by Mindy Hayes
I swallowed. “Is anyone there?”
As if in response the wind whirled around me, blowing my hair, but no other sound was made.
“Show yourself.” It was the next thing that came to my mind. If something was hiding in our trees, I probably didn’t want to wait around long enough to find out what it was, but the pull kept my feet planted in place.
A faint trill of laughter echoed from the forest. It was mocking me. I turned on my heel and bolted for the back door to the safety of my home. I got the unsettling feeling that I was being chased, but when I reached the sliding glass door and slammed it behind me, nothing was there. I flipped the lock, sighing in relief and tried to catch my breath.
“Are you okay, Calliope?”
I gasped.
My dad sat in his recliner in the corner of our living room, watching me with a book in his hands.
I straightened up and fussed with the hem of my shirt, pulling it down around my waist. “Yeah.” My voice was meant to come off as sure, but I think it fell flat.
“Come here,” he urged.
I sat down on the couch across from him; taking comfort in the soft fabric I’d taken many naps on after school.
“Maybe it’s better if you stay inside until we get that fence put up.”
The thought of being banned from the forest shot a sting of anxiety throughout me. “What? No. I’m fine.”
His forehead ruffled in uncertainty. He always made that face when he didn’t believe me. “Every time I’ve seen you out there or coming inside, you look spooked. What are you seeing out there?”
“Nothing,” I said too quickly. “I just keep hearing something, but there’s nothing there. It’s probably just a raccoon or something.”
“All right.” He closed his book and started to get out of his seat. “I’m going to Andy’s Hardware and I’m buying some wood to build a fence today.”
“Dad, don’t be ridiculous. I’m fine. You don’t need to build a fence right this minute.”
“Yes I do,” he insisted. “It should have been taken care of a long time ago. I don’t know why I’ve waited.” He shifted once more to get up.
“Dad, you’re overreacting. Stay put.” I motioned for him to sit back down. “So what if a rabbit or possum shows up in our yard. What harm could they do?” He pursed his lips in what looked like contemplation. “Ease up, okay? Don’t stress yourself out. It’ll get built sooner or later. It doesn’t have to be right this instant.” I tried biding my time.
He nodded, but wasn’t convinced. “I’m having it put up this weekend.”
“Okay,” I relented.
For whatever reason, the thought of being cut off from the trees made me feel uneasy, though, he did have a point. Not that we’d been bothered too much in the past by wildlife, but something was out there that should be kept out. I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand on edge when I looked back to the ominous woodlands; but curiosity still bubbled at the surface, persuading me to let the pulsing capture me again.
When I peered back at my dad, he watched me thoughtfully like he did when he was working on a crossword puzzle, like I was some mystery to be solved.
“Are you feeling all right? You look a little flushed.” I put my hands to my cheeks. They were warm, but my heart rate was up from running through the backyard.
“I do feel a little dizzy. I’m going to go lay down for a little bit.”
“Good idea,” he said. “I’ll come get you when dinner is ready.”
“Thanks, Dad.” I smiled meekly and walked to my room to be alone. I needed to stop acting so out of character. I didn’t like to be looked at under a microscope, my every move questioned. I wanted to tell my dad, but I was afraid. The last thing I wanted was to be sent to a therapist because everyone thought I was hallucinating or going schizo.
• • •
I was flying. The wind blew over me, the ground far below me. It was freeing. I landed on something that felt like a beam. I looked down at my feet balanced on a rough brown beam covered in leaves. A tree branch? I scoured my location, vines and tree limbs coming into focus, snaking and entwining around each other. I had to be at least forty feet off the ground.
I leaped from the branch and went soaring through the foliage. A smile widened on my face as a tingling swirled in my stomach. A mix between a laugh and a scream sprang from my lips.
“Calliope!” A voice sang from my left.
I peered over and saw a shadowy figure soaring beside me lift a hand in a wave. We leaped from tree to tree in unison, as if as one, spinning and flipping through the air like acrobats. Our laughter echoed off the branches, bouncing back and forth between us.
