Josie's Journey

Josie and the Foreshadowing Pocketknife

Josie woke up and looked around, unaware of her surroundings. It was nearly empty in the room. She sat up when she heard footsteps coming up the stairs.

"Mom?" she called tentatively. Her uncle poked his head through the doorway.

"Hey Uncle Adam," she said. Her phone beeped, but she ignored it in favor of her family.

Adam looked at Josie, concern in his eyes. "So... you passed out earlier. I was able to get you into bed," he told her. "Your mom went to get some food from the store, so I decided to help out and bring your boxes up here."

Josie smiled at him. "That's good. Thanks for getting me into bed, mom said I should rest anyways," she responded. She looked around and noticed the boxes in the corner. 'Ugh, I'll have to unpack those later,' she thought to herself. She saw a desk at the base of the window that wasn't in the room before.

"Oh right, the desk!" her uncle said when he noticed her gaze. "I brought that up as a gift for you. It was just sitting in the basement gathering dust, but I thought you would get some use out of it."

"How did you manage to bring that up from the basement?" Josie asked.

Adam sat down at the edge of her bed. "I don't know, JoJo. Somehow I was able to get it up all those stairs really easily. It's as if age has made it lighter."

"What do you mean by that? How has age made it lighter?" she asked him. Sometimes her uncle was so confusing!

Her uncle stood up and went over to rest his hand on the desk. Slowly he opened a drawer and picked up a small item from inside - Josie couldn't quite tell what it was. Adam closed the drawer and walked back over to Josie.

"This was my birthday present. I got it when I was a little bit younger than you." His fist squeezed a bit tighter around the mysterious gift. "I want to give it to you. It was comforting to have during hard times, and I felt like it always kept me safe. Hopefully, you'll never need it as a weapon... it's just a keepsake to know you're protected and loved." He handed her a small pocket knife. The handle was a rich brown wood with a keychain dangling off, a small turtle carved out of cream-white elk antler.

Josie held the closed pocket knife in her hands. A smile spread across her face as she ran the tips of her fingers over the carved figure. "Wow... It's beautiful," she breathed.

Adam smiled and gently patted her on the shoulder. "I'm glad you like it!" he replied with a smile. "Well, I have a few more boxes to get from the truck, then I'm going to clean some more stuff up in the basement." He waved and smiled, then headed down the stairs.

She sat there with a knife in her hand, still admiring it. Eventually, she slipped it into her pocket and grabbed her phone.

"Crap!" she exclaimed - she had missed calls and texts from Ethan. She quickly picked up her phone and called him. "Hey, I'm so sorry I didn't call you sooner. Everything has been so hectic, and the second we got to the cabin, I passed out! I've been in bed since then." Finally, she paused to take a breath. "But yes, the house did burn down. I don't really want to talk about it...  I'm devastated."

"Can I come to see you?" Ethan asked. "First you were in the hospital, then I was grounded... and it's not like I see you at school anymore." His voice was tinged with anger and sadness.

"I don't know, Ethan. Is that really a good idea?" Josie replied.

"Of course!" He sighed loudly. The line went quiet for a moment. "Jo, could I stay for the weekend? I really miss you. Things with my family are really... I just need out for the weekend."

After several minutes of discussion, they decided together that Ethan would be able to come over and stay for the weekend.

"Please babe, just make sure that you're safe to leave," Josie said to him. Although she didn't know the extent of it, she knew from bits and pieces of conversation that Ethan had some trouble getting along with his parents.