" More like, he found me," Graham sighed and looked up, "Long story short. I was young and stupid. After I left the orphanage, I went into business with some shady people. A deal went bad, and they left me to die in the desert. I stumbled aimlessly through the scorching heat for days," Graham lowers his head, and rubs his forehead with his forefinger and thumb, " I was desperately looking for shade. I was delirious and on the brink of passing out. I must've spoken the word ' shade' out loud. Shay landed on my chest. One minute I was in the middle of the desert drying out like a raisin and the next, I was lying in an underground cave. Honestly, when I woke up, I thought I was dead, and by some miracle made it into heaven. But Shay was sleeping on my chest and somehow I knew I was still alive, " Graham chuckles at the memory and shakes his head.
" We have been inseparable ever since. I guess he was lonely. I was lonely, ' Graham shrugs, to say ' It is how it is,'.
" You two make quite a pair," I decide to add after a few moments of silence, and Graham gives me one of his toothy grins.
" And Mason?" I was in interrogation mode. Plus we had nothing else to do. I was feeling slightly better. It was about time to get myself up to speed with the latest.
" Ahhh, " He laughs, " Mason and I crossed paths several times over the years. Don't get me wrong we didn't bond over beer, although Mason is not a beer man. We did a few jobs together, " That was as vague as it gets.
"Jobs?" I push on since my curiosity just blew a hole through the roof of the cave.
Graham narrows his eyes at me, and his smile falls. He just realised that I didn't know everything about Mason. Although, I was beginning to realise that no one truly knew Mason.
" There are things that is best that you don't know about. We did things. None of us are proud of what we did. We survived and that is what matters," Agreed, but that still didn't answer my question. I never pushed one's boundaries, because cornering someone into spilling their most intimate struggles wasn't something I was comfortable with.
" So, what do you think we should do?" I decided to move past it since Graham had tensed and stared absently at the fire.
" We give you a few more days to recover and if by then there is no movement we take our chances down the mountain. We won't survive the winter without food or water. Water isn't a major issue. We can always melt snow, but food isn't something we can fabricate out of thin air. And I don't want to end up eating you," He laughs at his last remark but there was some truth to it.
" You won't survive long if you decide to eat me. I'm skin and bones," I quipped and Graham laughed again.
" You're right. We better get off this mountain, and soon," With that, he pushes himself off the bed and goes out of the cave.
I turn my attention back on Shay who seemed to be soundly asleep. I had never seen a creature quite like him, and I was pretty sure that I couldn't find any information, even if I searched far and wide throughout the world.
Eventually, I shuffled on my feet and crawled into bed. I had managed to stay awake for half of a day without getting dizzy or weak in the knees. Graham kept bringing me lofan root tea, and soup. I was beginning to share his sentiments on soup, though. Never, it would be far too soon to eat soup again.
It was all we had, and we had to make do.
Settling on my side facing the fire and Shay, I watched them both, as they peacefully slumbered in the corner of the cave, and I felt envious of how impervious they both were to the troubles of the world outside.
I wished I could be the same. But I wasn't. I wasn't invincible. I wasn't impervious. I wasn't unbreakable.
A deep breath in to quiet my intrusive thoughts, and I finally closed my eyes.
Once again I had reached my limit for the day.
I just hoped when we finally decided to leave the mountain that we would be able to make it to the foot of the mountain without endangering both of our lives intact.
When I woke up, the moon was already high up in the sky shining its light through the little hole in the wall.
Graham was asleep on the floor next to Shay.
I felt guilty for taking his bed, but Graham had insisted that I needed it more than he did. And that Shay liked to sleep next to him.
After everything he'd told me about Shay, I found it strange how they came to be. I wasn't a big believer in coincidences. But since Shay was, after all an animal I couldn't exactly ask him, if there was more to it.
Pushing myself on the bed I settled on watching the duo snor their heads off in unison.
It was good entertainment. Once again, the options were limited.
I was grateful that I wasn't alone anymore and I had someone to share it with.