I looked ahead to the nearest tree. When I landed I peered over to the tree across where the figure had landed maybe twenty feet away. Sunlight broke through the surface of the trees, cascading rays across his body. Penetrating eyes stared back at me and flipped my stomach.
He laughed, gleeful. “Hi.”
“Hi.” I smiled, catching my breath.
“You’re doing really well,” he complimented.
I slanted my eyebrows together, perplexed. “Thanks?” I chuckled.
“Never seen anyone catch on so quickly.”
“Catch on to what?”
He spoke, but whatever he said was muffled.
“What?”
He repeated himself, but his words as well as the scene encircling us was taken away by the wind. Beneath me the branch vanished and the forest fizzled away, plummeting me to the woodland soil.
I jolted awake.
Chapter Three
What if I was going mental? I felt it constantly now. It was no longer a lost whisper. It was urgent, persistent. Wednesday morning I woke up and the pull was so strong it nearly shoved me to my window to be closer to the woods. I wasn’t sure what I expected to see. It wasn’t as if I could see anything beyond the barrier at the end of our property, but it was beginning to frighten me. It didn’t seem like something I could hide from. I couldn’t bury it deep down inside of me anymore and pretend it was normal to have the unnatural urge to be in the forest.
For the first time this year I saw Cameron by our lockers alone. I didn’t know how to talk to him about it without sounding paranoid or insane, but he was the only one I knew I could talk to. He was the only one I wanted to talk to.
“Hey, Cam.”
“Callie!” He reached out and snatched me into his arms. “How’s my number one?” I hated the butterflies for breaking loose and frantically flying in my stomach when I was in his arms.
Was I really still his number one? It didn’t feel much like it anymore. “I don’t really think you can call me that anymore, deserter,” I said, stepping out of his arms, but not in a way that would imply how jealous I was.
“Oh, whatever. Isla knows how our relationship is.”
Maybe, but. . .”Do you?” I smirked.
“Cal, I’m sensing a hint of neglect?” He said it teasingly, but I knew he knew I was serious. He might have been oblivious at times, but he wasn’t insensitive.
I simply eyed him and that was all it took.
“I know. I miss us too. But Isla is important to me too now.” He leaned down and kissed the top of my head, like I was his little sister. “We’ll get together next week. Isla has been planning this fundraiser with her mom and it takes place next Wednesday. I’ll make time for us. Besides you know how much I love hanging out with a bunch of the PAT moms or whatever they’re called.”
I laughed. “PTA.”
“Yeah. That’s what I said.”
Please just tell me I’m imagining things and that there is nothing lurking in the trees behind my house.
“You promise we’ll hang out?” Will you tell me I’m not going crazy and that I’m not being lured into the forest by some supernatural force?
“Cross my heart,” he said.
“Cool.”
“C’mon. I’ll walk you to class.” He draped his arm ove
r my shoulder. Instantly I felt safe again.
“Thanks.” But, seriously. What if someone is stalking me?
My paranoid insecurities could wait. This was the most attention I’d received from him since the beginning of summer. Why taint it with paranoia and make him worry? Or worse. . .tell me I really was crazy.
Even if I was.
“Have you ever had a flying dream?” I asked Lia, crossing my legs Indian style on the lawn at lunch on Friday.
“Yes!” Lia clapped her hands together. “I love those dreams! Did you have one last night?”
“Yeah, I’ve never had one before.” And it felt natural. Weird, right?
“Those ones are so much better than naked dreams.”
I cringed and laughed. “You have naked dreams?”
“You’ve never had one? They are mortifying!” she squawked. “In my naked dreams I always find myself walking down the halls at school, pant-less. Everyone stares, but no one says a thing or helps. They just watch as I walk by trying to cover my goods. It’s so much worse than being topless. At least when you’re topless you only have one area to cover.”
“Wow.” I chuckled.
