In my younger years, I would fly out to Massachusetts with my father and younger sister to visit my father's family. They were scattered all over the place, you see. Some live in Boston, some in Quincy, and a few were living in Salem. I've had some weird experiences there, but that's another story for another time. The family we'd normally go and visit resided in a sleepy little town called Wrentham, population 9,000. Living there was my nan, auntie Shelly, uncle Benny, and my three cousins, the twins Will and Amy, and little Jamie. Almost every time I'd visited, Amy, Will and I took cameras with us as we went into the woods at the end of their cul-de-sac and would go "ghost hunting." My nan absolutely hated us going in there. Why? We had no idea. We assumed it was because we would bring back ticks. But we were wrong. Very, very wrong...
After checking in and dropping our bags off at the hotel, we all headed for their house. Once we did, Max, their colossal German Shepherd bounded over to the car and started barking his mouth off. Jamie ran out and started jumping up and down excitedly, causing the others to all come out. After we made our greetings, nan started complaining.
"Everybody get inside, now! Ya must be freezin'!" She exclaimed in her thick Boston accent. The cousins ushered us inside, where we shed off our coats. It was autumn, meaning it was getting colder, but there was no need for winter wear just yet. Auntie Shelly started for the kitchen to make hot cocoa and apple cider, both fall delicacies.
"Sit down, sit down," She urged us as she handed us each a mug. As we sipped our drinks, the grownups started talking about boring stuff, like politics and the stock market. The last thing to talk about when you're a kid and you're visiting family. Amy nudged my elbow.
"C' mon, Jess, you wanna go back into the woods?" She whispered with a grin as she showed me a recording camera she hid in her jacket. I nodded, and we both got up, along with Will. Regina, my younger sister, stood up, too.
"Can I come?" She pleaded. We all looked to each other. She wanted to do everything with me. Normally, it was agitating, but at the moment I couldn't blame her. Who would want to talk about politics at age nine? I sighed.
"Fine." As we all hurried to put our jackets back on, nan asked, "Where are you all goin'? Not the woods, I hope?" All of us looked to each other before Amy spoke up.
"We were just gonna go take Max for a walk." At the mention of the word "walk", Max leaped from his place on the couch and obediently sat down in front of Amy, looking up patiently. A word on Amy: She's a thinker. Whenever she has to think, she ties her long, blonde hair into a ponytail as her crystal blue eyes sparkled with determination. Will put Max's leash on, but Amy sighed.
"You put it on wrong," She said as she fixed it. The thing about Will was that he didn't think at all. Whenever he wanted to do something, he just did it. He's on the football team and I heard from Amy that footballs keep getting thrown at him without him paying any attention. Classic Will.
"I wanna go too!" Jamie exclaimed as he jumped up and ran towards the coat rack and started putting his coat on inside out.
"I don't think so. C'mon, let's go do some real fun," Uncle Benny exclaimed as he got up and fixed his coat. Meaning, to teach him to shoot the little gun he got for his fifth birthday. Another thing my nan was very against at first. We all piled out the door again and descended down the stairs.
"Don't go into those woods!" Nan called out from the deck. No promises, what. So. Ever. As we entered the woods, we all chatted and talked about what we were up to while we were away, and admired the trees that were losing their leaves that were colored bright red, orange, yellow, and brown. Everything was going fine until Max started to growl.
