Escape from Binkoid Village: Ch 9 Considering

I went back into the fort, and really thought carefully, and deeply about everything.

My dog.
Where was he now?
Was he hungry?
Was he starving?
Was he alive?

My job.
Did the children have to have a sub for this long?
What about their report cards?
I was supposed to have them all shipped out by last week.

My family.
Were they worried sick?
Did they come to visit me, but I wasn’t home?
Did they call but I didn’t answer?

The city.
Did they wonder where I was?
Do they have a search crew searching for me?
Do they have suspects in custody right now because they think they killed me?
Were my taxes due?

My house.
Was it completely trashed?
Was the lawn yellow?
Were my flowers dead?
Was my house even owned by me anymore?

My friends.
Were they worried to death?
Were they wondering where I was?
Did they call but I didn’t answer?
Did they want to have lunch with me, but I didn’t respond?
Did they think I was ignoring them?

Those were the things I thought about.
For days, it haunted me, and kept me up at night.
The thoughts were flashing in my head like a neon sign, and you couldn’t turn them off.
I sweated and breathed heavily, even got headaches every time those horrific things came into my mind.
The thing that worried me the most was my dog.
I hoped someone was feeding him.
I hoped someone was scratching his ears right now.
I hoped he was sitting by the fireplace, while his new owner was drinking coffee, and reading the newspaper.
I hoped he remembered me, and thought about me, and missed me.
But he was just a dog, and I couldn’t expect him to think such things.
But I loved him too much, to not think of those things.

I couldn’t worry about those things anymore.
My first priority was myself, and keeping myself alive.
I needed to go get water, so I walked over to the swamp.
As I took a drink, I heard footsteps, and it was just Edwin.

“Hey Jolie, didn’t mean to startle you.” He said when I jumped.

“Oh that’s alright Edwin. Hey, we better get going back to the fort, its getting pretty dark outside.” I said, yawning.

“Already? Wow! This day is goin’ by so fast! There are already seventy stars in the sky!” he said, I guess trying to forget about what happened earlier.

As we headed back, I enjoyed the sounds of the crickets that I had taken advantage of before.
They sounded so lovely, and all together, made a cute little song that made me want to bop my head to.

“Creeeek. Creeeeek.” They went.

I remembered the pattern of their little musical rhythm and it danced over and over again in my head as I laid down to sleep.