“Be grateful for the flying dreams.”
“Someone mention naked dreams?” Cam snuck up behind us, peering between our shoulders.
“Cameron,” I heard Isla playfully scold.
“What?” he asked, chuckling. “I love those dreams.”
“You would,” I said. The tugging suddenly hit me at full force. I arched my back, pretending to stretch and breathed back the urge. I turned back to Lia for a distraction as Isla and Cameron got comfortably settled next to us. “How’s your brother liking Rome?”
“Apparently it’s amazing,” Lia sighed. “He says studying abroad is like nothing else. I’m so jealous.”
“How’s your. . .your mom handling Matt being gone?” I cleared my throat, to hide my stutter.
She rolled her eyes. “It’s like he died. I swear she cries herself to sleep every night. You would think she thinks he’ll never come back. He’ll be back to visit for Christmas and in the meantime I get the house to myself.” Lia smirked, but I knew she missed him. She put up a good front, but when Matt was home he was her other half. Most of the time I felt like the third wheel around them, like I’m sure she felt like the third wheel around Cameron and me. Without them it almost felt weird to just be Lia and Callie. There used to always be one of the guys with us at all times.
“The ambition you guys have in your family,” Cameron mumbled. “How many Ivy Leagues are you going to apply to?”
Lia shrugged. “All of them, of course.”
“Of course,” I mouthed to Cam, but smiled at her, admiring her for being unafraid to take what she wanted.
I wiped the pearls of sweat that accumulated on my forehead. The pulsing was taking a toll. There was only one more class for me to get through. I can do this. I can do this. I can do this.
“You okay, Callie?” Lia asked.
I smiled again when I looked at her to cover up my discomfort. “Yeah. I’m just really hot.” I twisted the cap of my water and took a large gulp, savoring the cool liquid trailing down my throat.
“Huh. I thought it was a nice day today,” she said.
“It is a nice day,” Cameron added, backing Lia. “You feeling sick, Cal?”
“Maybe just a little lightheaded. I’m going to head inside. The bell’s going to ring soon anyway.” I snatched my bag. “I’ll see you guys later. Lia, I’ll see you tonight.”
She looked at me with scrunched eyes, not knowing what to make of me. I didn’t know what to make of me. How could I even begin to explain it to them?
“Tonight,” she confirmed.
“Rest up, Cal,” Cameron called and I waved, retreating as fast as I could without making a bigger scene.
• • •
“Dad?” I hollered as I walked in the door after school. There was no answer. He must have either been on a job or running errands. The pulsing had subsided a little when I pulled into the driveway. The closer I was to home, the easier it was to breathe. It wasn’t gone completely though. Not even close.
I plopped on the couch to watch some brain rotting TV—as my dad liked to call it—for a cool down before Lia showed up later on to go out. Some romantic comedy was playing that she had been dying to see. Girl bonding time—I guessed I could use a little more of it. As hard as it was to get through my last class, I didn’t know how I could possibly be normal around Lia tonight.
There really wasn’t anything remotely entertaining on. I flipped through the channels, passing over all things boring, trashy, or sporty, which as it turned out was on every channel.
Wait. It was Friday. Dad was going to be building the fence. He was probably out getting the supplies now.
Suddenly, my attention was directed to the yanking in my heart that I couldn’t suppress any longer. I shook it off and took a deep breath. I was closer to the grove now. Maybe it would go away. I found the movie channels—sci-fi, western, love, classics. . .
Nope. The feeling wouldn’t subside; it was getting more and more powerful. The overwhelming flame flickered in my chest, heaving me off the couch. I let it push me toward the sliding glass door that faced the woods then shook my head, knowing where my body wanted to go. Trying to conquer the unpleasant feeling overpowering me, I pushed back. I don’t want to go out there, I told myself. I could beat this. But the pull was too strong to resist it anymore. The greenery swayed back and forth, needing me to be among it, craving for me to be a part of it.
