CYOA Page 124
Sep. 13th, 2013 05:30 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lumy12"Please can we help her, Joel? Pleeeeease?"
You've made your arguments, and stubborn Joel has shot them down. Time to bring out the big guns... (no, there are no guns involved, but you like the phrase)...
"I said no."
...no? Still? You must be losing your touch. Or maybe you're getting too old? Maybe only little kids can successfully whine and get their way. OR-- maybe Joel doesn't love you as much as he used to. He does love you, and that's the most important thing, of course... the degree to which he feels it doesn't really matter... ...much... when you think about it logically, would you back down from something you felt strongly about just because he turned big droopy eyes on you and sounded all pathetic? ...You'd probably just laugh at him, actually. Does that mean you don't love him? No. You just recognize that that behavior is ridiculous.
...but fuck, you've really enjoyed being able to get Joel to do what you want by employing these means. If I have to beat him with logic every single time...
"All right, fine," Joel mutters.
You snap to attention at this unexpected development. "What? Fine? ...Really?"
"Jus' stop lookin' at me like that an' yes, I'll agree to help her out. For a while -- not forever."
"Awesome!" You don't know what the "like that" look is that he's referring to, because you had actually stopped trying, but you're beaming at him now. "You're the best, Joel!" You give him a quick hug before bouncing off to tell Jo the good news.
She doesn't seem as excited about it as you are. "You'll help me... ? No, see-- Lauren will come back."
"Okay, but... I mean, maybe she wants to, but something happened and she can't?" you suggest.
"I haven't given her enough time. I can't leave here -- what if she comes back and I'm gone? What then?"
"You can leave her a note. We have a pencil and a little notepad."
"But she could be anywhere."
"We can narrow it down some, if we can follow the horse tracks," Joel replies -- and you're happy he's not taking Jo's reluctance to leave as an indication that the two of you should leave yourselves.
"That's... really nice of you two. Really nice. I've already taken up so much of your time as it is, though..."
"We've got time," you say dismissively. "And we're good at finding people!"
Jo mulls it over (or is possibly trying to think of more excuses). "I suppose... she might've just gotten lost?"
"Yeah!" Positive thinking is good -- and getting lost is probably the kindest of the fates that you could hope for. "She was chasing that horse, right? Who knows how far she had to go to catch him."
"Thank you." Jo smiles at you, then glances at Joel. "If you wanna just... you know. Point me in the right direction and be on your way, it's cool."
"We'll see how it goes," Joel responds before you can (like he knows that you were going to "pfffff" the idea of ditching her?).
It ~goes~ pretty well, you think. Jo rides with you, and she's pretty quiet; you don't even have to tell her that Joel prefers silence when you're on the move. The horse tracks weren't difficult to pick up -- trampled grasses, smudgy dirt -- and you follow them successfully for a good long while... until they seem to split into two different directions.
"Great. So which way is the right one?" you wonder.
"They both may be right," Joel replies. "If she lost sight of the horse and went the wrong way..."
"So both ways might lead to a horse."
"And only one to Lauren," Jo adds. "Should we split up?"
"No," you and Joel say in unison. Ha!
"If the search party were just a lil' bit larger, I'd say yes, we should split up," Joel adds. "But with just the three of us... no."
You know that no matter how many people there were, Joel and you would have to be in the same group. He would insist, and you wouldn't argue. "So which way do we go?"
Joel looks at Jo. "This is your gig... which way do you wanna go?"
Jo chooses a path (randomly, you assume), and off you go again. You hope the trails will converge at some point. Every so often, Jo shouts Lauren's name; now that you're not sure you're following the trail that leads to her, Joel thinks that might help. It breaks the rule of silence, of course, but... you'll just have to handle it if the yelling draws anyone's attention other than Lauren's.
Just when you've started to discuss camping for the night (Joel in favor of, you and Jo in opposition. Two to one, you win), you do get a response to Jo's yelling...
And it's not from Lauren.
"Chuckie!" Jo exclaims, pointing to the dappled gray horse now trotting toward you.
"Maybe he found some hay in that yard an' was just hangin' out all afternoon," Joel guesses; the farmhouse is just now coming into view.
"He came from a farm, originally. Maybe it looked like home to him," Jo muses, and since she's about to jump off your horse, you pull on the reins to let her dismount properly.
Jo seems happy to be reunited with her horse, but you're sure she realizes that this means you went the non-Lauren way.
"We may as well camp for the night in the farmhouse," says Joel. "Assumin' there's no one there."
"I agree," says Jo. It's cute, the way she's hugging the horse's neck. "Backtracking to that other trail will take too long, and that house probably has nicer beds than the woods."
You start to point out that woods don't typically have beds at all, but then you realize she was just making a little joke. ...So her spirits are better since finding the horse, at least?
