Alone

A little concern, Jason nods to Wendy. “Okay. Well…I’ll see if she shows up for lunch. If not, I’ll go make sure she’s alright and ready to leave.”

But as he turns to go get something from his backpack, Jason suddenly receives a batch of emotions that he tries to decipher. Caught off guard, it takes him a moment. As the message registers, he furrows his brow. Katie wasn’t coming back with him? He maybe understood she didn’t want to go back, but…still… and where would she be that he couldn’t find her? He didn’t get it.

Turning to the door, he takes several steps. Katie, I…

He stops, sucking in his breath and reaching out to steady himself with a chair. His emotions bounced back at him like a tennis ball thrown at a wall. What on earth… He tries to clear his mind, slowing down his own pace as he just stands, ignoring what’s going on around him, and shaking his head a little.

Like a water valve, he’d been shut almost completely off from Katie. She was only letting enough of his emotions in so that he didn’t become too overwhelmed to handle it, but it was enough to make him uncomfortable. He wasn’t used to this…it didn’t feel right. Why was she doing this? Aside from confused, Jason was a little hurt. Katie had never shut him out like this before on purpose. She’d blocked specific things that had made her uncomfortable before, but…not like this.

Jason swallows hard and sinks down into a chair. Was she in that bad of shape? What was she planning to do? Where was she going? Yet…why was he asking? She obviously didn’t want him to know.

“Hotshot, you alright?”

Jason looks back to Clint and tries to nod. “Yeah…yeah, I’m okay… just had a little dizzy spell.”

Glancing at his watch, he gets up again. He at least felt like he was owed more than Katie had given him. Heading out, he aims for the bunk that she’d stayed in. Groping for feelings, he senses nothing. Knocking on the door, he waits…. No answer. Just deciding to go ahead and enter, Jason does, finding the bunk empty. The only thing there is Katie’s cell phone on the dresser.

Gone. She was gone. And she’d purposely left her whereabouts unknown from everyone…from Jason.

His fingers tighten around the phone before setting it back down. Fine.


…Jason stares out the plane window at the dark skies. The sun was trying to break through the clouds, but wasn’t having much luck.

Sighing, Jason settles back in his seat, then looks across the aisle. He felt empty…almost lonely. He wasn’t used to being alone quite like this…he felt…vulnerable in a sense…lost. He hadn’t realized until now how much he was used to feeling the steady draw on his emotions. Without it, they just wanted to scatter, bouncing in every direction and adding to his confusion.

He leans his head to the window and closes his eyes. Rest… rest would be good before getting back to Nevada. And he had to figure out a good reason to tell Reese why Katie wasn’t back with him.


Clint fools with his fork in his food, giving a little sigh. He looks to Wendy, just a little worried. “So that’s it? Jason said she just took off, and that’s all we know? Rosetta didn’t even know? Mick said he would guess she went to the mountain…but do you think she’d really do that?