As soon as I slid open the door and walked out, fresh air wafted in, filling my lungs with sweetness. As I reached the forest’s edge, my eyes trailed the dark brown columns nearly creating their own fence. What did we need a fence for? I took my first step over the line, gazing through the feathery ferns and felt instant peace. I smiled to myself and walked in further. A butterfly flew in front of my face, its wings a lively blue, fluttering gently, idling in front of my eyes. It was as if it was greeting me, welcoming me into its homeland. After saying hello, it simply flitted away.
I wasn’t sure what I had been so worried about. It was peaceful in here. Calming. What could possibly live in here that could harm me?
The deeper I trekked into the forest the greener it was. The tree trunks were cloaked in twirling vines and rich green moss. Thick fallen logs turned into hillsides as moss and ground cover crept over them, bringing the dead wood to life once more. The trickle of a stream babbled to my right. It didn’t bother me that I didn’t know how far I had gone into the canopy of trees. I felt at home.
Without warning a figure flipped down, landing perfectly in front of me.
Startled, I let out a shriek and stumbled back nearly falling to the ground, but he caught my arms easily, steadying me then releasing me just at swiftly.
“Watch your step,” he said melodically.
What the. . .
When I took in his appearance my jaw must have dropped as my eyes flew wide open to take in every inch of him. His eyes were unreal, a mix between violet and blue, unlike anything I’d ever seen in my life. They were deep blue, yet reflected back in an even deeper purple and still bright. His dark chocolaty locks curled right above his eyes, framing them.
Where had he come from?
“You can see me can’t you?” His voice was velvety smooth. Too alluring to be natural. Too silky to be human.
I could only nod. He stood there in all his olive skinned glory with only a pair of dark brown homemade cut offs and a vine twining up one of his sinewy arms. A black band held a small sharp weapon at his hip. Was this guy for real?
“That’s not possible,” he said, folding his arms across his lean chest. Every time he spoke my stomach tingled.
“Well apparently it is,” I said quietly, wanting to flee. I wasn’t quite sure why, but a feeling inside of me told me to stay put.
“But you’re still human.” He started to move toward me
, but I stepped back. Being close to him couldn’t be smart.
“Typically, that’s what we’re called,” I said skeptically.
His gaze deepened, his indigo eyes staring into my soul. Aside from the color there was something unusual about his eyes. They were. . .bigger. Not disturbingly large, but definitely not as small as they should be. I took another step back, losing any confidence I had gained by passing the property line. This had been a bad idea.
“Don’t go,” he nearly pleaded, speedily reaching his hand out to me. The earnestness in his voice stopped me. “Stay.” His voice changed. “I won’t hurt you.” He was more at ease, alluring. My uncertainty must have been apparent because he tacked on, “Please?” which didn’t seem like a word he knew how to use.
“Give me one reason to stay.” Under the shelter of these trees—secluded—with a stranger. An all too fascinating stranger.
“It doesn’t make any sense.” The strange boy didn’t answer my question. I suppose he wasn’t really a boy. He appeared to be a few years older than I was—two or three years, maybe—but not quite a man.
I wanted to laugh. What didn’t make any sense was a guy without a shirt, dressed in tattered cut offs with vines spiraling up his arm like some wild man, standing in my backyard. I looked back to a wall of trees and vegetation. I couldn’t technically call this my backyard anymore. The reassuring sight of my house was nowhere.
“What are you doing out here?” I asked.
“I should ask you the same thing.” He cocked one side of his mouth up in a half-smirk. “Your father is right. You never know what’s lurking in these woods.”
My stomach churned. How long had he been here. . .watching me? He took a few steps toward me into a spot where the sun streamed through the full branches, casting light across his perfectly sculpted face. A couple things clenched my breath. One, he was striking, more so than the shadows gave him credit for. His rich violet eyes were even more vibrantly intense, beautifully peculiar under the glow of sunlight. I couldn’t find the words. And two. . .two was his ears. They were. . .pointed.