The Six

Part 4

Logan

“Logan!” A voice called from below me. “Um, Logan we need you!”

I rolled my eyes and sighed as I moved from my crate over to right above the trap door. “Can’t Ms. Type handle it?”

“No!” They called. “She’s gone! I’m in charge; she said not to bug you unless there was an emergency!”

I made a face and opened the door and climbed down the ladder to see John standing there with a frantic look on his face. His dark skin was scratched and his brown eyes were wild.

“We can’t find Mindy.”

“S’cuse me?” I asked, giving him a look.

“We can’t find Mindy anywhere! She went into the woods and disappeared.”

I looked at him blankly, blinked once, and ran downstairs not even pausing to take my socks off. I burst out the door into the front yard to see a group of kids standing there, looking nervously at me.

“Why isn’t Type here?” I asked franticly.

“Groceries!” Jean told me, panicked look on her face, “Mindy went that way,” she explained, pointing behind the house. Great, a couple miles of woods, just what we needed.

I took off running around back, dodging around the trees as my feet hit the branch covered forest floor.

“Mindy!” I called, slowing to a trot as I weaved in and out of the towering dark trees. The sun was setting and the shadows were long. Great, Mindy would be scared out of her mind! A strong cold wind blew sending a bunch of dead brown leaves spinning in the air.

I spun around, looking everywhere, not seeing an animal or a child, only the towering trees that were absolutely everywhere. “Mindy!” I yelled again jogging deeper into the woods. The sun was setting and the shadows seemed to slowly stretch to incredible lengths. Mindy would be terrified.

After years of living there, I help run the orphanage. I’ve learned many things, one of which being scared children is bad. Always remain calm around those under seven or they will panic and cry and the domino effect goes off and then it’s chaos for a good hour.

“Your name is Mindy, isn’t it?” I heard a voice ask softly a ways away.

“Hey!” I called, sprinting towards it as fast as I could, twigs and rocks stabbing my feet as leaves flew up all around me.

“She’s alright,” someone told me comfortingly, holding Mindy’s hand.

“Logan!” She cried, running up and hugging me. I knelt down and hugged her back.

“We were so worried, Mindy! You could’ve gotten hurt, are you alright?”

“Uh huh,” she answered, burying her face in my shoulder. I looked up at the girl who was already walking away. She had long, curly brown hair and was fairly tall. Her faded blue skinny jeans were covered with mud and had little holes all over the bottom. She wore a black sweater too.

“Hold on!” I said, standing up as she turned around. She pushed a brown curl behind her ear as she studied my face with big, blue eyes lined with long dark eyelashes. Studying her face through narrowing eyes, she seemed vaguely familiar. “Do I know you?”

“Nope,” She told me, cautiously stepping back.

“Hang on,” I told her. “You just found a little kid in the middle of the woods at night, you can’t just run off.”

She made a face like she really wanted to say something.

“What’s your name?” I asked, holding Mindy’s hand.

“Rose,” she told me, forcing a smile.

“Rose...”

“Ty…ler.”

“Oh lord,” I heard someone say behind me. I whipped my head around to see no one.

“Did you hear that?” I asked, looking at Rose.

“Hear what?” she asked.

I looked around, narrowing my eyes, then back at her.

“You really should bring her back, she’s kinda shaken up,” Rose told me.

“Do you even live around here?” I asked. I may not go out much but I’m positive I had never seen her.

“Kind of,” she answered, rocking on her heels.

“You’re not wearing shoes.”

“Neither are you,” she told me, smirking. I rolled my eyes and looked around. The sky was almost black.

“There’s only one road for miles, do you want to come back with us so you can get home?”

“Nope.”

“How did you even find Mindy, it’s not like people are in these woods all the time.”

“Uh, I was just passing through and she sm-seemed scared, I really better be off,” she told me, turning around.

“Wait!” Mindy cried, running towards her. “Will you tell James and Nicole I said g’bye?”

“Of course,” Rose told her. Mindy hugged her goodbye and ran back to me as Rose walked away.

Mindy grasped my hand as we began walking.

“Are you alright?” I asked her as we began walking back.

“Yep!” she chirped, carelessly waving her arm back and forth. She seemed quite content unlike the past few times she ran off.

“So how did you find Rose?” I asked, looking over to her suspiciously. She jumped over a log and began skipping a bit.

“I was walking along, and I forgot how to get back so I got a little scared but then her and her friends came out and wanted to know if I was ok and I said I was lost so they said they’d stay and then Nicole and James had to do something with shadows and then Rose began walking with me and then we found you and now I’m here,” she explained cheerfully, beaming up at me.

“Nicole and James, how old were they?”

“They were old like you,” Mindy explained, squeezing my hand as she balanced her way over a rock and shivered as a cold wind blew. I quickly took off my jacket and wrapped it around her, then continued walking again. “But not old like Ms. Type.” 

I smiled and laughed to myself.

“Are you sure you’re alright?” I asked her again.

“Uh-huh! I’m six and a half, so I’m really tough.”

I smiled at her. “Just don’t run off anymore, it makes me nervous.”

“Why?” she asked curiously.

Because you cannot reason safety with a six and a half year old, I said “I’m worried you won’t come back and then I’ll get lonely.”

“Ok,” she said, accepting my answer. The yard was beginning to come into view.

“Why did you go in the woods?” I asked.

“I heard a dog,” she explained.

“A dog?”

“Uh huh, and I thought I saw a really big grey one but I didn’t.”

I saw all the kids let out a sigh of relief as they saw Mindy safe.