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Chapter Five

Eitan

We're running low on supplies, and I know I need to take a trip to town. I hate going into town. I hate leaving Brodie here alone.

When I wake up, I see she's still sleeping, so I go into the room and sit on the edge of the bed. I stroke her arm gently. "Good morning, gorgeous," I murmur.

"Eitan. It's so dark in here. Can you let in some fresh air?"

I glance at the window that has a curtain closed over it. I turn and stroke her hair. “It's too cold to let the fresh air in, but I'll open the curtain for some light."

I get up and go over to the window, opening the curtain. Brodie sits up and looks out of the window. All she can see is the forest, which is all I want her to see. I don't want her to get any sense of where we are.

I look over at her and smile. "You look beautiful in the sunlight."

She looks away, letting her hair fall over her face.

"Hey now, don't hide." I walk across to sit on the bed and stroke her hair out of her face. "I have to go to town. Do you want anything special? "

She looks up at me sharply, and then her features soften. "A chocolate, maybe?"

"I know your favorite milk chocolate bar is on special." I smile and stand. "I'll be back soon. Rest. We can have some fun later on, just the two of us."

She nods, but she doesn't look happy, which makes me unhappy.

Although I ponder as I leave, perhaps she is unhappy because she has to spend time away from me. Maybe she's coming around after all. That would be something, wouldn't it?

I get into my beat-up truck and drive through the forest along the old, forgotten road. If you don't know it's there, you wouldn't know to take it. I have to drive through a section of forest to reach the road to begin with, and once I reach that section, I drive for twenty minutes before I get to the main road and start my journey to town.

The entire drive, I think about how sweet Brodie tastes. How much I want to kiss her. How much I want to make love to her.

The time will come that she is starting to realize how special she is and that I am the only one who can treat her with that kind of reverence—that kind of dedication. No one could ever dedicate themselves to Brodie the way I have. Years have gone into planning this, years of looking for the right location and fixing it up. Of following Brodie to make sure that nobody hurts her.

It isn't easy being a big brother to her, but someone has to do it.

I knew from a young age that Brodie and I were meant to be together. Like the men of old who laid with their wives, I know that Brodie was brought to me through divine intervention.

Call it fate, destiny, God...call it whatever you will. She's mine, and I intend to keep her that way.

I turn the radio up and listen to the old rock 'n roll that's playing on the tape. This hunk of junk may be old, but it runs well.

It takes me an hour to reach town and I pull into the parking lot of the grocery store. It's pretty empty, being a Monday morning, and I take my time walking to the entrance.

By the time I'm there, the old owner, Mr. Burgess, is putting out all the signs for the special for the day.

I nod to him, and he nods back to me. "Hello, Eitan. "

"Mr. Burgess," I say as I walk in and grab a cart. I walk up and down the aisles, carefully selecting everything I could need for the week. I don't like to be gone too long; otherwise, people might think of coming to look for me as well.

I pause at the women's aisle and see some handmade bracelets for sale. ‘Proceeds to charity’. I look through them and find one that has the word 'mine' on it. I smile and keep a hold of it as I continue to shop. I stop at the meat counter and order meat for the week from Mrs. Burgess, who is teaching her twenty-year-old son how to cut up the meat the way it's supposed to be.

I watch as the knife carefully slips where it needs to go and makes a clean cut through the fat and meat of the cow that's on the chopping block.

"What can I get you, Eitan? The usual?"

"Yes, please," I say with a smile. "That would be great."

She starts to pack the meat up for me, and I continue to browse through the aisles, eventually coming back to collect my things.

Then it's off to the front, where I pay for my groceries, including the bracelet I'm getting for Brodie, and I wait while old man Burgess bags everything himself .

I pay, using the inheritance my grandmother left me, and I take my packages out to the truck and load them in the back. I stop to get some fresh milk for Brodie, something she can drink over the next two or three days. It'll make her bones strong.

Once I'm done, I drive out of town, only looking back to make sure no one is following me. Once I'm sure I'm completely alone, I drive directly to where I've marked the tree ever so subtly, and I turn off the road and trundle through the forest until I reach the lost road that leads to the motel.

All in all, the trip took me two and a half hours, which is plenty of time for Brodie to rest up for our exciting day ahead. Who knows where it might take us?

Maybe we can spend some quality time together.