-Jacob, can I sleep with you?
My eyes opened at the sound of her voice. My head turned in her direction to see her quickly and then, I went back to sleep.
-Jacob! -she held my left leg with both hands and started shaking it-Wake up and listen to me!
I groaned as she disturbed my sleep. I shook my leg with more intensity so I could make her leave, but after a few seconds my exhaustion allowed her to overcome me.
The kid kept messing with my sleep for a few minutes, and even though I felt like I could endure it, I ended up giving up and opening my eyes to talk to her.
-What?-My irritated voice said.
-Can I sleep with you?
-No… You have your own sleeping bag…-I yawned.
The kid pouted the moment I yawned in front of her. I ignored her and turned around to sleep without her looking at my face, but the kid just walked around the shopping cart and went back to talking to me.
-Why not?!
-Just because! -I sat up on the shopping cart with my eyes almost closed, irritated by the fact that I wasn't sleeping- Plus, aren't you old enough to sleep alone?
-I'm 12!
-See? Almost a teenager! When I was your age I was already making knives.
-But you're a teenager too! -she made a small jump and slapped me in the face.
-What does that even have to do with anything?!
I took a deep breath, trying not to hit her hard enough to get her unconscious. I looked at the emptiness of darkness above me and tried to calm myself down. Even if she was annoying me, I was the one who decided to take her with me.
-You know sleep is sacred, right? -I told her as I tried to go back to sleep.
The kid looked at me in a weird way and then kept making her annoying questions. I ignored her at first, but she got progressively more annoying. At the end, I began to argue with her, trying to get her off of me so I could get a proper sleep.
We argued for a long time, but we stopped when my own exhaustion made me unable to keep talking. The kid kept talking and hitting me, but I was so exhausted that I just went back to my dreams. She kept going on for a few minutes but, after seeing that her words weren't getting to me, she decided to give up and go to sleep with her sleeping bag.
The next morning, as soon as I felt the first sun rays hitting my face, I woke up. I have the weird habit of waking up with my eyes closed, so the moment I felt a strange weight on top of me, I started screaming.
-Kid! Help me! -my voice tried to reach out for her as my body squirmed, trying to get the strange weight off of me.
-Wh-What!...
The weight on top of me became even harder to bear, causing me to open my eyes because of the effort. A shadow rose from my chest, making me wake up entirely as I started to fear the weird figure.
-Jacob! What's going on!
The weird figure turned around, showing me her half-asleep face as she talked to me. As soon as I saw her face, I let myself fall back in the shopping cart, sighing in relief as I closed my eyes back again.
-Jacob! Are you alright?! -the kid asked in confusion as she looked at me. She watched how my hand moved slowly towards her face and then got hit by my index finger-Ouch! What was that for?!
-That's my way to tell you "Get off of me" -I answered while patting her back roughly, rushing her to get off.
The kid got out of her sleeping bag in an attempt to escape my "attack". She tried to get off the shopping cart, but her foot got stuck between my legs, causing her to trip and fall to the ground. As soon as I saw the scene, I couldn't help but burst into laughter.
She quickly got up and after checking if there were no injuries, she turned around to face me and then slapped me.
-Fuck…-I said while rubbing the spot where she hit me- This is getting old, you know?
-Hmph! -she pouted as she turned around- It wouldn't get old if I didn't have to do it so often!
-No one's forcing you to do that!
-Don't lie! You're forcing me to!
-No, I'm fucking not!
While we argued, my body started to get off the shopping cart. I put on the hood of my cape as soon as my feet touched the ground, and kept yelling at the kid.
As we exchanged insults and shouts, I started to inspect my clothes under my cape. The kid saw what I was doing and thought I was ignoring her, so she started to yell even louder.
-Can't you be more mature?! Listen to me!
-I fucking am!
One of the buttons of my shirt was open and I was trying to close it. However, because of the kid's yelling, I couldn't do it. I took a couple steps in her direction, and once she was in my reach I started to deliver many forehead flicks with my finger.
-Ouch! Stop that!-the kid yelled while trying to block my attacks.
-Weren't you scolding me before like if you were a fucking adult?-I said with an irritated tone as I kept attacking her forehead.
Our argument kept going for a couple minutes more until she saw a bug going in her sleeping bag's direction. She screamed in disgust at the sight of it, so she ran away from my attacks and rushed to pick up her sleeping bag.
I laughed innerly at the scene, and instead of resuming the argument after she turned around to see me, I patted her head and checked all the stuff in the shopping cart. I sighed with a smile as I checked the stuff inside the bags, thinking that it was nice to have some company after being alone for so long.
I got so used to being on my own that the thought of having a travel partner wasn't appealing. But even if I wanted to do this journey alone, I'd still need to talk to someone to avoid going crazy. Perhaps all that time I spent talking to myself could be recovered by talking with the kid. Or arguing with her…
-Come on kid, let's go-I said as I started pushing the shopping cart.
-Go where?
At the sound of her question, I flicked her forehead, smirking as my hands returned to the cart.
-We're gonna go clear your head… -I muttered as I took a sip from the water bottle.
-What?
-Just what you heard,-I told her while putting the bottle back where it was-we're gonna go clear your head.
Even if she didn't say a thing about it, I was almost completely sure that she was still thinking about yesterday. Watching people getting killed can be devastating, but killing them is even worse. If these things can make an adult cry, imagine what they can do to a kid.
-Why should we clear my head…? -the kid asked while tugging on my cape.
-Well, you know…-I said while imitating a stab in my stomach.
-Oh… I… I'd rather not think about that…
Her eyes began to water up when she finished talking. Perhaps my approach wasn't the best, but to be honest, I didn't even know how to bring out the topic in the first place.
I stopped the shopping car abruptly, turning around and patting her head before she could take another step. She looked at me from under my hand and pulled my cape towards her face, wiping off her tears.
-Are you done yet?-I asked after a few seconds.
-Yeah…-She said as she looked at me with her now swollen eyes.
My hands pulled my cape out of her hands and right as I started to push the shopping cart again, the kid tugged on my cape again.
-Jacob… I'm hungry…
The kid pulled a bit of her t-shirt up, showing her belly and rubbing it afterwards. I gave her a mean face as I heard her, but after seeing her swollen eyes again, my eyes went back to normal.
-How hungry?
-Very much!-the sound of her voice got mixed up with the sound of her stomach's growling.
I sighed as I heard her, pinching her cheek while smiling. Maybe this could be the perfect time to start her lessons on survival.
I let go of the kid's cheek and ordered her to collect the longest sticks that she could find around, and right after she left, I started to rummage in my bags. At the bottom of one of them I found a kitchen knife, which I took and dropped it on the floor. Then, I put my hands under my cape and took out one of the hunting knives.
As I heard the kid's step approaching, I turned around and saw her holding a lot of sticks. I leaned down to pick up the knife I dropped earlier and then quickly stood up, facing her with both knives in my hands.
With my knife in my right hand and the other one in my left hand, I blew on the kid's forehead to remove some hair she had in there and then I presented the knives to her. Then, after the knives got her attention, I started talking.
-Alright kid, lesson one: What's the best knife?