The Watched

by Amanda Nowak

pushed her for answers.

  “What is wrong with you?” Brenda asked irritatingly.

  “What's wrong with me?” Michelle answered, the tears slowing. “Well, after the robbery, we came here to get our shit together. You made it to my old room, and became unconscious. I tried to get us out of here, but the car was out of gas.”

  “The car?” Brenda interrupted. “Where's the car?”

  “Gone, let me finish. A few hours ago I heard something banging against the cabin, and found that someone had moved the canoe up from where it was laying on the ground. This morning I found a gas can, emptied it into the car, and went to get you. When I came back out the car was heading down the driveway.”

  “No way. So did you see who was driving? And how did I get on the ground?”

  “No, I didn't see who was driving, they were too far away. And you ended up on the ground because I had to carry you and I dropped you when I saw the car driving away.”

  “You carried me? Awe. How sweet.”

  With the tone of Brenda's voice and the look on her face, Michelle forgot how screwed they were and giggled a little.

  “Shut up.” She said, forcing herself to stop laughing. “Let's go back inside and figure out what to do. We should be able to walk out of here now that you're up and about, but we should get you some food and water first.”

  “You have food and water?”

  “Well, we have canned food left here from my parents, and the well seems to be working cuz we have running water.”

  “Thank God. I'm famished. But I don't know if I wanna walk out of here. Someone was out there, and someone stole the car.”

  “And someone emptied the tank the first time, we didn't run it out of gas, but I don't see that we have much of a choice. Anyway, let's go in and we can discuss it while we eat.”

  Looking out at the forest and feeling eyes watching them, Brenda decided that getting inside was a good idea. She rose, and followed Michelle into the cabin.

  Once inside Michelle went to the cupboard to get out the food and Brenda went to throw some more wood on the fire.

  “We got speghettios and soup. I think you should eat something with substance, but something that's easy on your belly. How about some of this chicken soup?”

  “That's fine. Do I gotta eat it cold?” Brenda replied reluctantly.

  “No. I think we can figure it out.”

  Michelle searched a couple cupboards and pulled out a small pan, a bowl and grabbed the opener off the counter. She was still so relieved to have Brenda back, she walked around in a happy daze. She carried her finds to the living room, and set them on the carpet in front of the fire. She opened the can and emptied it into the pan and set it on the logs to warm it up. She went back to the kitchen, found a couple of glasses, ran some water, rinsed them out and filled them up. She got out a spoon, brought the glasses back with her to the living room, and handed one to Brenda. Brenda gulped it down in seconds.

  “Thank you.” Brenda said, out of breath. “So now what?”

  “Well, first you eat. Then we get out of here. We walk up that driveway, it's only about a mile and a half, and we flag down some help and we get out of here. We find a small town, get jobs and start a new life.”

  “Jobs? We, are gonna get jobs? And stay in one place? What happened while I was out?”

  “You scared the living shit out of me, and we still don't know what happened to you. I'm not taking any chances. I am gonna get a job. A real job. One with insurance and you're going back to school. I am gonna make sure you have a future. I haven't been doin you any favors livin this way, and we are done.”

  “I'm fine. I don't need schooling, and our life is just fine.”

  “How do you know that it can't be better? Just give this a chance and we will go from there. K?”

  “Fine, we'll talk about it.” Brenda said, feeling defeated. She wasn't sure what happened to Michelle, but with this three-sixty she was pulling, Brenda decided not to argue.

  “I think your soup is done.” Michelle said looking for something to grab the pot with. She found a cloth lying on the side of the hearth, and used it to grab the handle of the pan. Pulling the pan off the fire she poured the soup into the bowl and handed to Brenda.

  Brenda took and and ate it as quickly as she could with it being so hot. While she was slurping her noodles and broth, Michelle was thinking up a plan. They had a short walk to the main road and then everything will be okay.

  After finishing, Brenda stated that she had to pee. Michelle told her to go use the bathroom.

  “The toilet may not flush, but as least you don't have to squat outside.”

  While Brenda headed to the bathroom, Michelle hunted the cabin for anything they may need to take with them. Remembering then that everything they owned was in the car, and they had no money. After the robbery had gone wrong, they had left the gas station without taking anything but it would be okay.

  When Brenda came out, Michelle informed her that they were leaving. On their way out the door, Michelle turned around, and looked sadly at her favorite childhood place. She then vowed to herself that she would be back, and she would spend more time here.

  She locked and shut the door, and headed down the path. Despite the sun shining, the long driveway was shaded. The light not being able to make it through all the trees, they would be walking in the dark.

  Side by side, the girls started down the driveway. They didn't get thirty yards from the house, about where the car had died the day before and they heard a noise. They stopped to listen. It was an engine. They watched down the driveway, waiting as the noise grew closer. The saw the headlights, and as they grew closer, it appeared to be their car.

  “It's my car!” Michelle cried in excitement. Maybe whoever took it was bringing it back she let herself hope. As it came closer, the girls realized that it wasn't slowing. It was barreling down on them. They had to jump off the narrow driveway and into the woods in order to avoid getting hit. The car stop a couple feet from where they jumped from. The girls stared at the car to see what it was gonna do next. It started to reverse and the girls had just enough time to see the passenger window start to roll down, before the first bang rang out through out the forest. It took them only a second to realize they were being shot at.

  They both took off into the woods, driven by fear. They stumbled, fell, got up, and kept on running. They heard two more cracks that sounded like lightening striking near by, and kept running. They ran until they both couldn't breath, and collapsed on the forest floor to listen for any noise in the woods. They heard nothing for what seemed like forever as they laid there catching their breath.

  “What the hell was that?” Michelle whispered to Brenda, looking around the woods, still watching out for any movement and listening for any sound.

  “I don't know. Who would want to shoot at us?” Brenda asked, scared that she knew the answer already. She had shot someone last night. Could it really be a coincidence that they were being shot at today?

  They both laid there in silence, still listening for any noise that would tell them they weren't alone. After what seemed like forever, they were pretty sure there was no one else there. They slowly sat up in unison and looked around.

  “Do you think this could be because of the shooting? Because of what I did?” Brenda asked in a low voice.

  “I don't see how it could. No one saw us. No one knew we were there.” Michelle replied, not sounding convinced herself. “It's probably some lunatic fucking with us.”

  “But why would someone be fucking with us? No one even knew we were here.”

  “I don't know.” Michelle conceded. “What I do know is we need to get out of these woods, to the road and get some help.”

  Brenda looked around, thinking that it was hopeless, she had no idea where they were.

  As if reading her mind Michelle informed her which the way the road was.

  “We were heading that way towards the road. That didn't change
. It's still gotta be that way.” She said pointing into the woods. “That's the way it was while we were in the driveway, and that's still the way it's gotta be. Come on.” She said gathering herself and getting up off the forest floor. And stay down just in case.”

  Brenda followed suit and soon both girls were crouching and making there way through the woods, towards what they both hoped was safety.

  They walked, and walked. Finally Brenda broke the silence.

  “I need to rest.” she whispered. “I'm sweating like a pig.”

  “Okay. We can rest for a minute. I think we must be close though. Not sure how long we've been walking but the road can't be far.” Michelle said sitting down on the floor of the forest. It really can't be far, she thought to herself as she caught her breath.

  “I hope not. I'm tired, and thirsty. Oh, and scared. I will feel better when we've hitched a ride and we are on our way out of here. I'm not built....” Brenda stopped mid-sentence.

  “What? Not built? Are you gonna...?”

  “Shhhh. You hear that?” She said almost silently.

  Michelle listened hard for the noise that Brenda could have heard. “No. I don't hear