Chapter 2

Caleb sat at the table and ate his sandwich. His mind wandered to the girls he saw in the woods. They were so beautiful, especially the dark-haired girl. He couldn’t stop thinking of her. That long, wavy, dark brown hair, that fell down to her lower back, the paleness of her skin. And the swell of her breasts against the blue dress which complemented her in so many ways.

“Where were you at?” 

Caleb jumped. “Hey Drew. Didn’t hear you come in.”

Drew laughed “Man, you looked like you were day dreaming a little there.”

“A little bit. Got lost again and I guess I was deprived of food too long and started seeing beautiful girls.”

“Five minutes of not eating is depriving you of food, you eat like a horse.” Caleb just laughed. 

“Speaking of getting lost,” Drew threw something at Caleb.

“What is this?” Caleb asked. 

“It’s a compass. When you decide to take another hike in the woods, keep an eye on the needle and it will tell you which way you are going. When you decide to come back just follow the compass in the opposite direction. You just have to pay attention to which way you are going when you are going in.”

“Hey, thanks. This might actually help, although getting lost today wasn’t half bad, but I am a little tired. I think I’m going to go upstairs and take a nap.” Caleb got up and put his plate and glass in the sink and walked out of the kitchen. He doesn’t mind Drew or Colin’s company, actually it’s better than sitting alone most of the time. But for some reason, he always finds himself not paying attention to anyone when they are around. His mind frequently wanders to his parents and his old home in the city. When his parents died their lawyer had come out and told Caleb that each of them had a living will made and that the house and all of their possessions, banks accounts, and now life insurance money was now all his. He didn’t know what to say, he just knew he didn’t want any of it, all he wanted was his mom and dad not to be dead, to be picking him up in a few weeks.

His uncle had taken him to get his stuff from the house. It had been extremely painful just looking at it and standing there in front of it he had decided to sell it. He had told his uncle just that. William just nodded his head and reached into his pocket and handed Caleb the keys to unlock the door. Everything was just the same as when he left. His mother always kept things so clean so the two inches of dust that had accumulated looked oddly out of place, a very painful reminder that she would never clean, cook, or do all her wonderful things again. He went up to his room and packed what he wanted to take and left the rest.

He couldn’t imagine selling his parents things so William made arrangements to have everything packed up and placed into a storage building. When there was nothing left of his parent's things a ‘For Sale’ sign was placed in the yard. It had only taken a few weeks for someone to buy it. He missed the house, he missed everything that had happened there, the memories that were made. Lying in bed at night and hearing cars going across the interstate in the distance.

Life is so much different here, quieter and oddly more relaxing. He didn’t think he would like living here as much as he does. He walked in his room and closed his door. He laid down on his bed and stared up at the ceiling, it was painted white and the walls were the same. There was a small TV on a stand and a dresser that held most of his clothes. There was a small rug on the bare floors and nothing else. Lara liked to keep a tidy house and every one of her children was to keep their rooms as such.

He heard two of his cousins running down the hall and down the stairs. He had only four cousins, Colin, who was the oldest by two years, Andrew, who was the same age as himself, just a few months older, and then there was Madelyn, who was three years younger than himself and Drew. The youngest was Katherine, who was but only nine years old.

Caleb closed his eyes and let his mind wander once again to the woods and the three girls. Who could they have been? Lara thinks it was just my imagination and they weren’t really there. But I’ve never seen anyone so beautiful, and the way they were dressed, and now that he thought about it, they were dressed strange. So many questions were going through his mind. Maybe he could get up early and try to find his way back there again. He had the compass Drew gave him so he surely could find his way back without getting lost again. Maybe, just maybe.

He was still thinking of the girls when he drifted off to sleep. Lara sent Colin up to tell him supper was almost ready and to wash up, but Colin didn’t want to wake him so he went back downstairs to tell his mother that Caleb was asleep. “Let him sleep I suppose. He was in the woods for a while and he must have been exhausted to go to bed so early.” Lara looked up towards Caleb’s room and just shook her head. Poor dear, she thought, he will come around eventually, in time.