A Boy Named Alice

Chapter Two

Danny latched onto my arm and dragged me towards a shaded area just beyond the bike rack. The other students gave way to his excited flailing, scattering like ants kicked out of their hills.

"Dude, what happened?" he asked. "People were saying you'd been like kidnapped, or something."

His hair flopped into his eyes and his backpack barely hung on his shoulders. Each jittery hop slid it further down his back. An annoyed huffed broke free and he dropped it to the ground. It tumbled over his shoes and into the grass.

I lowered my head, stomach twisting and my face glowing like Rudolf's nose. "I fell asleep."

"What?" Danny stilled, face scrunched. "How'd you manage to do that?"

"I just did. The woods are really quiet."

Danny's eyes widened, and his jaw dropped. "You said you quit going back there."

"You always freaked out when I mentioned it."

"People have died in those woods." He cast a fearful look towards the back of the school.

Storm clouds closed in, shadows curling around the base of the trees. Trees thrashed in the gust as if the ground itself was quaking, my favorite old tree flailing down to its roots.

I wanted to run back there and hide in the thick foliage. Let the coming rain provide a cover for my escape. Maybe I could even live there.

I rolled my eyes and turned away. "There's nothing back there."

"Remember when they found that homeless lady?" Danny asked. He leaned forward, fingers worrying the bottom of his shirt. "There were pieces missing."

"The animals got to her first." The warning bell rang and I started towards the school.

"But Heather and Lucy saw two ghosts out there," Danny said running to catch up with me. "She said they looked like kids and tried to get them to go into the woods and play."

"They were probably just messing with you," I said.

"No way," Danny said as we headed towards the library. Mr. Landi liked to hold class there on Thursdays. He said it encouraged reading, but we just used it as a day off.

"There's no such thing as ghost."

"Lucy was real freaked out. She said their eyes were black." Danny shivered and glanced over his shoulder like the forest had followed us inside.

"Then she imagined the whole stupid thing."

"Just because you don't believe it doesn't mean you get to be mean about it." Danny marched ahead.

"Danny... never mind." He was already slipping inside the library, and I didn't want to run to catch up.

Well, forget it. Danny could keep his childish ghost stories.

I stomped down the hall, jerked open the door, and continued past the library's front desk towards the rear tables. The computer terminals lined up on my right. Faded blue carpet covered the floor, and the white of the walls brightened the florescent lights flickering from the ceiling. The window overlooked the playground, and beyond it, my woods.

The class took up four tables facing the windows. I found a seat by the books on local history. Danny was seated near the computers. He was still ignoring me.

Let him be mad. It's not my fault he fell for a fairy tale.

A crack of thunder and everyone jumped. Gray, rolling clouds released heavy sheets of rain. Lightning danced with the wind, and thunder provided the beat. I just stared, shading in the streaks of lighting behind branches. Another flash of lightning reflected off the trees and I sucked in a breath.

The woods.

The one place no one in the school liked to go. The plan formed swiftly, spaces once blank now holding pictures. I could go through the woods. There was a bus station on the east side of town. If I used mom's credit card, I could buy a ticket online and sneak out before school started tomorrow. It was the last day of school, summer everyone's top priority. My grandparents only lived a few miles away. I could make it to their house, and they would let me stay. I wouldn't have to leave.

Mr. Landi gave my table a nod and I got up, heading into the stacks. I couldn't use the computers. Others had gotten there first, and Danny kept his back to me, nose nearly touching the screen. Fine. I would just plan my route at home.

One book caught my eye though. An empty-eyed ghost, mouth open and arms stretched out, filled the cover. I picked it up and read the back.

The old graveyard on the north side of town and the decaying shoe factory from the 1800's, now a shell of broken brick walls and climbing vines. At the bottom, a small mention of the woods behind my school.

Interest peeked, I claimed the book, and settled back at the table.

I scanned the table of contents, and flipped to the third chapter. A grainy black and white photo took up half the page, under it:

Old Spring Woods, 1886.

Four people, two men, and two women, stood side-by-side, faces blank, their clothes old before I had been born. Behind them a church, front porch wrapping around the building, a tall twisted tree to the right.

The forest spread out behind the church, branches twined together, moss laid over top like garland.

The poor quality made it hard to pick out details, but I could just make out the image of two girls sitting in the shadow of the trees.

"The Old Spring Woods Church was finally finished in the summer of 1886. Pastor Allen Caster and his wife Lillian, pictured with their two daughters, helped build the church. "

I flipped further through the book, reading the local lore, letting the passing storm block out the rest of the class.

The ringing of the bell signaled the end of the period and the beginning of recess. I left the books on the table; the librarian could put them away, and headed towards math class.

I found a quiet spot in the back and sat down, bag slumping on the desk.

Danny sat down in front of me and turned holding out a bag of chips. "Hey."

"Hey." I took the bag—salt and vinegar, my favorites.

"Did you read anything interesting in that book?" he asked. His knees bounced and he fiddled with his own snack, a bag of cookies.

I shrugged and put the chips on my bag. "Not much."

"I saw you looking at the woods," Danny said, frowning, his own snack untouched. "You're not going to do something stupid, are you?"

"No," I said, and prayed the lie sounded real. "I was just bored."

Danny nodded, though the concern didn't leave his eyes. "You're lucky. You won't have to deal with Heather and her squad anymore either."

"I know." I shrugged, fiddling with a dangling thread.

"You'll write me, won't you?" Danny asked, words as fragile and thin as the thread I'd plucked free. "Every day?"

"Of course," I looked up and smiled. My heart squeezed. My promise nothing more than a pretty lie.