Chapter 12

           The gentle tumble of the waterfall behind us, along with the night forest’s sounds, helped to fend off unnatural silence as an awkward hush fell between the three of us. 

 “Hey, what’s that?” I asked Lucas, breaking the quiet. Tilting my chin at the dark bundle tucked under his arm, unable to see it properly as the sun vanished.

             
             “Oh!” he answered, almost as if forgetting he even had it before gently throwing it at me. Involuntarily catching it in reflex, my gaze never wavering from his, I saw Lucas’ brows shoot into his hairline in surprise.

“What is it?” Daniel asked curiously, peering down at the wad in my hands. Looking at them both in turn, touching the soft fabric that felt all too familiar to not know what it was.

            “It’s my batman t-shirt” I announced, more than a little confused. A wave a comfort washed over me as I felt the rip at the bottom of one short black sleeve, and a finger sized hole at the neck that told how old and worn it was and without a doubt, that it was mine. It took a minute or two for the surge of nostalgia to pass, by then the in-credulousness of what Lucas did, finally began to sink in.

“You went through my bag?” I said tight lipped, watching as his face fell.

“No!.....well…….well yeah. I just thought that, since you were out here at the falls that maybe you’d like to change into your own clothes.”  He rambled out in his defense. “I was just trying to do something nice for you.” Lucas added apologetically.

“And that makes it okay!” I snapped. Jumping off the rock and rushing to Lucas, ignoring the way he towered over me. “You dug through my stuff!” I said furiously, jabbing a finger in chest.

“I’m sorry. I-” he began, only to be cut of by Daniel.

“Alright, Alright!” Daniel laughingly said, stepping between Lucas and me and putting space between us. “October, why don’t you go ahead and wash up first, Lucas and I will just go back to the cabin, before he digs himself into a deeper hole than he already has.” He delegated, his lips still holding unto a small smile.

Folding my arms and starring at Lucas through narrowed slits, I sharply warned them both, not to touch my stuff, as Daniel dragged Lucas back in the direction of the cabin. Turning away as they both disappeared into the thicket of trees, I stared down at my batman shirt, unwrapping the bunched up cloth.

“You went through my underwear!!” I screamed at the empty spot between the trees where both boys vanished into, before looking back down at the matching baby blue bra and panties, sitting next to a pair of yellow shorts that were all swathed together in my shirt. Throwing the clothes next to the velvet drawstring bag and my shoes, I tore off Daniels clothes, still seething as I crawled up unto the huge rock and dove into the temperate water to cool off.

Swimming against the water flow to the pools floor, coming up for air beneath the waterfall and drifting languidly as my toes scraped the pebbles below the water, the falling cascade showering down on me. The sound of tussling bushes caught my attention, shifting my eyes away from the sky and the distant crescent moon above, barely lighting the night as the stars twinkled in one by one. It could have easily been the wind or any number of nocturnal animals rousing from sleep, but gramps always said that it never hurt to walk the line between cautious and paranoid. 

The sharp, shocking sound of twigs snapping had my head whirling toward the sound, my eyes gliding over the other side of the river, where the trees were denser and the shadows darker. Scanning the darkened woods, a flicker of movement in my peripheral vision had me staring at a black shadow that stood out against the gloom of the trees. I kept staring at it, my eyes finding it hard to leave until a few seconds later I lost sight of it as the blackness slowly slipped back into the shade. 

It must have just been the silhouette of an animal or something, I mean what else could it be  Right? I'm probably just still a little shaken up from earlier, that's all. Yeah, that's it.

I tried to convince myself. I was still turned to the other side of the falls, staring at the trees where the silhouette receded, when I heard the thump of boots on rock behind me on the bank, and my name being called in a hushed whisper.

Chapter 11

          
           “You alright?” Daniel asked. His eyes revealing nothing as he studied my face, waiting for an answer.

“Yeah, I’m…..I’m fine” I said with heavy breaths, my hair spilling down around me as I sat up to avoid his gaze. “I must have just dozed off. It’s not a big deal.” I added dismissively.

