16. joanne had her arms crossed

Joanne had her arms crossed. At least from what I could tell. I still couldn’t bare to look at her eye to eye. Had to fight myself from looking down, which meant at her body. So my focus was somewhere other than directly at her. And being the retard that I was, that meant I stared straight up. Into the sky. And that’s where I kept my gaze during this conversation.

“So what’s going?”

My question came out with more insecurity than curiosity.

She took her time. Probably rolled her eyes. Debated if I deserved an answer.

“We were attacked.”

“I can see that.”

If Tay were here he’d slap the back of the my head for that. Thank goodness she ignored me.

“At the little convenience store in town. There were so many. They came in and flooded the little town in a matter of minutes. They got to the people in front of the store instantly.”

Her eyes lost the anger. She looked away. Back toward town.

“The people were mauled. Eaten. Still screaming.”

The words were so foreign. Animals eating people. Sure we’ve had animals attack people. But in mass and to eat. That was rare. And the scene. The scene must have been horrible. Joanne and Thomas witnessed this. Even my brother. I had to ask.

“Tay?”

Her hand was trying to cover quivering lips.

“I don’t know.”

“Was he with you?”

“Yes. I mean no.”

She was rubbing her head trying to make sense of things. I just stood there watching. Listening. I knew better not to disturb people trying to make sense of things. Something didn’t seem right. And that’s not including the animals.

“He was there and then he wasn’t, then we saw him. We kept losing him in the aisles of the grocery store. One second he was picking out cereal. Next he’s over getting water. And we’re between the two places. Then that’s when the grizzly bears appeared. Like out of the blue.”

Grizzly bears?

“The entranced was blocked so everyone toward the back of the store decided to break the window and run out. That’s when Thomas cut himself on the broken glass. And Tay, he got to the car with us. But once we got in, he was gone.”

She looked over at me.

“I’m sorry. They started coming toward our car. We didn’t see him anywhere so we had to drive. I’m so sorry.”

I finally met her eyes with mine. Her eyes pleaded for forgiveness while mine must have looked like one confused child. I couldn’t grasp anything at that moment. Everything one thing she told me gave me two more things to ask. But I didn’t. I couldn’t. She was going to break down.

“It’s okay Joanne.”

Wasn’t sure what to say.

“You did the right thing.”

Figure it was something better than being mad. That wouldn’t help out the situation. She went through plenty and I would just introduce another problem for her. And for some reason,call it a feeling, but I knew Tay was fine. It was a good move of her to get out of there as soon as she could. Spending any more time there meant being trapped. And who knows how long Thomas could have held out seeing how he was. When I turned to check on Thomas, Joanne wrapped her arms around me. It caught me off guard. I jolted at first. Couldn’t believe she was actually hugging me. Wasn’t sure exactly what to do, but soon I decided it was probably good for me at this point to reciprocate. I felt a little whimper. Her arms held tight. Her soft skin was against me. It felt good. I had to fight off those thoughts. This was what normal people do in these situations.

Felt like the forest shielded us. Whatever was out there was out there. Not in here. It was peaceful in here. Copper red tree trunks on a backdrop of greenish gold. The perfect haven for us. For this. Time slowed. Not sure how long we held each other.

Wish it were forever.