Social Experiment

Message Received (Mikayla)

"I hope they're okay. I don't know what we'd do if anything happened. Ozzie's our only doctor and West-"

"Hailey, they'll be fine," I assure her, "And can you stop pacing? Yesterday my floor was flat, now it's a crater!"

She grins slightly at my joke, but stops walking back and forth all the same. I know she's worried about West, but I think she's overreacting. He and Ozzie are only going hunting, what's so dangerous about that?

"If they're not back soon, I'm going to kick them out of Riverstone!"

I sigh, knowing this isn't true. For the past hour Hailey's been making threats to no one in particular: "I won't talk to either of them for a week!" or "They'll have to sleep outside tonight if they aren't back in the next half hour!"

"They're fine." I repeat, watching her begin to pace again.

"What if-" She starts.

"They're back!" Xavier's voice echoes through the village.

Hailey's face lights up, and she dashes out the door. I smile to myself, thinking, as I so often do, of Shawn. I make my way outside to greet them. They look dazed, as if they've been through a terrible shock.

Xavier frowns at them as more people run up. "I don't see any meat."

"Yeah," Scott agrees, "I know Ozzie's not the best hunter, but I expected more of you, West."

Ozzie's face turns a bit pink, and I notice he's holding what looks to be a book.

"What's that?"

The guys exchange glances, and I wonder what exactly they were doing on this "hunting trip".

West finally speaks. "Mikayla, we need to talk to you in private."

"Okay?" My response comes out as more of a question.

We go into Ozzie's home, the book still tucked neatly beneath his arm. West looks expectantly at Ozzie, who shuffles his feet.

"Well? Isn't someone going to tell me what's going on?"

No one responds or shows on any way that they've heard me. After what feels like an eternity, Westin switches his gaze from Ozzie to me.

"Do you still think about Shawn?"

Caught off guard, I don't answer at first. Then, a bit offended that he'd bring it up, I answer, "All the time."

"And are you willing to talk about him?"

I glare at him, then turn to Ozzie. "What is this about?"

"Just answer the question."

"No. I'd like an answer."

"This is about Shawn." West replies vaguely.

"I've figured that much out! Ozzie, would you please just say something?"

He looks up from the ground. "We found The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn." He hands me the book.

I stare at the cover. "So? Maybe someone tried to bring it down here and dropped it in the woods. Why is it such a big deal?"

They glance knowingly at each other.

"Would you stop that?" I order, a little annoyed, "Why does this matter?"

"It matters to you."

"Yes, but why not just give me the book and not have West ask rude questions and dredge up the past?"

West answers for him, "A fox gave it to us."

"A fo... What?"

"A fox gave it to us," he repeats, as if it's the most natural thing in the world, "had it in it's mouth. Came right up to T- I mean, to... the tree we were sitting in and dropped it."