Lonely

Chapter 76, Sadie

“Ryder!” Sully screamed, scanning the surrounding area with his blue eyes. The town was, as usual silent. There was now a strong, cold wind blowing through the city, making an eerie howling sound as it whistled around the empty, gray buildings. The sky was still swirling in an unhealthy way. Hanger was looking around, worried. He had come back saying that Arianna had to go. Jasper still wasn’t back, and Ryder was still missing. My baby was gone, and things were getting bad. If it weren’t for the fact that Sully was right there and Hanger was holding me together, I would have been a bawling puddle of uselessness.

We were coming to the edge of the town. The ground shook again, much like the house had done the first night, when it didn’t like something. I couldn’t help but think that something that the town didn’t like was going on. Sully turned to me, obviously trying to hold back tears, because his little brother, the boy he had spent most of his life with was missing, and we didn’t know what to do.

“He would have come out by now. He hates storms. He would have come out.” He said. I knelt down and wrapped my arms around his shoulder, squeezing my eyes shut to hold back tears of my own.  Sully was a tough, strong kid, and he could handle a lot. But he was only thirteen.

“He’ll turn up. He’s around here somewhere. He can’t just disappear. Keep looking.” I said, trying to sound reassuring. Sully locked eyes with me, then straightened his shoulder and went ahead of us, calling Ryder’s name.

Hanger came up beside. I looked up at him. His black hair was whipping in the wind, and he had to shove it out of his eyes. He looked at the woods, looming on the edge of the town.

“Do you think he would go in there?” he asked, raising his voice above the wind. Even from where we were, I could see the evil looking tree’s moving around. It would make sense. Ryder was always attracted to new plants.

“Probably. We should check.”

I looked at Sully. I didn’t like the thought of taking him in there.

“He has to go. He’d follow us if we don’t take him, and then he might get hurt.” Hanger said, reading my mind. I nodded. He was probably right. Sully would just walk right next to us and we would never know it.

“Sully!The woods!” I called. His face lit up, realizing that Ryder was most likely in there. There was a loud howling, and for a moment I thought it was the wind again, but it was much louder. We needed to get going. I caught up with Sully and we ran for the constantly shifting trees. As soon as we reached them, we all slowed to a walk.

They were dark and ominous, moss hanging from there branches, fallen comrades lying on the ground with their mourners huddled around them. It gave off a bad feeling, like you shouldn’t go in because bad things will happen if you do. I looked at Hanger. He didn’t look at all afraid. I took his hand without hardly noticing it as we slowly descended into the thick forest. Tree’s groaned, threatening us. They dragged themselves around, moving slowly. I couldn’t see the sky because of their branches, but I knew it hadn’t gotten any prettier.

“Sadie, look!” sully cried, pointing ahead of us. I could see leaves swirling in a wind that seemed centered around a ring of trees like a little mini cyclone in that one area. Looking past the leaves I could see the dim form of a little boy. We rushed forward, dodging roots that thrust themselves out of the ground in an attempt to trip us. The wind grew stronger, and as we got closer I could feel the vacuum like pull that the swirling wind was giving off. I held onto sully, and Hanger wrapped his arms around my waist to keep me from flying away.

“Ryder!” I screamed, but my voice was ripped away with the wind. Putting out a last burst of strength, we broke through the vortex of air. Everything was very still inside. It was silent. Even though I could still see the air and the leaves going around and around the circle of trees, I couldn’t hear it. It was like being in the eye of a storm. I rushed forward to where Ryder was sitting on the ground, Indian style. I grabbed his shoulder and shook him. He had his eyes shut tightly and didn’t move.  Vines began to wrap around my legs and try to drag me away from him. Hanger and sully jumped on them, prying the off, but they kept growing.

“Ryder!” I screamed at the top of my lungs. His eyes snapped open, and for a moment, everything was still. The vines stopped growing, and we all stopped moving. Suddenly, he grinned and threw his arms around my neck.

“Sadie! I’m so happy you’re here! These tree’s love me! They listen to me, and they said they would help us!” he said excitedly. He noticed the vines around my legs and frowned. They slowly receded back into the ground. The wind stopped, and the forest was silent. I held him tightly, then let him go, just grateful my little boy was alright. Sully came and knelt next to me, glaring at Ryder.

“You moron! What are you even doing out here? Don’t you know how dangerous it is?” And I thought I was the punisher. Ryder lowered his eyes. A smile spread slowly across Sully’s face. “I’m glad you’re alright. Tell me about the tree’s later.” This pleased Ryder. I picked him up.

“Have you any idea how worried about you I’ve been? What are you doing out here?” I asked, putting him down.

“I could hear them, saying my name. So I came to see what it was, and then they sort of like, added me to the club, and said they were under my command or something like that. Pretty cool, huh?” I nodded slowly. Arianna would want to know about this. Sully came up beside his brother.

“That’s sick! What was it like?” he asked. Ryder went into deep detail about the tree’s. I smiled at Hanger. We broke out of the tree’s and I was brought back to reality. Sort of. The sky was darker than ever, and the wind stronger. Ryder looked confused. “When did this happen?’ I ignored him.

“Come on. We have to get home.” We rushed through the streets. That battle want far. We would be fighting soon. The usually quiet and peaceful town was shaking, winds blowing through the streets. The houses seemed to have aged. The grass was brown, the gardens dead. The houses stooped like old men leaning on their canes. We came around the corner and saw our houses, the only ones that hadn’t aged. We ran for them and practically ran through the door. We slammed the door and stood in the kitchen, panting.

Everyone was staring at us. All of the kids suddenly jumped up and lunged at Ryder, hugging him and scolding him. They wanted to know every detail. I was amazed that they could be so happy at a time like this. As they say, ignorance is bliss. They were too young to understand the extent of what was happening. I was unwilling to let them out of my site, so the guys and I stood in the kitchen.

“He was in those damn woods.” I said.

“What the hell was he doing there?” Dodger asked.  I shook my head.

“He said something about the tree’s calling his name, and making him there commander.” Hanger said.

“He’s just a kid. He was probably making it up.” Levy said. Max shook his head before I could say anything.

“No, he’s defiantly telling the truth. I can feel it.” Libby and sully were talking with each other apart from the group, their heads bent close together.

“Did you see those skies?” Boomer asked. I nodded.

“The wind is howling like crazy, too.” I said. Dodger made a face.

“I know. I can’t hear anything but that. It’s driving me nuts a t a time like this.”

I knew what he meant.