The Forbidden Woods

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Chapter Fifteen

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A little bit later, they left the nursing home and went back to their house. Home seemed to have a deeper meaning to Sarah now that she knew what everyone went through to have her part of their family.

As she stepped into the house, she noticed for the first time how dirty it had gotten over the years. Even though it was well past midnight, she began cleaning. She had a million things running through her mind and there was no way she would be able to sleep. Everybody else felt the same way too, and joined forces as a team to clean the house.

Sarah cleaned and mopped the kitchen floor, then wiped the counters tops off. When she got to the kitchen table, she found dozens of faded newspaper articles about her and Stacey’s disappearance. She carefully looked at each one as she removed them from the table. When she had gathered them all up, she placed them on the floor in the corner. Then she went back and scrubbed the kitchen table until it looked new again.

When she was done, she dumped out the filthy bucket water and replaced it with fresh hot soapy water. Then, she picked up the mop and went into the hallway to clean the floor. Half way through she had to change the water again but, when she was finished, the floor looked like a million bucks again. Lastly, cleaned the stairs.

Her father was already on the second floor vacuuming and cleaning the bathrooms. Jeremy was busy, sucking up the dust and dirt from the area rugs in the family room, living room, and dining room.

When Sarah was done with the stairs, she took the bucket and rinsed it out. Then, she sat down in the den to relax. Noticing how quiet it was, so she got up and went to check up on everybody.

She found her dad passed out face down in his bed. Sarah carefully took his shoes off and found a blanket in the hall closet to cover him up with. As she walked out of the room, with the door in hand, she took another look back at her stress-worn father. He was finally sleeping peacefully after all these years. As she stood there, she wondered what could have possessed her to leave such a good life.

Sarah searched the whole house for Jeremy but could not find him anywhere. When she had given up, she opened the back door to sit on the porch and there he was, looking at the stars.

“Beautiful night isn’t it?” She commented.

“Yeah, I can’t believe that you’re here in the flesh.”

“I know, it feels so weird,” She said, “I’m still in shock about the whole adoption thing, but I’m glad that they did what they did. I had a great life because of it. Although, it does explain a lot about why they acted the way they did sometimes.”

“Do you remember doing this when we were kids?” Jeremy gesturing toward the sky.

“Yeah, we used to lie on the porch all night long during the summer and make a wish on every star.” She smiled.

“Well, at least one of my wishes came true.” He told her.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, ever since you disappeared, I wished every night that God would bring you back to us. Deep inside, I just knew you weren’t dead.” He said holding back tears.

“It’s okay, I am here now and I am not going anywhere.” She said calmly.

As she sat there next to her brother, she felt tired for the first time. It felt like she hadn’t slept in ages. Before she knew it, she was asleep.

She woke up the next day from the smell of something good cooking. She pulled off the blue blanket that Jeremy must have covered her up with, and went in to find out who was cooking. Sarah found her brother in the kitchen cooking eggs, sausage, bacon, toast, pancakes and hash browns.

“Wow. It smells great in here. When did you become such a great cook?” She asked smiling.

“I had too,” he replied, “after you took off mom completely shut down. She quit cooking, cleaning, laundry, everything. Someone had to do it, and since dad can’t cook toast, I knew it was up to me to do it all. You have no idea how hard it was being the only boy in home economics. Nevertheless, I learned to sew, cook and do laundry. I didn’t like it at first but I got used to it. I had too, other wise no body would have eaten or had clothes to wear. And as you could see, by last night, I still have to get a hold onto the cleaning thing.”

“Wow, and I always thought that mom was the strong one.” She muttered quietly.

“So, anyway, what do you want for breakfast?” He asked.

“Okay, chef-boy,” she said grinning, “ I want two eggs, six pieces of bacon, two pancakes, two pieces of toast, four links of sausage and lots of hash browns please.”

“Some things never change. I’m, going to be disappointed if you don’t finish this.” He said as he walked to the stove and started cooking.

“Remember, technically, I haven’t eaten for ten years right? So I should be completely famished.” Sarah said with a light giggle.

As Sarah sat at the table, she couldn’t help reading the headline of the paper for that morning. It read, ‘Survivors from the Forbidden Woods found yesterday’

“It didn’t take long for the papers to get a hold of the story did it?” She said out loud.

“Not here, no. They seem to know just about everything that happens around town and that’s usually not much. But since you and Stacey have returned, the whole town is buzzing.”

“Wow. I can’t believe all this is happening.” Sarah replied.

“Well, get used to it because it’s going to be getting busier around here. I’m surprised the reporters haven’t been here yet.” He said as he set the plates of food in front of her.

“Thanks.” She said as she began to pile loads of food into her mouth.

“Do you know why you can eat so much and not gain any weight?” Jeremy asked.

“Why?” she replied sarcastically.

“Because it takes a lot of energy to run that mouth of yours.” He said laughing.

“Ha, ha.”

As she ate the plates sat in front of her, Jeremy could only sit and watch in wonder at the amount of food his sister was able to eat. In addition, as he stood there watching, their dad walked in and sat down at the table. Reaching for one of Sarah’s sausages, she almost stabbed him with her fork.

“Wait for your own food.”

“Oh, sorry honey I thought this was for everybody. Go ahead and eat, you need your strength.” He told her.

“You want the usual dad?” Jeremy Asked.

“Yea, if you don’t mind.”

In a few minutes, there was a single plate of food in front of him. Amazingly, they finished at the same time. “Hey Jeremy, can I borrow the jeep to go see Stacey?” Sarah asked.

“Dad’s going to use that for work today. But you can use the new SUV in the garage. Do you remember the way to the hospital?”

“Yeah, and if you don’t mind I will probably swing over to the nursing home to visit mom for a while too.” Sarah told them.

“No problem, just stay away from the reporters if you see any.” He strongly urged.

“Be careful.” Her dad said sternly.

“I will.” She replied yelling from the front door.