Page 7 of Forest Proximity
The other woman follows. “We've met before, but only briefly. I’m Diana. Ike is my husband.”
“Good to meet you ... again.” I remember her. She and Ike roped me into helping at the Cape Georgeana lighthouse ribbon cutting a while back. I don’t know what to say now, though.Thanks for inviting me out here to get kicked in the groin? It’s been real?
Marlow grins. “We wanted to thank you for rescuing Stevie.Sorry about the—you know.” She motions to my bottom half.
“Uh, no problem.” My face burns. “Mostly.”
A chorus of crickets chirp in the silence that follows. Ikescratches his neck with a wince. There’s an apology in his eyes, visible even in the dim light.
Meanwhile, August returns from examining Stevie. “I want to get her a CT scan, just to be safe. Can you guys take Marlow home so I can drive Stevie to the hospital?”
They scatter, with August at the wheel of Stevie’s car, and the other three in the black sedan. Just like that, I’m alone in the woods, as usual.
Good. I can get back to my place, where no one calls me an embarrassing nickname or kicks me in sensitive places. I can reheat my dinner, read a book, stare out at the trees, and turn in early. There’s satisfaction in quiet rest after a day of hard labor.I love this life, I remind myself as their taillights disappear and the forest turns quiet again. But somehow the woods feel emptier than before.
Chapter 4
Stevie
My feet dangle off the paper-wrapped edge of the exam table, and I swing my hiking boots underneath me. “Are you saying I have a ‘conk-cussion,’ Doc?” With a snort, I lower my eyelids to ease the ache in my temples. “Conk. Get it? Because I conked mycabeza.” I can’t stop giggling. I don’t know what August gave me, but everything is funny right now.
When I open my eyes, I catch my friends making worried eye contact over my head.
August frowns. “Luckily, your CT scan is clear, but yes.” The lines on his forehead deepen. He’s in doctor mode. “You have a mild conk-cussion. Tylenol will help the headache, and you’re going to want to limit your screen time.” The corner of his mouth turns up. “Try not to use your brain, if you can avoid it.”
Marlow bites back a grin.
“Shut up,” I tell her, with no heat behind the words.
I’m glad Marlow and Diana came to the hospital, even though Ike was supposed to take them home. I need my friends after this long night, and they seemed to know that. Between the horrendous date with Desmond, the concussion, and the sighting—the sighting!
I gasp. How could I forget? “You guys!”
Marlow, Diana, and August crowd around me, concern all over their faces.
“What’s wrong?” Diana asks, her hand on my shoulder.
“I saw one tonight.” I can’t quite say the word. I’m easing them into this information. I need to give them all the details so they don’t think I’ve lost my mind. I'll tell them what I saw, and they can draw the only logical conclusion. Or they’ll tease me about it, like they usually do.
Of course, they already know my brothers and I used to look for them. My three older brothers claim to have seen evidence. My oldest brother, Conor, even says he saw one once, when he was twelve years old and I was six and way too young to be following my brothers through the woods. Then we grew up, and my brothers stopped looking. They moved away, and I stayed behind.
I’ve never doubted that there could be something unknown living in those thick forests. This is a big world. Anything is possible. I’d just given up hope that I’d ever see anything. And it isn’t like I talk about the existence of this particular cryptid every day. Until tonight it hasn’t come up in conversation often. My friends never gave up ragging on me for it, though. When the opportunity presents itself, they are quick to take it.
Well, they’re about to eat some humble pie.
“After dinner with Desmond I went out to the woods, and I saw one.” My eyes widen, and I whisper the words: “A sasquatch.”
Diana shoots August a questioning look over my head.
Marlow frowns, biting her lip.
I hold up my palms in the universal symbol forI’m not crazy, I just saw Bigfoot. “I know you guys don’t believe this stuff, but trust me. When you see my pictures ... Aw, crap.”
I finally remember that my phone, along with all of my photographic evidence, is lying on the ground somewhere in the forest.
“Did you see the sasquatch before or after you hit your head?” August murmurs, peering deeply into my eyes like he's checking my pupils again.
“Before.” I bat him away. “Listen to me. I know you think—”
