These Hills Called Home | ONC 2024

[7] Pieces of the Past

    "...then Jake heads up to the intercom, so wasted he's clutching at the gate to stay upright, and he asks if they know the Coxes. It's Edmund who answers, saying that he is a Cox, and Jake, he – I still can't believe it."

    "Hey! Stop dragging it out!"

    Hours of fresh rainfall had reduced the forest floor to a rotten mesh of mud and drooping overgrowth. Pattering down the layers of leafy canopy overhead, crisp droplets plummeted into the soft dirt, mirroring the drowned greens and muted browns of the woodland as they fell. A fine drizzle combed through the air, clearing the way for an earthy, decaying mist to fester between the trees.

    Gemma stepped over a particularly cloudy pool, beads of mud spattering from the grassy sludge underfoot. "So? Don't keep me in the dark, Nate."

    Unfazed by the damp gloom that pervaded the forest, Nathan's bassy laugh lit up his face as effectively as it stalled his words. Vibrant teardrops spangled the lengths of his eyelashes. "He puts his face right up to the speaker and shouts: 'Yeah, and you're an asshole too!'"

    "He didn't!" Surprise shook Gemma's hands free from her hoodie's pockets into the chill, humid air. "Right at the family hiring him?"

    "Trust me, that only made Jake want to mess with him more," Nathan said as he pulled at the cooler bag strap that hung from his shoulder. A fallen tree trunk rested across the dirt path ahead, and Nathan glanced at both its ends before shaking his head and climbing its splitting surface. Letting his bag drop on the far side, he straddled the obstacle and extended a hand towards Gemma. "It's pretty slippery. Want a hand?"

    With her hands on her hips, Gemma stared at the callouses over Nathan's palm and smirked. "My hero," she droned, cracking a laugh as her friend feigned an impatient frown. His grip was soft yet secure, guiding her up the trunk without rushing her, and he kept her hand safe in his on the way down.

    As they slid onto the ground, Gemma's foot skidded over the slick mud on the other side. She aimed her fall towards Nathan's side, opening her eyes to see the world still upright and her hand snatching at her friend's chest. Shock thumped through her heart, and she released a sheepish laugh. "Sorry. I'm probably slowing you down like crazy."

    "Don't worry. You're doing great," Nathan answered as he set a steadying hand on Gemma's shoulder. He eased her back to balance, and he cleared his throat as he nudged the side of her foot. "Though you might want to pick up an extra pair of boots before we go marching through the mud again."

    "Is that a promise I hear?" Gemma raised her eyebrow and smoothed out the creases scrunched into Nathan's shirt by her desperate grip. Turning her eyes to his face, she delivered a swift poke to his shoulder. "Because I'll hold you to that, Teddy Bear Grylls."

    The delicate starlight in Nathan's eyes disappeared behind the glare of mischievous flames. With one hand cupped around his ear, he leaned towards Gemma and squinted. "What's that, Gem? You want to carry the big delivery bag?" he said, his exaggerated voice booming between the trees. Before Gemma could answer, he seized the cooler bag and tossed it into her chest. "Well, since you so kindly offered..."

    Gemma simply splashed a wave of muddy droplets over Nathan's boots and headed further into the woods.

    Creeping pools of spilt daylight and whistling winds announced the arrival of a broad clearing. Rising from its heart, a bleak, ashen-faced manor brooded over the land hoarded within its yawning granite-walled maw. Frosted windows scattered the day's few sunrays into fleeting stardust, specks of delicate light sprinkling into the close-cut lawns at the house's foot. Below the stone engraved with the gold-licked letters of 'CROFTWICK', churned, bulging soil sang of the wild earth that endured beneath the estate's quaint surface.