she realized her boyfriend of two years had not only abandoned her, but also destroyed her parents’ only shot at survival. </p>

<p>By the time she finished telling them how she’s survived since then, she felt the devastation of her loss as if the wound was still fresh, and not almost six months old. But she felt something else, too – relief. She still felt lost, and alone, but the burden of her solitude was no longer hers alone to bear. </p>

<p>She was deep in thought when the young man finally cleared his throat and said, “Uh, hey. I’m Evan. This is my dad, Luke, and back there is my younger sister Jen, and our little brother, Aiden. I’m…I’m sorry to hear about your parents, and what that guy did to you…and them.”</p>

<p>Luke stood, and nodded at Evan before walking back toward his other children. Evan got up, slowly walked around the fire, so as to not startle Clara, and sat next to her on the log. He reached behind her to untie her hands, and when he felt her trembling, he whispered something in her ear. Clara was so shocked by the warmth of his breath, and the now-foreign sensation of being in close proximity to another person, that she barely heard the words.</p>

<p>“Sorry, what?” Clara breathed.</p>

<p>Evan had finished untying her, but did not back away. He whispered again, “It’s easy to feel lost, and alone out here. But it doesn’t have to be that way. You can stay with us, if you want. Things are bad enough as it is, no one should have to deal with it alone.” </p>

<p>He held her gaze for a moment before hopping up to grab her a plate of food, and for the first time since the storm, Clara didn’t feel like she had anywhere, or anyone else, to run to. </p>

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