shower eventually, I couldn’t find it in my pride to do it just yet.
So I shut the door behind me and locked it quickly, enjoying the sound of the click that left me to the pale light and sketchbooks. I felt secure with them. In our few hours together we had formed a sort of bond with each other, seen the same places and traveled the same roads. I sat with one of them and flipped through its tapered corners. The illustrations I saw there made me think of Charlie Hays and the first words he had spoken to me about Da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man.
Man’s perfect balance.
Chapter 5
When I woke up later, I guessed it was morning, though it was hard to tell. I rubbed the sleep from my eyes and stretched until I heard my back pop. I instantly felt the ache in my throat and the thirst for water was nearly unbearable. I felt the back of my head and winced at the knot. My head was definitely bruised and swollen under my hair. I tried not to think about what a mess I really was and instead stared longingly at the locked door. Would the water still be there? Would Charlie? I feared the answer to both and yet my thirst begged to be quenched. The idea of food also made my stomach grumble at me angrily, a reminder that I hadn’t eaten in quite a long time. How much longer could I continue to pretend like I didn’t require basic necessities?
I ran my fingers through the tangles of my hair, watching some flakes of dried blood fall to the floor and wincing every time I combed through a tender spot. When I was somewhat satisfied that it was presentable, I walked to the door and opened it.
The food and water were gone, but in its place, Charlie sat to the right of the doorway. His legs were folded under himself, his neck tilted off to the side. Although I wasn’t surprised to see him, I startled anyway. It was strange to see him like that, smaller than himself, so still and settled.
It took me a moment to realize he was asleep. At first I thought he might have been faking it; trying to catch me off guard. But as I watched the slow rise and fall of his chest, I understood that the sort of concentration he would need to display would probably be too elaborate to fake sleeping.
I knelt down beside him but kept my hand on the door knob just in case I had to run back in the room. There wasn’t anyone else around that I could tell, but I wasn’t going to be stupid about things either and throw all caution away.
I looked him over from the edge of his brow to the end of his worn steel toe boots. He was wearing the same clothes from the day before (at least I thought it was the day before). He also hadn’t shaved yet and had the brim of a 5 o’clock shadow starting to show. His hair was unbrushed, though not nearly as messy as mine. I shook my head and ignored the urge to straighten it—attempting instead, to admire my handiwork with the slight bruise at the bridge of his nose.
I bit my lip. I couldn’t make myself be proud that I had damaged such a perfect nose.
Sighing, I looked behind me and then back to Charlie. As far as prison guards go, I truly couldn’t complain. He had been unmistakably gentle with me when the occasion called for it, not to mention respecting my requests. I only hoped that when we docked, he and the others would keep their word and let me go home. If they wanted my silence, I was more than happy to let them have it. All I wanted was to get out of there.
“Hey.”
His eyes fluttered open. I gasped, taken aback by the specks of green I saw in them.
“Hey.” My voice was still a croak.
“Did you know Twinkies don’t really last forever?”
Twinkies? What in the hell was he talking about?
“Can’t say that I did.” I spoke slowly and carefully—best not to make any sudden movements around the crazy man.
“Yep. The forever thing is urban legend. They only got a shelf life of a month or so.”
He frowned, and while he rose from the floor, I jumped back. He paused; his face blank. We stood facing each other and I could smell the musk