Page 10 of Taken

“But no one else gets to ever read it?”

“That’s generally how journals work, yeah. Unless I die or something,” I replied, before letting out a loud sigh. “Which I guess means if you hadn’t rescued me, everyone would’ve had a chance to read my journal. And that is… horrifying.”

“Why horrifying?”

“Because most people don’t broadcast what they’re thinking or feeling 24/7? And the thought of other people having access to that?—”

“I think I get it.” Nicholas cut me off with a hum. “No one gets to know what you’re thinking or feeling until you’re dead.”

“Exactly.”

“Meanwhile, you’ll be keeping all your thoughts and feelings to yourself while you’re alive.”

“One hundred percent correct.”

“No offense, but that’s the version that sounds horrifying to me,” he went on. “Saving all that up for when the ride’s already over. What happens to the present when it’s just another thing to keep a record of instead of fully enjoying it?”

“And what happens in the future when you wish you could look back on something that happened in the past but you never kept a record of it?” I argued back. “When you want to remember your favorite day? Or your favorite person? And you don’t have a thing to remember them by?”

“Fair.” Nicholas nodded as he headed toward another part of the cabin. “I just think it’s important to experience the here and now.”

“Which is exactly what I’m doing by journaling,” I said, following right behind him, journal still at my side. “Although, in this instance, journaling about how much it sucked being at a dry cabin and then maybe dying in a fire at said dry cabin… not my greatest set of entries.”

“Wait.” Nicholas suddenly stooped in his tracks as he turned back around to face me. “Was your journal the only person you told? About coming out here to the cabin?”

“I mean, yeah?” I shrugged. “There are people who knew that I was doing something outdoors-y, maybe, but nothing like this?—”

“Do you realize how dangerous that is? Coming out here alone and not telling anyone?”

“Obviously, I do now?” I gestured around the slightly singed room. “Don’t worry. This is a lesson I’m never going to forget.”

Nicholas looked like he wanted to say something but decided to keep it to himself as he walked over to the fireplace. He then looked between the fireplace and me, a concerned expression on his face growing even more concerned by the second.

“What? What is it?” I pressed. “Is this the part where you tell me I actually died in the fire and I’ve been a ghost this whole time?”

“No. This is the part where I tell you that this fireplace is a fire hazard.”

“Isn’t that true of literally all fireplaces?”

“Parker, this is serious.” Nicholas took a step closer to me. “You really have to watch out for things like this, especially if you’re going to be camping on your own without telling anyone where you are. If it wasn’t the tree being hit by lightning, it could’ve been this fireplace. And if I hadn’t seen the smoke?—”

“You don’t need to explain how fires work to me. I got it. Trust me.”

“I’m not really sure that you do.”

“Pretty presumptuous of you, considering that you don’t know the first thing about me.”

“I know that the only reason we know each other is because you passed out from smoke inhalation,” Nicholas said, taking yet another step closer to me, closing the distance between us.

“Right, from a fire that wasn’t my fault.”

“But it could’ve been. Easily.” By now, he was looming over me, his frame changing from graceful to ominous, like he wanted to remind me of his size in a domineering way. It was almost like it was a challenge, to see if I was going to back away from him.

But instead, I held my ground. “How about you focus on figuring out whatever it is you need to figure out to write up a report? And I’ll be sure to take your fire hazard advice to heart.”

“Gladly.” It was the last thing Nicholas said before he moved away from me, seemingly ending the challenge as he walked toward the cabin’s sleeping area. I hesitated to call it a bedroom since it shared space with the main cabin and the bed was one of the most uncomfortable things my back had ever had the displeasure of experiencing.

I followed him into the sleeping area as he got on his knees beside the mattress. I got on my knees, too, imitating his movements, and soon enough, we were both looking underneath it, even though I wasn’t sure what we were looking for.

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