Cheating Time by T. R. Graves

had been hours since we'd left the barn
at the Coxes' farm. The dawn had come and gone, and the sun was
sitting high up in the sky. We'd been tracking our way through the
woods for at least eight hours. I was craving a drink of water in a
way I'd never craved anything in my life, but I refused to show the
first sign of weakness.
    The late spring day, its unseasonal heat,
and its one hundred percent humidity were stifling. The sweating
caused by the toxic combination only made me thirstier.
    Like me, Tawney had her light-brown hair
pulled up in a tail and its loose ends worked into a ball and piled
onto the top of her head. The strays were caked onto her cheeks and
forehead and dripping wet. As I watched a bead of sweat trickle
from a strand of hair, over her brow, and into her eye, I
instinctively wiped my own brow.
    My cousin had always been frailer than me.
Her weaknesses were invisible to anyone looking in from the
outside. It was the people within our circle of trust who knew and
understood how hard it was for her to keep up when we hiked long
ways or for long periods of time.
    During our years of survival training,
Jayden had always gone out of his way to keep an eye on Tawney and
pretend as though he needed rest breaks so she wouldn't have to ask
for them… so she wouldn't collapse beneath his unrealistic
expectations.
    The fact that he'd not stopped the first
time or catered to Tawney's frailty by slowing down the tiniest bit
was a reminder of just how much danger we were in. Pure adrenaline
was all that had kept us going this far and this long.
    When Tawney took a stumble, one that she had
a hard time coming up from, anger lanced through me.
    I stopped next to her, offered my hand, and
yelled in Jayden's direction.
    "She needs to rest!"
    He was so lost in his world that I'm not
sure he would have ever noticed that he'd lost his entourage if I'd
not said anything. Shaking himself from his daze, he looked behind
him, toward us, and furrowed his brow.
    Tawney saw Jayden's disappointment as he
looked down at his watch, one that was doubling as our navigation,
and sighed.
    "I-I don't need to rest, Jayden. I can keep
going," Tawney said weakly.
    Visually, Jayden performed a critical
assessment of my cousin and nodded his head. "Carlie's right. We've
gone long enough. Everyone needs a break."
    Gran didn't wait for any more permission. He
dropped down next to a log and leaned his head back, closing his
eyes and looking like he'd just sprawled out on a luxurious bed of
feathers instead of a hard ground covered with moldy bracken.
    Tawney and I quickly followed his lead. As
soon as I was off my feet, I understood how Gran could look so
contented. My feet throbbed in relief to be weightless and still. I
wasn't sure I'd ever be able to get my shoes back on if I took them
off or I'd have done just that and massaged the arches, balls, and
heels of my feet.
    With the respite we'd been granted, every
muscle in my body relaxed in gratitude. I could barely breathe much
less move or speak. At least, that was what I'd sworn until Jayden
pulled from his backpack four bottles of water. As soon as I saw
them, I contemplated leaping over Tawney and Gran and snatching all
of them from his hands. I was sure I could drink every last drop in
all of them and still be thirsty.
    Jayden saw how thirsty we were and tossed
one to each of us. I caught mine and had it downed within a minute.
As I'd suspected, I greedily wanted more, but I was sated enough
and lucid enough to know I'd had all I needed.
    As if Jayden were superhuman, he stayed
upright and protectively walked circles around us. He, making me
hate him more than ever, looked like he could hike another eight
hours and never break a sweat.
    If he hadn't been glancing nervously in the
direction from which we'd come, I'd have thought he was calm and
casual as ever. It was then I admitted to myself that nothing was
as it seemed with Jayden.
    When Jayden mentioned Isaiah earlier, I'd
known exactly