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After another fifteenaround so anything but organic It was an old trailer, and old was putting it generously It was basically a rat-infested looking, once-upon-a-ti so rusted out it made Old Bessie look shiny and new More ere covered by plastic sheeting than actual glass, and the front door--or was it the back?--looked as if a gentle breeze would blow right off its hinges

Sweet pad

Not

Other than a run-down pickup that looked like it hadn’t been started since Clinton was president, the place gave no indication any huining people living in it was hard It was so far gone, i useful in its past was hard

I tip-toed away until I realized I was tip-toeing when no one was around to hear me After that, I continued to step away, but I didn’t turn ht It wasn’t the kind of place a person turned their back on

After I’d put a safe distance between me and the trailer, I spread the blanket under the next closest tree, turnedup on hts out a few heartbeats later

THERE WAS NOTHING quite like being woken up by the toe of a shoe tapping against your shoulder It had happened to me a handful of times, and I reeda hand was apparently just too e, or a sneaker It was a boot A black one

I groaned before I looked at the boot’s owner When I did,around here?" Even in the dark, I made out Garth’s twisted smile

"You know me" I shoved his boot away and sat up Stiff, stiff, and rabbed the corners of the blanket and wrapped it around h to need a blanket, it was late

That meant Rose was probably worried sick That meant Jesse probably was, too Jesse

The reminders flooded my mind as the sleep cleared from it I had no future with Jesse In both the immediate and distant sense

The pain had been bad that afternoon, but so so close to the anti-Jesse brought on so else entirely I al to find the handle of a dagger protruding fro to distract ht freak out if a creeper like Garth Black stuht in the middle of soh real creepers to know the difference Garth was a creeper, make no mistake about it, but a harmless one

Harmless save for the nasty comments he wielded like a damn samurai sword

"I live here," he said, like it should have been obvious

My eyebrows knitted together

"What? Did you flatter yourself by thinking I’d co for you?"

I didn’t like the way he looked down at hter aroundfor me if I needed to be found, your name wouldn’t be anywhere on that list Least of all first on that list"

Garth couldn’t have looked anymore unfazed "And who’d be first on that list?" From the curl of his smile alone, I kneho he would name before he did it "Jesse? Your precious, infallible, ivory tower Jesse Walker, eh?" Garth extended his arms and did one slow turn "Well, I hate to tell ya, honey, but that white knight of yours isn’t here He wasn’t the one to coot yourself lost" His dark eyes shone "Looks like you’re stuck with lowered at anyone "I Am Not Lost"

Still the unfazed expression I wanted to sht off of his face "Rowen, you’re so daot there in the first place It’s just become who you are Rowen the Lost"

Before I knehat I was doing, I shoved him Hard So hard he fell back a step But even at that, he didn’t look anykittens

"I’m not lost!" I balled my fists at my sides "You are, you dickhead! You’re the lost one--not me!"