Every Rose has its Thorn

2

"I'm not going back in there!" I threw my hands up.

"Well, neither am I!"

"Well one of us has to and I'll give you a hint, it's not me."

"Why don't we just go together?"

This could either be a trick or he actually wants to work together. "You walk in first."

"Sure, I'll walk in first." He paused. "You aren't gonna abandon me are you?"

"If I see a spider, you're on your own. Other than that I'm fine."

He eyed me carefully. "Let's go." He stood up and held his hand out for me.

I really don't want to. But I also really want to go to sleep.

"Come on, don't back out now."

I sighed and grabbed his hand.

"It seriously can't be all the bad, it hasn't been that long."

Is he serious? It's been three years. That's a pretty long time.

"Okay, new deal. You get all the bats and spiders out."

"And?"

"And what? That's it."

"Nothing in it for me?"

I shook my head.

Jordan turned on his light and we went back in. All the bats left so, problem solved and it surprisingly looked clean... like there weren't like any spiderwebs or leaf piles.

"Think we'll fall through the floor?" I nudged Jordan's arm.

"Hope not." He scoffed looking around.

He pushed by me towards the bedroom. Well, I wouldn't call it a separate room perse. It's one big room but we used sticks to make rooms.

"Shit." He whispered just barely loud enough for me to hear as he stepped into our room.

I swear if there's a dead animal or something I'm done. I'll walk the five miles or whatever it is home.

"You're kidding." I stepped in and stared at the beady eyes of an angry raccoon glaring at my from the mattress.

/

Jordan chased the raccoon out by making noise and poking it with a stick. He flipped the mattress over but I still didn't want to sleep on that flea-filled thing but what else was I going to do? We had one clean blanket that I was smart enough to bring and that wasn't enough to keep me warm and comfortable on the wooden floor.

I used my hoodie as a pillow and told myself several stories to convince myself that the raccoon wouldn't come back.

/

Jordan shook my arm.

"Rose." He shook my arm harder.

"Five more minutes." I groaned wrapped myself tighter in my small blanket.

"Rose. Get up. I hear something." He sounded panicked.

"Hm?"

"Holy shit. There's something out there. Get up." He shook me again.

"Okay, I'm up." I swear if a bear like scales the side of this place- well I mean, I guess I'm dead. I had a pretty fulfilling life I guess.

I sat up and rubbed my eyes. Then I heard the leaves ruffle.

I pushed myself to sit up higher... like it's going to help. Holy shit. I might actually die. I looked at Jordan who looked just as panicked as I was.