Free Hold Me by LJ Baker Page B

gesture. I opened the clasp and started to reach around my neck to put it on.
    She grabbed my wrist and stopped me with a serious look on her face. "No, no. You have to open it."
    "Oh okay." I closed the clasp back up and pulled open the locket open with my fingernail. Inside was the photo of a young family. A handsome dark haired man, with his smiling blonde wife, and a small boy who looked just like the woman, stared up at me. It took me a moment to realize the beautiful family was Janet with her husband and son. I looked down at the photo, unable to pull my eyes away. I knew it was Janet, but nothing about the woman in the photo looked like her. The happy, carefree gleam in her eyes was something left behind, before the outbreak, never to surface in all the time I knew her.
    "I am so sorry. I knew it would make you sad. I should not have given it to you." Hadley reached out to take the necklace, but I pulled my hand back.
    "No. I love it. Thank you so much for bringing it to me." A fat, wet tear fell down my cheek and landed on my arm.
    Before I met Will, it was easy to push people away, to forget them when they were gone. It happened all the time and I expected it. After Will though, it seemed like everything changed. I changed. I never expected Janet to die and missing her hurt in ways I thought I'd gotten over a long time before.
    Having her locket meant a lot. I had some of her things that I'd taken from her backpack that day, but I hadn't been able to bring myself to look at them because I knew it would be painful. I was avoiding dealing with the loss, but I knew I needed to do it.
    I looked down at the smiling faces once more and knew I'd never have that. The outbreak had taken that from me. All thoughts of having a normal life, a family and children, left my mind the day I surfaced from the basement and realized my whole family was dead and I was on my own.
    I closed the locket and shoved it in my pocket. I might never have the things I thought I would, but I had my friends, wonderful, amazing friends, that I loved more than anything in our whole screwed up world. I wrapped my arms around Hadley and pulled her against me.
    "Thank you so much for being here."
    ***
     
    Hadley and I spent the rest of the afternoon talking and catching up. I was really starting to understand the quirky girl. She talked a little different and definitely had her strange moments, but underneath it all, she was no different from anyone else. Okay, that probably wasn't exactly true. She was kind of different. She had a better heart than so many people I'd met since the outbreak began. When she cared about someone, she threw herself all in and loved with the innocence and loyalty of a child who hadn't been disillusioned by the world. She was definitely something special.
    By night, we were all exhausted and ready for some decent sleep. Will took one of the other bedrooms so Hadley could stay in with me. She'd be gone in the morning when Derek returned, so it was good to spend the time together. She was excited to sleep in the bunk bed and insisted on the top bed.
    "I cannot believe they make beds in a stack. It is like a bed sandwich." She squealed and clapped her hands together.
    "I can't believe you've never seen bunk beds before."
    "Oh no. I have not seen anything like this. I wish I could stay here forever with you, in this very bed."
    I smiled in the dark. Hadley had that effect on people. "I wish you could stay too, but from the way you describe it, it sounds like you are doing something very important."
    "Yes, indeed. Very important. But I will not be needed forever. The doctor actually said that I will be done very soon. So I do not have to stay there after they are finished with me. May I return then and sleep in this sandwich bed?"
    "Of course." I laughed. "You're always welcome back."
    ***
     
    At the crack of dawn, Derek returned, ready to collect Hadley and leave. It would have been nice to have him stay awhile, but he had to get