Touch

Ordered out of the tent, the other four do so hesitantly, but obey. None knew what would happen, but none had any other ideas. Katie had to be trusted.

Once outside, Scott paces, desperate for this whole thing to be over. He didn’t know why it bothered him so much, but it did. It just…it just wasn’t fair. Stopping a moment, he looks over and catches Camryn’s eyes. They seemed to reflect his own feelings.

Camryn hangs her head and goes to sit on a log by the fire that was no completely out. Rocking herself a little, she prays and tries not to worry. She wanted to be in there…to be with Jason. She didn’t like it that she couldn’t help. She didn’t like it that someone else could. But what choice did she and the others have…but to wait?


Jason flinches as he’s touched, his breathing shallow and rapid. Drenched in sweat, he fights for several more minutes, desperate…so desperate.

Alex raises his had for another blow… but…that voice….that voice Jason knew…it was sweet…soft…real. And that touch. Like an electrical shock, it jolts his system, sending a surge through him that clashes with the darkness head-on.

It hurt. All his emotions, all that pain at once, and trying to get out…trying so hard…

Jason’s fist loosens for just a moment to wrap around Katie’s hand, putting her in a vice grip as he fights. “K…Katie…” He can feel reality…he can taste it…. His eyes flutter for a moment, then roll back in his head as the battle continues.

But as she stays with him, as she speaks, as she sings, slowly, slowly, Jason begins to relax. Like a cool breeze calms a raging summer day, her presence dissolves the tension and the fears.

Finally, Jason’s breathing slows, his heart rate beginning to come down. His grip on Katie’s hand loosens and his head sinks further in her lap, his muscles starting to relax.

Jason tries to open his eyes and he blinks. Alex was fading…Jason was…here…somewhere…but it wasn’t there…it wasn’t his past.

Trying to move, he winces. Every muscle in his body ached from the tension they’d been under. But he had to move. His body was revolting against the trauma it had experienced, and he couldn’t stop it.

Still in a daze, Jason suddenly is on his hands and knees to half crawl, half stumble to zippered back of the tent, his stomach refusing to keep his supper down. Throwing up several times spends the rest of any energy he had left, and all he can do is collapse, his head once more in Katie’s lap.

Tears fill his eyes. Like cold water putting out a fire, remaining heat is released in steam, and leftover emotions seep out. Everything hurt, everything was pain…the past, the present…he didn’t even know where he was. All he knew was what he’d just experienced and he knew it had been bad.

A sob sticks in his throat as his hand finds Katie’s again, desperately seeking for strength. “I hurts…” His voice is strained against the uncontrolled tears. “I can’t…it’s too hard…I can’t…”

He grips her hand tighter. “I’m sorry.”

His temperature back down, he starts to shiver from his wet clothes, but he doesn’t have the energy to find a blanket. All he can do is lie still and let Katie soothe him back to reality.