The Woods | Harvey #1

Last Summer

The girl stood at the window. Sunshine came through and hit her face, bringing heat with it. The water down below looked deliciously cool and refreshing. She hated that she was stuck indoors all that day. With a brat.

There was a small crash behind her. With a sigh, she turned back to the little girl. She was about to have a fit – she'd just thrown the Candyland game off the table. That was only the beginning. "Ella, you shouldn't throw stuff," she told the little girl. Ella stuck out her tongue. The girl turned away to roll her eyes. Right as she was about to go back to their game, someone down on the beach caught her eye.

A young man was walking along the shore. She knew about him even though she'd never met him. He was named Ashton. He was 19. He lived somewhere in the woods right off the beach. Those were things she was sure were facts. Then there was the stuff she knew were rumors: he hated dogs and ate them if one wandered too close to his home; he didn't hate dogs – it was cats, but he didn't eat them, he returned them to their owners if he found out who it was. Even though she was pretty sure none of it was true, it still made her a little leery of him.

After all, what did a person need to do to get rumors spread about them and animals? He had to have done something to them at some point, right?

The young man turned and looked up at their cabin. She stepped back from the window. She knew he couldn't really see her, but she didn't want to take chances. That was when Ella chose to scream. She cringed. A tantrum. Her mother wouldn't be-

"Nicole!" her mother screamed. "Take care of Ella!"

Nicole sighed and stepped away from the window. "Here, Ella, I'm playing!" She sat down and began reassembling the pieces on the board and the screaming stopped almost right away. For a 5-year-old, Ella was a piece of work. Nicole couldn't wait for her mother to come get her so Nicole could go down to the beach and to the woods. She didn't want to stay inside taking care of brats the whole summer.

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An hour later, Nicole was walking out the door. As she hit the beach, people noticed her feet and stared, some with curiosity and some with confusion. She knew her hiking boots were odd to wear when walking on sand, but she ignored the looks – they didn't know where she was going. Her steps took her straight to the woods.

The moment she was in their cover, she relaxed. Nature always calmed her and made her feel good. She loved being in the woods and just outside in general. She stopped and breathed deeply. Decaying plant life hit her nostrils, bringing a smile to her face. That was the best smell, especially when mixed with the smell of the sea. Well, maybe the best after her mom's chocolate fudge cake...

Moving again, she went deeper. After a moment she realized she was following a path. A faint one, but a path. She followed it, finding that it ended in front of a house that looked abandoned. She smiled. This had to be it. He had to live here.

She'd been looking for Ashton. If there was one thing she loved as much as a forest, it was a mystery, and no one she'd met so far was as mysterious as Ashton. It had been her mission to see him up close since she'd gotten there a week ago and found out about him.

The cabin looked a little dilapidated from a distance, but when she got closer, she saw that it wasn't. On the porch she saw that several boards had been replaced and made to look old. She walked across the wide porch to the door and knocked. She didn't think he was there, but she felt she had to knock. When no one came, she tried the doorknob. It turned easily and the door swung open silently. Freshly oiled, she realized.

"Hello?" she said softly as she opened the door. She wanted to give him a heads-up in case he was in there and didn't hear her because he was in the bathroom or something. When no one answered, she walked in. The air was cool on her hot skin. She closed the door and looked around.