Into the Woods

Chapter 5

The next few minutes dragged by, sand seemed to stop flowing down the glass neck, as Marco dragged Lance back inside, thanking and apologizing in tandem, and about a million times.

Moments after Marco had caught him Pidge and Hunk came crashing down the stairs. Halting with eyes wide as they took in the sight of the brothers. It would have almost been comical, if Lance could feel anything. The entire time this was all happening his two friends were trying to communicate with looks and almost imperceptible gestures.

But Lance ignored them, keeping his gaze down turned. Did they think they could stop him? How would they even go about helping him in this insane endeavor? A plan was already forming in his head, and he didn't want any logic coming in and picking it apart. It was all he had.

Finally they were out in the car and Lance could finally breathe a small sigh of shallow relief. He had simply traded one situation he didn't want to be in for another.

At first the silence that stretched between them was unnatural. They were two peas in a pod, always ready with stories and witty quips. Lance had learned everything he knew from this particular older sibling. This quiet was a stranger to them, and now it was an outsider that filled the space betwixt them.

And yet, despite how much Lance hated this, he was so much more afraid of when it would end. Of what would be said. He tried to spend this gift of a calm moment wisely. To come up with a new plan, one that would get him out of this car, and not straight into his parent's waiting arms. But everything he managed to think up was a bust. Nothing would work!

They almost made it to the house when Lance made the mistake of thinking that he was home free.

"I uh.... I know you know.... What's happening." Marco's words were halted, eyes shifting back and forth on the road as if looking for the right ones to say, like they would appear on a street sign if only he noticed it. "I don't know how you know but.... Ya know what, mama doesn't want me saying anything actually." He changed gears in an obvious attempt to lighten the mood. "You were totally trying to escape again weren'tcha! And I caught you haha."

Lance simply crossed his arms defensively over his chest and hunkered down into his seat.

"Man Abuelita called it too! She warned me to be punctual, or you might ... how did she put it again, she has such a great sense of humor...'resbalar a traves de mis dedos' as she said.... Oh but her tone was the real kicker! Just imagine this..."

Marco settled into a more natural rhythm for himself, one hand coming off the steering wheel to gesture freely in the air, where before they'd been clenched and white knuckled. Lance couldn't fathom how the man was able to do this.... Talk so lightly about things.... As if nothing were going on. "...you know how she is, she started going off about all the inevitable things of the world. Las bendiciones de la familia..."

The boy leaned forward, his interest piqued. "What else... what else did she say?"

"Oh nothing that made any sense. Anciana loca, always talking in riddles. 'Lance will always find his way to the woods, Rachel will be fine—'" Once more his grip was tightening over the wheel. "Monton de mierda." Marco spat out as he turned into their driveway. "Anyway, mama and papi wanna talk to you fir—Lance! Hey Lance!"

Before the car had even fully stopped Lance had flung the door open, slipped like water from his seat belt, and ran pell-mell straight for the line of trees.

His grandma's blessing was all the permission he needed.

"Come back! Dude come on! Mama's gonna kill me!" His voice faded with as the distance between them grew.

This run was so different than the night before. The previous evening fear had driven him. Now it was hope that coursed through his veins like fire, spurring the rush of adrenaline. Not even once he reached the cool of the shade did he slow. Lance's legs pumped, feet sinking ever so slightly into the soft sediment, hot air whipping at his face. Tears stung at his eyes, blurring the trees as he flew past them.

The constant drone of insects interrupted only as he neared, picking back up once he flew by. Cicadas quieted in a rolling wave, resuming their song almost immediately. The only sound that remained level besides the pounding of his own heart in his ears was the chirping of whippoorwills and warblers, who seemed to simply follow him out of curiosity. The emanation of wet earth and tree sap permeated the air around him so thickly that at times it was a chore to drag in his panted breaths. Every so often he passed an area that gave him a more acrid whiff of underlying decay.

First his feet tread the well worn path of afternoon hikes and midnight rendezvous (the former a loved pastime of his, the latter not yet known to him) but before too long, before he was even aware of it, the forest floor turned uneven and tricky. And still he ran.

'In order to find her, you gotta be lost...' Marco's words echoed in Lance's head.

Did it still count if he was already so very lost?