"Thank you for coming Trent. I couldn't have pulled all this off if it wasn't for you. Deshavi could never ask for anybody better in life than someone like you! No woman could!" I finished with emphasis.
He looked down and I could tell that he was gripped by some powerful emotion.
"Trent what is it?"
He looked up, his eyes were sheer misery, as tears spilled down his face, "I can't but help think that I'm the cause for all this! If only I hadn't left! I……"
I reached across and gripped him by the shoulders and shook him hard, "Don't you dare blame yourself for this! None of this is your fault! If there's any blame to be had on anyone it would fall on Deshavi, not you! You had no part in her past misdeeds of thievery that opened the door to this happening to her!"
He nodded, but I could tell that he wasn't convinced and that he might always carry some guilt over this. I prayed that it would not be so.
We wrapped Deshavi up and I made a stretcher out of the old carry bag and within an hour's time we were moving off through the forest with Deshavi stretched out between us. That night we gave her another IV bag solution. She hadn't woken up even once. We hadn't given her any sedatives either.
We started out again before it was light outside. Glancing back once, as the sun rose into the sky, I saw her eyes open. She saw me looking at her and she pointedly looked elsewhere and I sighed remorsefully inside. I had been expecting this depressed despondency, but it made it no easier in bearing it. She was like a wounded animal still on the mend and her attitude would be aggressive. This phase would be hardest on Trent, for it would appear that she felt no love for anyone, most of all him.