"josh get away from the window." josh's mother scolded him as she passed by him to start making lunch. josh stared at her with a pouty face. "come on how about you help me out." she said, gesturing towards the food ingredients she was taking from the cabinets. josh glanced back at the window one last time before walking towards his mother.
"what's up with you lately, birdwatching?" she asked. josh shrugged. "i dunno." what was he supposed to say? it's nothing mom, just a boy that stands in the woods behind our house. no big deal! "you sure?" she asked, looking a little concerned. he nodded as she handed him the dough for their pizza.
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josh's dad burped loudly as he leaned back into the sofa watching TV. "how attractive." his mom said sarcastically as she wiped down the table. josh was at the sink, dropping all of the dirty dishes from dinner into the sink. his mom went to sit in the living room as well. josh turned on the water quickly. he winced in pain as he hit back suddenly when the water was way too hot for his liking. he made it fully cold and ran his hands in it for a few.
he looked outside the window in front of the sink, the sunset made the sky almost bright orange. it made the boys white shirt really stand out. josh get bad for him, he must be freezing.
he's seen this boy for a while now. at first he was terrified to see a figure in his backyard, but the more he stared the more he noticed he was a teen just like josh. his facial features blurry due to the distance between them. josh was never able to approach him, not until now. he left the water running so it sounded like he was still in the kitchen. he peered around the corner to make sure his parents were still in the living room before slowly sliding open the back slide door.
he was met with the cool air, hugging his arms wearing nothing but a thin sweatshirt. he saw his breathe as he spotted the boy standing in the woods still. he was his half behind a tree, shyly peeking out. josh began to slowly walk towards the woods.
"h-hello?" he called out curiously. his sneakers crunched the cold leaves with every step. when he started to get pretty close, the boy suddenly began to run. "w-wait!" josh called out.
"JOSH WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" his mother yelled from a window inside the house. josh turned to see his mothers face in the window screen. it was getting darker out. "s-sorry!" josh said as he began running back towards the house. looking back one last time to see if the boy was still there. he wasn't.
he entered his warm house as he tried to catch his breathe after running back to the house. "seriously what is up with you?" she asked, looking really confused. josh shrugged once more. "i'm gonna go to bed.." he said as he quickly sped away and towards the staircase. "j-josh!" she called for him but he was already upstairs. she sighed as she glanced out the window, seeing nothing but her backyard in the night.
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"be good okay?" his mother asked. "no going into the woods." she grinned. "got it." josh smiled. she hugged him as she left for work, leaving josh home alone. the first thing he did was run to the window. looking out it, he saw no sign of the boy. that didn't stop him. he got his shoes on and a jacket and quickly went outside, the cold hitting him the second he ran out.
he made his way towards the woods. "hello?" he called our, searching around. "helloo?!" he called out again, now entered the woods, looking at all the trees to make sure he's not hiding. he heard a sudden shuffle and looked around to find it. he slowly looked up at the tree that stood in front of him. the boy sat on a branch not too high up, looking down at josh.
