The Woods At Night

Chapter 24

When Spiro and I step out of the car I'm surprised at how quiet it is. The buildings are a bit more dilapidated than I remember and everything seems so quiet, there's nobody around. I find the sign that's supposed to be on the road leading into town lying on the ground a few feet away from where I parked. I pick it up and look at it.
Welcome to the middle of nowhere! Remember not to trust raccoons! We hope you never lived in this shitty town!
The new words are over the cross marks in the old ones, making it difficult to read. Spiro looks over my shoulder, then looks around the town, which now sits abandoned.
"Where is everybody?" He asks, the wind blows and some leaves blow across the ground and get caught in the divot of land where the pond used to be.
"I don't know." I tell him, "This place used to have kids running around and people sitting on porches, there used to be a town here." I continue, wondering myself what happened to everyone. Wondering if Kai would still be here, after all these years, or if whatever made this town abandoned would affect him as well. I even start to wonder if Kai was ever even real, or just some dreams I had of the woods as a kid. I walk into my old house, the door is lying on the floor inside with broken hinges. Spiro and I walk up to my room and I lightly push open the door. As I step inside, I can't help but to feel nostalgic and sad. I kneel down to pick up a game that Vivian, Nate, and I had been playing before Nate went yandere on me. I don't even realize I'm tearing up until Spiro hugs me.
"What's wrong dad?" He asks, I don't have the heart to tell him.
"Nothing." I mutter out. "Maybe trying to move back here wasn't a very good idea." I tell him, he nods at me.
"I want to go back to where Dad and Aunt Vivian are. I don't like it here." He says. Of course he would want to be there with them instead of here with me, what the hell was I thinking dragging him out here?
"We're just going to stay here one night, Alright? I'm very tired and it's dark so driving back tonight isn't a very good idea. Just think of it as a camping trip." I tell him. He pouts a bit, but otherwise doesn't protest. I get him a sandwich and chips from the car for a dinner and then I put him to bed in my old room. I know that the idea of Kai is a crazy one, but I don't care. I have to know if he is, or ever was, here.
I open the window once I hear Spiro snoring and I climb out, shutting it behind me. I walk through the woods, silently for a while, until eventually I reach the clearing. I look up and the treehouse is there, that part wasn't a dream.
"KAI!" I call out, I call out again and again and again. All I get back is silence or the sounds of leaves rustling in the wind now and again. I climb the long ladder up and sit on the porch for a few minutes looking up at the stars, I missed seeing the stars. I missed Kai more, sitting at the treehouse alone didn't feel the same. I sigh.
"I wish you were here, Kai." I say, to no one in particular.
"Your wish is my command!" I hear a cheery voice call out from the right of me, I turn to look and I see my beautiful alien floating next to the porch of the treehouse.
"KAI!" I yell his name excitedly as I run to him.
"Hiya, Phe." He says as I run up to hug him. "Hop in, it's a nice night for a fly around space." He tells me, I look down and realize he's standing in a small spaceship, there are only two seats.
"I knew you were real!" I say as I hug him again for the first time in years.