The Spider and The Fly

Chapter 1-2: That Feeling

After a few hours alone in the living-room, i heard my wife come down the stairs. She leaned over my shoulder, kissed my cheek and asked how my morning was. "Eh, average. I woke up with a dreadful feeling this morning. But it left with time." I told her, responding to her question. "Yeah, i kept waking up from nightmares. Every one of them was unnerving and i kept waking up thinking they actually happened. It didn't help you weren't next to me." I immediately felt some guilt for leaving her in bed all alone. I apologized, but she just giggled and gave me a kiss before walking over to the kitchen for coffee. "You know, i can make you some more. You don't have to drink the cold stuff." I said over my shoulder, holding today's paper in front of me. "No, its fine. I need to go to work soon anyway." She responded. I just shrugged and went back to reading today's headlines. She sat with me, we watched television until she had to go. She got ready, we exchanged 'I love you's and kisses, and she was off to her nine to five job at the office. I worked weekends, she worked weeks. I was mostly alone with our child, he looked up to me the most as a parent. He still loved his mother, but i bonded with him more. We never left him home alone that his age. Every day we had one of us watch him. He'd usually wake up, eat breakfast while watching cartoons, then play outside until the sun went down. He loved the woods, but he knew well not to go too far. He always stayed right where we could see him from our living-room. The sofa was right in the center, in clear view of the kitchen window that shows the entire back yard. He never went out of my sight. Usually, I'm quite laid back and relaxed while he plays in the yard. But today in particular I had the unshakable feeling that the woods are dangerous today. I told him to run inside the moment he saw or heard anything unusual before letting him go. But even with that information in his mind, i still couldn't help myself from standing right in the kitchen window. I never took my eyes off of him. I was so nervous that day, though, he seemed fine. He just kept looking deep into the woods. As if he heard something call his name but wasn't quite sure. Every single time i could faintly hear him saying something like "Yes?" Or "what?" As if he's responding to someone. I didn't see anyone, just empty forest for miles.  It wasnt the most comforting thing to see, but I came down to it just being his imagination. Part of him just playing around. Maybe he has a new imaginary friend?