What's In the Woods?

Prologue

The smallest and most hopeful ray of sunlight crept into Ash Rowlett's room that January morning. Even if it had been the most gloomy day of the year, she would have felt this hope. Something about today was different. Today would be a good day. So, for once, when she spoke her mantra, she meant it.

Today is going to be different. I am going to get back on track. I am going to have a normal life. A normal family. We will all be okay again. I will make sure of it.

She repeated this multiple times throughout the morning—while waking up her dad, throwing away his beer bottles, calling her brother—and she did not notice anything especially different. Today was like any other day. Her dad cursed at her when she woke him up. There were 8 bottles, same as always. Her brother didn't pick up his phone.

From an outsiders point of view, Ash's day was just as terrible as always. Yet, she felt it in her bones. She knew this day could make or break everything. So, instead of staying inside all day and thinking of her mom, she made herself a hot cup of coffee and went on a walk. At first, she wasn't quite sure where she was going, but after a few minutes, her legs led her to her best friend Mike's house.

Ash Rowlett and Mike Washington had known each other their whole lives. Their mothers were best friends in high school, so of course the two of them were raised to be lifelong buddies. They were practically inseparable. In preschool, both of them threw equally terrible tantrums when they weren't put into the same class. Their teachers both called their parents, and all that they did was laugh. The Washingtons and Rowletts were going to have to deal with each other for a long, long time.

As Ash walked through the snowy woods to Mike's house, she realized that it had been months since they talked. Granted, this was all Ash's fault, but she missed him. Mike was a good friend. When Ash's mother passed, he tried to be there for her, but all she did was push him away. She was grieving, and she was doing it in the worst way possible. The human heart works in funny ways, though, and no one ever really knows how to deal with loss. Ash was trying, though. She was certainly trying.

She stomped up the steps to Mike's back porch, and she didn't bother to knock; they were practically family, anyways. Ash was immediately embraced by the warm smell of chocolate chips cookies, and an even warmer greeting from Mike's mom, Kathy. "Ash Rowlett! Oh, dear, I've missed you so much! How have you been? Do you want a cookie? They're fresh out of the oven," she rambled as she took Ash into the biggest hug she had received in months. "I'm doing alright, Ms.Kathy. I'm getting by," Ash said, grabbing a cookie, "these cookies smell amazing by the way." Ash took a single bite of the cookie, and she was transported back to every time she had baked Christmas cookies with her mother. Yet all of the baking that she did for the holidays could never add up to this. "Ms.Kathy," she said in between bites, "you are the Baking Queen."

Ms.Kathy, of course, blushed immensely and played down Ash's compliment. She really was the Baking Queen, though. That's what her bakery was called, anyways. "You know, everyone has missed you Ash. Even the twins. You're a part of the family, so you're always welcome here," Ms.Kathy assured her. Ash smiled in return and thought to herself, I really should stop by more often. I missed them too.

Their little moment was interrupted by the sound of four pairs of heavy footsteps clambering down the stairs. The boys must have smelt the cookies. Mike, his twin brothers Ryan and Ross, and Jacob Smith came down the stairs, all with the grace of newborn giraffes. "Ash!" Mike yelled as he jogged into the kitchen, "I came downstairs 'cause I heard you talking with mom. It's been forever..." Mike pulled Ash into a tight hug. Jacob entered the room and only said six words. "We really do love you, Ash." He has never been much of a talker, but he always gets his point across. I think the hug that he gave her helped get the point across, too.

"What are you kids planning to do today?" Ms.Kathy asked all of them. "We're gonna go play video games!" the twins chimed in with as much excitement as two 9 year old boys could contain. "I dunno," Mike said, "we'll probably just go driving around, yeah?" He looked to Jacob for an answer. Jacob, being absolutely oblivious, continued to eat his cookie. Ash answered for him, "Yeah, we'll probably do that. Go out into the woods and explore or something."

She was used to answering for Jacob. He was shy when he first moved into town two years ago, and she was one of his first friends. Jacob quickly warmed up to Ash and most of the other kids at school, but Mike was a different case. Jacob considered him and Mike to be close friends, but for some reason, Jacob had always acted kind of strange around Mike. He talked to Mike just as much as he talked to everyone else, but he acted different around him. Ash had always assumed that it had something to do with him being shy, but Jacob knew that it was something else completely.

After realizing that all of the cookies had been devoured, Mike decided that it was time to leave. The three of them–Mike, Ash, and Jacob–hopped into his light blue pickup truck. "So," Mike said, turning on his car, "where are we going?" Surprisingly, Jacob was the first to suggest something. "The other day, I was walking through the woods by county road 44 and I saw an old abandoned storage type building. It was kinda creepy, so I didn't go in by myself, but it seemed pretty cool. We could check it out?"

"Yeah, sure," Mike replied nonchalantly. He shifted gears and drove down the empty streets, not knowing what lay before him and his two best friends.