"I don' know that backtrackin' will be the best way to go, but we can figure that out in the mornin'," says Joel.
Jo mounts her horse and looks at you and Joel in turn with a small smile on her face. "Who wants deer for dinner?"
"I do!" You actually forgot all about the fucking deer meat.
Dinner is cozy and pleasant, as campfire dinners tend to be (you didn't realize how much you've missed them!). Joel seems content just to listen. ...Actually, you're not sure he's even doing that. Not listening to US, anyway... his ears are more attuned to the background. There's a barn to hide the horses for the night, yet you're sure he'll still worry about someone stealing them. If he was alone, you wouldn't be surprised if he spent the night in there with them. The two of you have done that before. But you're happy he doesn't suggest it this time, and that the beautiful ranch house won't be going to waste. 'Beautiful' being a relative term... Joel rarely appreciates the structures you find beautiful. He sees the peeling paint, the rotted wood, the bullet holes in the windows. And he thinks weeds are ugly, even if they're the most vibrant green -- some have flowers, even (which you think should automatically disqualify them as weeds). But you suppose if you spent most of your life among the freshly-painted, perfectly-manicured creations you see in movies, you might find everything around you lacking as well.
Right now, though? Even Joel will agree that 'beautiful' means a not-very-dirty bed to sleep on, and no corpses hanging around.
There are enough bedrooms for everyone to have their own. You take the loft/attic, Joel takes the bedroom closest to the stairs, and Jo gets the master. Joel comes up to say good night and nearly bumps his head on the ceiling because it's so low. He perches on your bed, which sort of feels like it's squished into a window seat (you're pretty sure Joel couldn't even stretch all the way out on it). "You actually want to sleep up here?" he chuckles.
You look up from your book, which you're reading by flashlight. "It's nice, don't you think? I think a little girl used to sleep here. Not very old, if the little dress and shirt in the dresser mean anything. Oh and there's some socks, too. Three." Three socks, not pairs, which kind of makes you want to snoop around the house to see if you can find the lost one. You wonder why someone would take everything else out of the drawers but leave these items behind; you're going to take them home, where new (again, a relative term) clothes are always welcome if they're in decent shape. "You should like me up here -- if a bunch of random hunters decide to attack in the middle of the night, I'll be the last one they get to!" you point out cheerfully.
"Very true. You can come down an' save my ass." He chuckles again, then sobers quickly. "So, tomorrow..."
"You want us to get back on track," you supply. "Forget about Jo and Lauren."
He shrugs. "I... know I was reluctant to get involved, but... if her friend's like her, I think they'd be a good addition to Jackson. Which makes 'em neighbors, not strangers -- like you mentioned earlier, yes, I know."
...Seriously? What a pleasant surprise! "You like her? You've barely said two words to her." Aside from business matters, at least.
"I don't dislike her. No bad vibes... seems honest. An' just 'cause I ain't talkin', it don' mean I ain't listenin'," he reminds you.
"Yeah, yeah. Okay, cool -- so we help her, and then... take them with us the rest of the way?"
"If they're willin', sure."
You give him a big smile. "Cool. Thanks, Joel."
"Uh... you're welcome, I guess? We're helpin' her, not you," he teases.
"You know what I mean." You slug his arm lightly. "You don't like people as much as I do. Talking to them and stuff. So yeah, it feels like... you're giving me a friend or something."
"Well, that's a nice way to think of it." He musses your hair. "Don't stay up too late, kiddo. The sun gets up early."
"I won't. Good night!"
" 'Night, baby girl."
For some reason, you're reminded of your first night in Jackson. You were so happy to have a bed that was yours, after spending all those months sleeping wherever. Joel said you guys were going to stay there for "as long as Tommy will have me." ...which did concern you a little, at first, but once you got to understand Joel's relationship with Tommy a little better, you relaxed. You could see they loved each other.
And tonight, you're in an unfamiliar bed again but one that feels cozy and warm, and you know Joel will be sleeping right below you... you feel very safe -- and also very lucky that you're not in Jo's shoes right now, worrying about your companion. She probably won't sleep a wink tonight. You sure wouldn't, if it was Joel out there all alone, God knows where.
You sleep plenty of winks yourself -- more than the night before, at least. You wake up a couple of times from strange little 'house' noises (which Joel has yet to give you an adequate technical explanation for), but you fall right back to sleep. The sunlight wakes you indirectly when it shines through the faded red curtain on your window. You lay there for a few minutes, enjoying the leisure, listening... you don't hear Joel or Jo, so maybe you're the first one to wake.
When you go downstairs, though, you find that neither one of them is in their rooms. You call for Joel and he doesn't answer.
...He must be outside, then...
You try the back yard first, then the front... he's not outside. Oh my God HE LEFT! -But you know he didn't -- of course he didn't. He would be hurt if he knew the thought even crossed your mind.
