Blood Commentaries

the return

When Danny awoke, he was in the hospital, again. His nose wasn't broken, but it was definitely damaged. They gave him some painkillers and and sent him on his way. Kurtis was there with him the whole time, for the second time that day. They walked out to meet the boys in Noel's car. 

"Hey hey hey, Danny's okay!" Cody shouted, patting Danny firmly on the back. Drew avoided eye contact as the two squeezed into the back with him. Noel was in the drivers seat, cramming french fries in his mouth before pulling out into the road. 

"Let's gooo!" He shouted, stepping on the gas. 

"Where are we going?" Danny asked, flinching as his nose moved with his mouth. It really hurt. 

"Umm, idk, probably back to my house. Unless you guys wanna do something else."

"I'm down," said Kurtis. 

On the way to Noel's house, Cody and Noel were whooping and hollering, conversing and blaring the radio, utterly oblivious to the silence in the backseat, or maybe they just didn't care. Drew was staring at his lap, and Kurtis and Danny were looking out the window, occasionally glancing at each other. The tension was unbearable. 

Finally Danny said, "So what was all that about then?"

Drew didn't say anything, but Danny and Kurtis stared at him nonetheless. 

"I don't know," He sighed after a minute, "I really don't. I'm sorry okay? I'm just tired."

He definitely looked it. There were dark circles under his eyes and he looked scrawnier than usual, like he hadn't eaten in a while.

"It's okay," Danny said after a moment, "Stress does weird stuff."

Kurtis nodded. Danny decided not to mention the part where Drew had licked his blood off his hand. Like he said, stress did weird things to you. 

"Do you reckon we should go back to the woods?" Kurtis said suddenly, "Like where you got attacked?"

"Why would we do that?" Danny asked as milkshake played in the background and Cody started humping the air in the passenger seat. 

"I mean think about it," Said Kurtis, "Theres no way they would attack again if theres three of us and one of them, that is if they're even still out there. And Also, it's light out so maybe we could find, like, evidence or something."

"That's actually pretty smart dude," Danny said with a grin. Drew seemed not to be paying attention as he was staring out the window, watching the trees go by. 

When they pulled into Noel's driveway, his parents car was also there. "Shit! Oh god!" He cried. They had not bothered to clean up the house. 

"I thought they weren't supposed to come back until tomorrow!" Cody yelled.

"They weren't!!" He and Cody ran off toward the front door to go ease whatever tension there would be when his parents noticed they were there. 

"Should we just skip this part and go on out to the woods then?" Kurtis asked Danny and Drew. They both nodded and the three made their way toward the treeline. 

"What were you even doing out here in the first place?" Drew asked, running his hand along each tree as they walked. 

"Idk, I just wanted to check out the old forts I guess, you know? I was feeling nostalgic."

"Oh I totally forgot about those!" Kurtis cried, "We've got to check them out!" 

"Yeah for sure," Danny said, "They're probably around the place I ended up. I mean it was so dark I could barely see anything, just that I was pretty sure they were this direction." 

"Hey look," said Drew, pointing over beyond a pile of brush. Sure enough, in the distance there was some kind of structure. 

The boys bounded over to it, and as they pushed back the last of the concealing branches they found themselves in Kurtistown. 

Kurtistown is what Kurtis had deemed the name of their clearing, where intricate forts still stood. They were massive, and not just made from big sticks and lean tos-they made sturdy bases and built them up like legos in some areas, using multiple materials, like boulders, stones, logs, pine branches, and large strips of bark. The boys marveled at the nostalgic beauty. 

"I can't believe this," breathed Danny. He ran over to his "house" and sure enough his old hoodie had been left inside, and even an old notebook. "Guys, come check this out!" He called. 

But Kurtis and Drew were no longer looking at Kurtistown. They were fixated on something new, not even a few yards away. Danny came up behind them and understood immediately. 

He had in fact found Kurtistown that night. He just hadn't seen it. He had only been able to make out the brush and the sillhouette of the trees. But there was the tree with the heart he and Drew had drawn, and splattered all over it and on the ground beside it was lots and lots of blood. 

"Oh," Said Danny, glancing around and suddenly recognizing the brush patterns, "Oh this is where it was."

Drew looked like he was going to be sick. Kurtis knelt down, to examine the area. "There's like, some hair here," He said curiously, "Like, stuck to the blood."

"Wait, what?" Said Danny, leaning down to see for himself. Sure enough, there was orangy-red hair stuck in some places where there was blood. 

"That's so weird," Danny said. 

"Do you think maybe you pulled some of your attacker's hair out?" Asked Kurtis.

Danny thought for a moment. "Actually yeah, I might've."

"So they probably have red hair then!" exclaimed Kurtis. 

"Okay, but, who do we know who has red hair?" asked Drew. 

The boys sat down, pondering this. They didn't actually know anyone with red hair. 

"There were a lot of people at the party," Kurtis sighed, "It could have been anyone."

"Well," Said Danny, "Not anyone. They were male, I think, and really strong but built I think, probably the same way as us. Not like he looked strong, he just was, you know? He also had... really long canine teeth, but like the doctor said, that was probably part of the joke."

"Right, so a normal sized guy with red hair, kind of strong. That narrows it down," Kurtis sighed sarcastically. 

"I mean, we're closer to knowing now, right?"

"Why do you even want to know?" Drew asked suddenly. "I mean, if you think it's just some prank..." 

There was silence for a moment. 

"Well I mean, Kurtis suggested it," Said Danny, "I guess maybe it just makes sense now that we've got a bit of a lead."

"Do we?" Drew pressed. 

"Come on Drew, it's not much but it's something."

The three walked back toward Nolan's house, two filled with hope and a sense of mischief; one with a bad feeling in his gut.