Featherless Bird

That night when Carolyn was in her bed getting ready to sleep, Wade came in holding a comic book. "Here you go," he said, tossing it to her. "You can give it back whenever, and if you want another one I can lend it to you." Carolyn nodded and gave him a small smile, and then Wade was gone.

The young girl sighed, and looked at the comic book. It was a classic, Batman. That was one superhero that Carolyn had heard of. She had watched the movies with Albert, who was a major geek, but more in the movie department than the comic one.

She started the first page, and smirked. She could just imagine Wade sitting in his bed like she was doing right now, avidly reading the comic. It was a funny thought, mostly because Wade seemed like a cool, tough guy. Carolyn got to the twentieth page, before the comic slipped out of her hands, and her head hit against the pillow.

It was like that, she would clean and read comic books, and when Wade would arrive she would talk about her day, and listen to his. They got into arguments, some as serious as whether or not he should kill her - which the final argument was 'well then who'd clean your house?' – to some more idiotic ones, like which superhero is the best, or what TV show would they watch. It was nice, but still sometimes Wade would just get angry for a small reason, or none at all.

He sometimes hit her, though it never resulted in the four-day-lock-down again. Sometimes she thought she knew how to act around Wade- thought she knew how his mind worked- but then one day he would just act completely different and Carolyn had no idea what to do with him. It was an odd relationship, based on hate and loneliness.

Winter was getting worse. Carolyn still had no clue where they were except that it was in the middle of the woods, and from what she could tell no one stayed close. But that winter was one of the worst Carolyn had ever seen, and she had seen some pretty awful ones at that. There was a snow storm at least once a week, and there was almost constant snowing.

The thought of running away had occurred, but over time she had just stopped thinking about it. There was no way that if she ran away she would make it far. Either Wade would catch up to her in his truck, or she would die of cold. Both endings would be terrible, and it would give her absolutely nothing. Though, she promised herself that when spring would arrive, she'd run away.

That night, Wade arrived at the exact same time as always, holding some new groceries. He seemed in an unusually good mood and Carolyn couldn't help but feel a wave of relief wash over her.

"It's cold in here." He said, the minute he stepped in.

"Yeah, I know," was the only thing she said as she stirred the soup that was heating up.

"I think I should start using the fireplace." Wade muttered and Carolyn turned around quickly to scowl at him.

"What? You mean you had a fireplace this whole time and you didn't light it up? I've been freezing.”

Wade laughed a bit while looking over at the outraged girl.

"Sorry, I didn't know you were that cold. You could've just told me."

"I could've. But chances are you wouldn't have listened." Carolyn said, but she looked back down at the pot quickly, terrified that she'd angered him.

"I would've. Well it doesn't matter now, wait a minute I'll go light it up." And with that he disappeared behind a door that Carolyn had never noticed was there. She looked down and saw that the stairs led downwards. The basement, she thought. That would be something she would have to go investigate soon, though the image of rotting corpses popped into her mind.

A few minutes later, Wade returned with a small grin on his face. "There ya go, in a couple of minutes this house won't be a freezer anymore, okay?" Carolyn shook her head happily, glad that he hadn't fallen trapped to his own fury once more.

"I'll believe it in a couple of minutes then."

He hadn't been lying. In no more than fifteen minutes the floor beneath her feet didn't feel like ice anymore and she handed over Wade's sweatshirt back.

"Now that that's done, do you want to watch a movie?"

Carolyn frowned a bit, unknowing of the fact that he had movies here.”Alright."

They brought their supper in the living room and sat on the dainty couch as Wade put in the movie. When the previews started Carolyn almost laughed. She knew this movie; she knew it a little too well actually.

"Titanic? Really?" Wade laughed before composing a serious expression.

"Why yes, it's one of the centuries greatest masterpiece. Now, shut up." The girl shook her head in amusement at his childlike behaviour -more than happy that he wasn't mad- but shut her mouth as the movie started.

By the end of the movie, Wade and Carolyn were both bickering about how Rose hadn't made enough room for Jack to get on the raft.

"There was enough space for the two of them!" Carolyn said, frustrated while she watched as the ship finally managed to sink into the depths of the ocean.

"Maybe, but Jack had to be a gentlemen and be the one who died. He loved her."

"Yeah, well she said she loved him too but still didn't move her fat ass so the poor guy could manage a spot. It wouldn't have killed her!"

"Maybe it would. You don't know. Maybe all that dress hid a fat ass."

"Ah, cut it out. You saw her naked as much as I did! I really doubt you closed your eyes in that scene."

"Maybe I did. You don't know. Were you watching me?" That shut Carolyn right up. She had no comeback for that so she only glared at Wade who looked at her triumphantly.

"Whatever. She still could've made some room," she said before walking in the kitchen to get herself a glass of milk. But when she looked in the fridge, there was nothing except three apples, an orange, the bottom of a juice pitcher and some leftovers from one night when Wade had made supper.

"You really need to get more groceries. I thought you went to buy some."

"That's not what I got. I bought movies, like Titanic." Carolyn rolled her eyes, unimpressed.

"Well then, at least we'll have something to watch when there's another snow storm. But you really need to go get some groceries though, we won't survive. I don't even see jam in here." Wade's eyes got wide as he stuck his head inside the fridge.

"You're right. I'm going to go get some right now and I'll do the big grocery shop tomorrow." He started to put his jacketon and Carolyn suddenly felt a feeling of dread come over her.

"Can I come?" She asked, without thinking. They both stayed put, both surprised at her words.

"I guess." He said, frowning as he said so as though he wasn't completely sure of his decision. "Come on; take a pair of boots and a jacket."

Carolyn quickly put the clothes, excitement bubbling inside of her. She was actually going to get out of that damned house. She followed Wade to his black truck and got in with some difficulty because she couldn't walk up the step without one of the boots falling off. Snow was still falling quietly, so when Carolyn looked at her surroundings all she could see was darkness. She heard the cry of an owl and quickly closed the door as she sat on the frigid seat…