"JOEL, WHERE ARE YOU!" you yell to the sky.
You think you hear something... you move in that direction. "Joel! Where are you!" you try again.
"Back here!"
...in the barn. Duh! You see him in the doorway now. He gives a little half wave, then goes back to... tacking up the horses, probably. You trot over there. "Is Jo with you?" you pant.
He doesn't say anything. Just keeps fiddling with your horse's saddle.
"Wait... where's Chuckie?" you ask, suspicious now.
He sighs. "Jo left this mornin'."
"What? How could you let her leave?"
He keeps fiddling with the horse like it's no big deal, not even looking at you. "I didn't. She left a note."
"Well, what did it say? Fuck... she seemed really grateful for our help..."
He shrugs. "Just... she felt like we'd done enough. She didn't wanna keep imposin'. Guess she figured she knew what general direction to go to find her friend, so... she just left."
"Huh." You frown. "She could've at least said goodbye."
"She did, in the note."
"Can I see it?"
"Why? I just told you what it said. Hey, I'm almost--"
"I'd still like to see it. Please."
He ignores this. "I'm almost done here. You wanna eat somethin'? It's on the late side so I reckon fruit an' the rest of the banana bread would--"
"There is no note, is there," you say accusingly.
"Yes there is. It's back at the house." He looks at you this time... but that doesn't necessarily mean he's not lying (it's infuriating how he doesn't blush like you tend to do when you're lying). You have a feeling that if you went and searched the entire house, you wouldn't find a fucking note, and when you'd confront Joel about it, he'd say oh he must've packed it then and hey we have to get going now so just forget it-- ...yeah.
"So... she just got up before you and walked right past your room... no, wait -- into your room. You had the saddlebags in there with you and she would've had to get in there to get to the notepad -- but you didn't wake up."
"She used paper from downstairs," Joel says nonchalantly. "Besides, it ain't like I hear every little thing that--"
"Yes you do!" You sigh. "Joel, why are you lying about this? Did you tell her to leave or something? After what you said--"
"I didn't tell her to leave, no." He sighs. "You're too smart, kiddo. I did see her before she left, all right?"
"...and you didn't stop her. Did you even talk to her?"
"Yes, I spoke with her. She's capable... she's got a gun, a horse... extra ammo, plenty of food. She's a grown woman, Ellie... I can't make her stay if--"
"But you didn't even try, did you!"
"I did... some. Not real hard, though, no. Not the way you would have."
"But I slept through everything. What time was this? Maybe we can catch her!"
He shakes his head. "Sun wasn't even up yet. She couldn't sleep anyways, she said, and... everythin' I told you that was in the note? Is basically what she said."
What a stupid thing for him to lie about, you grumble to yourself. But it's not important enough to make you get truly angry with him. "Okay... so we can track her, just like we tracked--"
"No. That ain't what she wanted. She wanted us to get back to our own lives... our mission for this trip."
"But she might need our help!"
"An' we offered it to her. She refused."
"Maybe just to get that head start, though! Since she couldn't sleep and all. She was too... itching to get going." That would make sense to you. "We could still follow her. We could bring her and Lauren to the hospital with us, like you said."
"She... may not find her friend alive, though," Joel says softly.
"All the more reason for us to be with her," you scoff.
"Why? We can't bring people back from the dead, kiddo."
You just stare at him. How can he be so fucking clueless sometimes?! "No, of course we can't," you say patiently. "But we can be there to support her, and help her find Jackson. You know she really wants to go now. She wants to watch every Disney movie in the whole town, starting with Aladdin." ...among other reasons, but this one's your favorite -- it amuses you when old people love movies made for kids.
Joel sighs again. "Tell you what. How 'bout we swing back through that way, as it is the general direction we need to go from here, an' if we find any trace of her, we'll check it out... if not, we'll keep goin'. That make you happy?"
You think about that. I could probably get him to keep going, once we get out there... "I guess so."
"All right then. Now hurry up an' eat somethin' so we can get a move on."
You root around in the food bag for the sack of blueberries. "I can eat these on the go. I'll be ready after I pee and pack up my shit in the house."
"I'll do that for you. -Pack up, that is... you can pee for yourself."
"Ha ha," you mutter.
Joel starts to lead the horses out, but hesitates. "I'm sorry, Ellie." He looks at you when he says it. Looks sincere. "I know you didn't want her to go. I could've prob'ly convinced her she wasn't a burden an' all that... but I didn't."
You're touched by the apology; it pretty much makes up for the fibbing, in your opinion. "It's okay. Like you said, she's a grown woman... and she's tough. She'll be fine." And so will we.
We'll see Jo AND Lauren back in Jackson, soon enough...
If you'd like to start another adventure, return to page 1.
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Date: 2020-07-20 01:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-07-20 01:53 pm (UTC)