Free SORROW WOODS by Beckie Page A

tell him.

    He flicks his eyes over to me and I watch the corner of his mouth pull up at the sides. “Black
    tea is fine.”

    I plop a tea bag into a mug and pour the boiling water over it. I grab a spoon and squeeze
    the tea bag before throwing it to the side, ready for the compost heap. I take three careful steps back into the living room and silently hand him his mug.

    “Thank you,” he says, sounding sincere.

    He’s not the same boy that we met in the woods or the one that lied to get me to follow him
    thirteen days ago. He’s different, but I’m not sure how or why. He’s calmer. He’s not so frightening now and he has a sad sort of look about him.

    “I take it your Mother is still away?” he asks, his teeth still chattering.

    I nod and sit down on the other side of the sofa. “She’ll be away for another week.”

    “If your Mother isn’t due back for so long, will it be alright if I stay here tonight?”

    I shift uncomfortably on the sofa. I’m not sure I feel okay with him being in my house again.
    Not all night anyway. I think about telling him to leave but before I can open my mouth, he walks across the room and lies down in front of the log fire and stretches out, making the bottom of his t-shirt slide up his stomach. I stare at his muscles. They’re like mine, only the lines are carved deeper.
    My eyes travel down a line of hair that runs from his belly button down his stomach before
    disappearing underneath his belt.
    “I’ll just stay right here the whole night,” he says. “I promise.”

    I just sit and stare at him. I watch his chest rising and falling. I see his eyelids drop the way Elodie’s do when she’s trying to not fall asleep. Seconds later, I hear his deep, laboured breathing.
    He’s fallen asleep before I can give him my answer.
    I sigh and leave the candle burning above the fire. I creep into the bedroom that Elodie and I
    share, silently slipping into our bed and sliding my knife underneath the pillow.

    Lying on my back, I stare up at the wooden ceiling. Everything around us is made of wood. I
    wonder if the house that he lives in is made of wood. I’ll ask him in the morning. I squeeze my eyes shut tight. I can’t believe he came back. I can’t believe he’s in our house and that he’s asleep in front of the fire.
    Kaiden

    When I open my eyes, I’m facing the cinders in the fire and I can hear the two girls whispering
    behind me. I don’t think they’re in the same room as me, but they’re close enough that I can hear them. I smile when I hear Elodie asking if she can throw water on me. Serena tells her no. Not
    because it’s rude, but because they don’t have water to waste.

    “Kaiden?”
    I roll over and find Elodie’s face inches away from mine.

    “What are you doing here?” she asks.

    She knows what I’m doing here. I heard her ask Serena earlier this morning. “I’ve come to
    see you,” I say.

    She prods her finger into my arm. “Serena told me what you tried to do to her.”

    I nod and then look down at the floor. I wasn’t ready for that. I never once thought that
    Serena would tell her little sister that I tried to take her away from her. How am I supposed to gain Elodie’s trust now? I already know she’s going to be much more difficult than Serena. “That’s why I’m here.”

    She nods. “We have five knives, two guns, and a big hole.”

    I look up into her innocent blue eyes and try not to smile. “Erm, okay.”

    “If you do anything bad, I will shoot you and put you in the hole.”

    Aah. Now I see why she was rattling off the inventory.
    “Little girls shouldn’t be talking about shooting people and burying them,” I tell her.

    “They should when they’re talking to the person that tried to kidnap their sister!” she
    exclaims.

    I sit up and rub my face with my hands. I can’t believe that I just fell asleep on the floor while I was in the middle of a conversation with Serena. I’m actually a little