“You sure?” he asked once again, situating himself to sit bare inches away, beside me on the sarsen.

Nodding a yes without looking at him, I scooted back, pulling my feet out of the pool’s cool water.

“You open it yet?” he asked with impatient curiosity as his eyes shifted from the bag next to me and back to my face.

“No, not yet” I said in irritation “But I will when I’m ready.”

Huffing out an exasperated breath, he leaned back on his elbows to reach back for something. Sitting back up, he held out a sandwich, haphazardly wrapped in a white paper napkin.

“Lucas made sandwiches. Here…” he said shoving the sandwich in my hand “You should eat something.”

Looking down at the sandwich in reverence, not knowing how hungry I really was until I held it in my hand. I said a quick thanks before turning all my attention back to my sandwich. They say when you’re hungry, everything tastes good and this was no exception. As I chewed my first bite of the turkey and cheese on plain white bread, I swore I could hear a choir of angels, singing halleluiahs in the background. Completely forgetting Daniel as he sat next to me, I practically inhaled the rest of the sandwich.

“Do you chew at all or is it just preference to swallow it whole like a snake.” He sneered in a teasing tone.

Turning to him and screwing my face up at his words, my mouth still full of food I was taken by surprise at his unguarded response as he looked down at me. Throwing is head back and laughing in a low and husky timbre, Daniel gave me my first glimpse of his dimples as they sank into his cheek.

 “You should see your face right now.” He chuckled, flashing me a perfect toothed smile before shaking his head and staring at the falls in front of us.

Finishing off the rest of the sandwich and dusting off my hands on my shirt, I turned to Daniel. Looking at him as he sat there, haloed by the sunset coloured sky, the ghost of his dimpled smile, still lingering on his handsomely boyish face. I couldn’t help but think how beautiful he looked.

“Beautiful isn’t it?” he remarked, his question breaking through my thoughts as if he could read them.

“What?” I asked perplexed, shifting my eyes from his face and shaking off my current train of thought.

“Sunsets.” He said, looking up at the multicoloured streaked sky, as if it should have been obvious. “There amazing. The world’s natural marker, of what has been and what is to come. Not just the end of one thing but the beginning of another.” 

Silent as his poetic words took root, I joined him in watching as the day turn to night.

“We should probably head back, Lucas must be wondering where we ran off too and left him.” I said to Daniel, breaking the silence. Pulling my hair back into a loose braid and tying it at the end.

“Lucas is probably more worried about what we’re doing alone together, than us leaving him behind.” He said with a chuckle so contagious, I couldn’t help but smile.

“Still, we should go.” I replied, neither one of us making a move to leave.

Carried by the night’s warm breeze, the sound of steady footsteps interrupted our conversation. Looking over my shoulder, in the direction the sound was coming from, I watched as a small shadowed frame came into view. Turning my back to the falls and facing Lucas, I watched him as he languidly walked over to me and Daniel.

“Hey.” Lucas said to us both in greeting, barely glancing at Daniel before focusing on me.  “You guys have been gone long, thought you were eaten by a bear or something.” He said with a smile, looking up at me as he braced his palms on my boulder, trapping my legs between them.

“There aren’t any bears in Marshall Woods. Foxes, Yes. Bunnies, deer and the occasional wolf, but.. no bears.” I corrected him.

“Good to know, Octopedia.” Lucas teased.

Clearing his throat in clear annoyance at Lucas’ and I verbal exchange, we both looked over at Daniel as he jumped off the rock to the ground and stood next to Lucas.

Chapter 10

           “So? What’s in the bag?” Lucas asked me a while later, the strain between the boys fizzling out as we began heading back down the dirt road into Marshall Woods.

“Umm….. I don’t know?” I answered his question. My eyes flicking between Daniel and Lucas, waiting to see if I needed to be a deterrent to violence if they decided to snap at each other again.

 “Well, you could try looking in the bag” Daniel snarkily suggested.

