The view outside of the van window shifted and changed, becoming more forested as we got closer to Grandma Angnes’s house. The roads worsened as our surroundings changed, going from paved interstate highways to asphalt, to gravel, and now, we were on a winding dirt path that was so narrow, should another vehicle come in our direction, there wouldn’t be any place to go. I was thankful the likelihood of two cars trying to use this road at the same time was slim to none--there simply weren’t many people out this way.
Grandma’s house did smell more like burning wood in the spring than it did in the summer, but seated in her kitchen, a cup of warm milk in my hands, it was the scent of baking gingerbread that filled my lungs. When Grandma had announced she was making her famous cookies, Mom had reminded her that it wasn’t Christmas. Grandma Agnes had shrugged and said, “Gingerbread cookies can be for any special occasion, dear. Haven't I taught you anything?”
Both Grayson and I stared at Grandma Agnes for the longest time after she made that statement--wolves have everything to do with everything. What was that supposed to mean? It took me so long to formulate that question, or any other, that my mother appeared at the foot of the stairs. We couldn’t see her, not yet, but we could hear her footsteps. When she ducked into the kitchen, my eyes went to her face.
The forest around my grandmother’s was alive, just as she had mentioned. It wasn’t just one creature that opened my eyes to the life around me, but dozens, and the further I walked away from the cottage, the more I could see exactly what she was speaking of.Squirrels darted from tree to tree. Birds fluttered above me, calling out to one another as they circled
Later that evening, we’d had a small, thrown together birthday party for me. It was nice of my family to do something. I had thought, perhaps, they’d forgotten about my birthday, in all of the hustle of moving. My mom gave me a new case for my phone that I’d been looking at online, which seemed a little useless out here in the woods when there wasn’t much of a signal most of the time, but I’d still been happy to see it. Max had picked out a new hoodie for me, which I thought would be a good thing to have. It was red, my favorite color, and oversized, which made it super comfortable. My sister gave me a drawing she’d done of the two of us together. I
For the next few weeks, nothing much happened. My mom had tried to enroll us in the local school, but it was already out for summer. They told her they’d just go ahead and advance us to the next grade levels when school started up in the fall, which meant I’d be trekking the fifteen miles to Whispering Hollows High for my senior year, and Grayson would at least spend the start of her sophomore year there. I knew she was still trying to figure out a way to go back home. I wanted to go back as well, but I had resigned myself to the fact that I’d have
Tearing between tree branches and over roots that seemed to stick up from the ground and lash out at my boots, I made my way back through the woods. I had been running for several minutes before I realized I had no idea where I was going. All of that careful planning of landmarks so that I could find my way back to the tree, and eventually Grandma’s cottage, were out the window as I sprinted away from the teenaged boy I’d seen chopping wood, a vision of his blue eyes in my mind and nothing in my line of sight save the occasional tree branch that reached too closely to my face.
“Harlow? Are you okay?”The sound of Grandma Agnes’s voice caught me off-guard. I was still standing with my back pressed to the door, panting, my eyes closed, and I hadn’t realized she was in the kitchen. When I raised my eyelids a crack, I could see her standing across the room at the stove, stirring something in a pot, likely making our din
That night, I lay in my room on my back, looking at the ceiling for hours. Everyone else was in bed, likely asleep, and I was still thinking about everything that had happened in the woods and what my grandmother had told me when I got back home. There was so much I didn’t understand, so much I didn’t know, and I had no idea when I might figure it all out.But