The Woods
It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen. That was when the dogs began howling. I didn't think much of it at first, because they often get worked up about something as silly as a squirrel climbing a tree. It was when they abruptly stopped and started whimpering that I stopped what I was doing and walked over to them. Rascal the biggest and oldest of the bunch was unsuccessfully trying very hard not to be seen. The last time this happened he was a puppy and it wasn't a happy ending for either of us. I ran to the front door double-checking to make sure that it was locked. I then ran to the only window in the house and slid the bars down locking them in place. It was only then that I relaxed a little bit. One by one the dogs made their way into the room with me, slinking in with their heads down. It was almost as if they we're embarrassed that I had seen their fear. As I was sinking down into the chair the doorknob started rattling and then someone or something started pounding on the door with so much intensity the hinges squeaked their protest. I froze hoping the dogs would remember their training and remain silent. To my relief the only thing they did was allow the fur on their shoulders to bristle and they bared their teeth at the door. As quickly as it started the pounding on the door went silent and I turned off the lights. I crept slowly to the window, as I neared it Rascal gave a low warning growl and I paused. I then realized someone was at the window staring at the dogs. I inhaled sharply when they slowly turned to look at me. I knew if they made eye contact it would all be over, but I couldn’t bring myself to look away. They had clearly been at the same institution as me, I remembered those restricting grey fatigues. I wondered what monstrosity their genes produced for the scientists to release them into these woods. I grabbed my jacket and stepped through the wall. The pure terror in their eyes made my heart hurt, I know what they saw wasn’t pretty. I didn’t even remotely resemble what I used to look like. It’s why I threw away all the mirrors and anything that could reflect my face. My crazy mismatched eyes scared even the scientists who caused them. Snapping out of it, I stepped towards them and they flinched causing me to hesitate. Just then I heard a twig snap and quickly grabbed their arm and pulled them back through the wall with me. I turned on one of the lights, and now realized it was a boy. A little boy. “How can they experiment on children?”, I wonder aloud. His head whipped up and he stared at me with shock. I managed to stifle my gasp as I stared at his eyes. They were almost like mine except his we’re odd colors, one was purple with stripes of green and the other was pink with blue dots. He didn’t move when I let go of his arm instead he shifts his gaze back to the dogs. “What’s your name?, I ask softly so I don’t scare him anymore than I already have. “Malachi”, he responds. He refuses to take his eyes off the dogs. I smile and pointed to Rascal who was closest to him, “This is Rascal he’s very sweet, you can pet him if you want.”, I spoke slowly unsure how much he could understand. He slowly looked up at me, “Why are you so scared of me? What did I do? Are you going to hurt me too?”, he asked. He had spoken so quickly I barely caught all of his words. “No I’m not going to hurt you, and I’m not sure why I’m scared of you. Actually no I’m not scared of you I’m scared of what you might accidentally do. The last time I let someone like you in here I almost didn’t survive.” I answered. He nodded slowly as if he knew exactly what I was talking about. As an awkward silence stretched in between us it dawned on me that there was no way he knocked on the door. Something was still out there. That must’ve been what I heard right before I took him inside with me. He must have seen the fear on my face because he backed away from me and hid behind the couch. “No I’m sorry Malachi I’m not scared of you, you don’t need to hide. I just realized that it couldn’t have been you that knocked on my door. Do you know who did?” It was his turn to get lost in thought and have the fear spread across his face. He spoke softly but quickly, “It’s the retriever, he is very mean. He’s huge and can find me no matter where I hide.” He looked down at his feet, “He’s going to get you and it’s all my fault.” “No no it’s okay I can take care of him,” I smiled reassuringly at him. “I’ve got tricks of my own.” I said softly already planning on how to rid us of our problem. He looked up at me and smiled shyly, “I can do stuff too.” “ Oh really?” I asked him. He nodded and looked at the couch, the lines and dots in his eyes started moving as he concentrated. Then to my shock, the couch lifted off the floor up above our heads and then started to move back. One of the dogs jumped and hit Malachi making him lose his concentration as the couch plummeted towards us I lifted my arms caught it and set it back down. He hung his head, “Sorry I’m still practicing.” I smiled so am I, I thought to myself. “Want to see something cool?”, I asked him. He looked up excited and nodded. I sat down and patted the seat next to me and he walked over and sat down staring at me expectantly. I whispered, “Or rather hear I guess.” into his head. He jumped, “No way! I can do that too! Not as good as you did it but I’m working on it.”, He said excitedly. I was about to answer him when the someone started banging on the door again. I jumped up and started to walk towards the door when Malachi jumped in front of me. “No he wants me not you” he almost yelled at me. Softly he continued, “I knew he would follow me but I didn’t care, I thought everyone was mean so I didn’t care if anyone else got hurt. I see now that I was wrong and I will not allow you to get hurt because of me.” I smiled sadly at him, “It’s not your choice anymore you deserve a future and this is how you’ll get one. I then picked him up and sat him down on the couch, ordering the dogs to keep him there I walked through the wall. I stared at the “Retriever” he was indeed huge but he didn’t really look scary he looked like a bully. Taking care of bullies was my specialty. I smiled wickedly and drifted into his thought I went to his neural processor and dropped an image of Malachi in the so when he looked at me he would think Malachi was behind me. I pulled myself out of his head and then called to him, “Looking for something?” He spun around so fast he was a blur. He ran towards me and as he pulled back his fist I readied mine, caught his fist and yanked him down deep into the earth and then away from the cabin. As soon as I let go of his fist I traveled back up to air freedom. I walked back to the house and wrote, It is midnight. The rain is beating on the windows. It was not midnight. It was not raining.