Glowering at the back of his head, I reluctantly conceded to myself that he was right, if I wanted to know what was in the bag I was going to have to open it. Forgetting where I left it in the jeep when I made my speedy exit to empty my stomach, I began looking around for the bag. With no luck, I started checking under the seats.

“Are you serious? You lost it?” Daniel sneered in disgusted disbelief as he shifted in his seat.  

 Looking up from the floor at Daniel with narrowed eyes I clipped out “I. didn’t. Lose it.”

“You make us drive all the way to your house for a stupid bag and then you lose it?” Daniel continued to chastise.

“Ease up Dani, I highly doubt she lost it.” Lucas piped in defensively.

Tuning them both out as my hands continued to feel around the jeep’s dirty floor. I finally felt the soft velvet of the bag brush against my fingertips. Pulling the bag out from under Daniel’s seat I leaned over the middle between them.

“Well look at that.” I sing-songed, dangling the black bag in front of him from the back. “I didn’t lose it, it just fell under the seat. Jackass” I added, righting myself in my seat.

 

Openly snickering, Lucas parked the jeep in the same small clearing as before. Emptying out the jeep, I held unto the bag with a vice grip and stood back as both Daniel and Lucas retrieved my luggage and theirs from the jeeps tray. Setting the bags aside I helped them to throw back the branches on the jeep, making it a little less noticeable in the middle of the woods.

Hooking the bag’s drawstring around my wrist, I grabbed the handles of my luggage bags with each hand and tried to wheel them back to the cottage on the uneven forest floor. I must have taken ten frustrating steps before I felt my luggage bags being pulled out of my grasp. Spinning round I watched as Daniel and Lucas each hoisted a luggage bag over their shoulder and strode forward without a backward glance at me. 

“Thank You!” I loudly said to no one in particular as both of them sauntered off into the shadowed trees.

Stepping back, I decided to head off on my own instead of following them back to the cottage. Turning in the opposite direction, I followed the faint and hypnotic rhythm of cascading water as I made my way to the waterfall. 

Walking over to the bank, I climbed onto one of the larger boulders on the edge of the waterfalls natural pool. Pulling off my shoes and the bag from around my wrist I sat them both down next to me as I dipped my feet into the cool, crystalline water. Staring at my square cut, black polished toe nails beneath the water, I tried to think about how the polish was beginning to chip or how if you listen closely, you can hear the small forest animals scurrying around. Anything to stop myself from thinking about the fire again or my grandfather or how more and more, I was starting to feel like my life was a hidden lie.

The owner of this house died in the fire. He didn’t have any relatives or known family.

My thoughts flickered back to what happened only a few hours ago, the officer’s words lingering in my head.

No relatives or family? I was gramps family. Everyone knew I was his granddaughter. He came to every PTA meeting to meet my teachers. When we first moved to the neighborhood, gramps made it his mission to say hi to everyone on our street and invite them over for a house warming barbeque. 

I frustratingly thought. Just when I thought I had at least one answer, five more questions pop up demanding to be resolved.

Shaking out the thoughts that had involuntarily began to form, I reached back and pulled my hair loose from its tie. Letting it fall to the middle of my back, I slipped my wrist into the hair tie so I wouldn’t lose it. I should have cut it before I went on my trip, it would have been a lot more manageable but gramps use to always say that I reminded him of mom with it was like this.

Smiling at the thought, I ran my fingers through the it's length before laying back on the sun warmed rock. Closing my eyes I let the natural heat seep through my shirt to my skin. It wasn’t long before I felt the soothing warmth growing against my back, the temperature quickly rising, forcing beads of sweat to form on every inch of my skin. I tried to get up but I couldn’t.  I faintly heard my named being called in the background but all efforts to respond failed until I felt steady hands grip my shoulders and shake me. My eyes snapped open and almost immediately I felt the molten heat dissipate back to normal.

Shielding my eyes from the descending sun I looked up at Daniel slouching over me, his brows pulling together in worry.