Line 36 / Part 1

Background color
Font
Font size
Line height

Deeply invested in his thoughts about his reunion with Julia, John pedaled towards the point on the road that would lead him into forest, the shortcut he used whenever he went to his tree house without wanting to ride all the way through Fragrant Meadows. He slowed down when he saw his landmark for the turn, which was a small gap in the trees and realized that he must have left the county road a while ago, auto-piloting it onto the private forest road that was part of the Estate already. As usual it involved quite a bit of concentration to not miss the marker, but from the countless trips into the forest he and his dad had taken ever since John was a little boy, he had become skilled at reading trees as if they were a map; to him as to his father no two trees looked the same. Here! Carefully he made his turn, looking back over his left shoulder to check no cars were coming. Personally he thought this was entirely superfluous - aside from the occasional logging truck nothing was ever driving on this road, but he had promised his mother to always be responsible when riding his bike and so he was.

It took a moment for his eyes to adjust to the gloomy light filtering through the canopy of cedars. His focus was trained on the soft carpet of the forest floor. If he could help it he did not want to crush any of the tiny flowers that grew in the protection of the big trees and neither did he want to risk a slip on the mossy ground. He enjoyed the challenge of his off-road adventure - the careful maneuvering around rocks and underbrush while at the same time avoiding startling the occasional deer or getting his face whipped by low hanging branches of young cedars. Never had he seen another human being - not even the grounds keepers made it that deep into the woods.

He scanned the trail to find the best way for steering around a rather large shrub and jumped off his bike, terrified. About twenty yards to his left he thought he saw something or worse, someone lying on the ground. Paralyzing images of hatchet murderers lurking in the cover of the bushes and trees made him want to turn around immediately, ride back home and alert his mom. Or at least quickly ride to his tree house, which maybe due to its height, was one of the blessed places with signal. He drew a big breath and stood up. The motion re-awakened his adventurous spirit and instead of getting back on his bicycle he stealthily moved around a briar's patch of wild blackberries to explore what was going on.

"Holy string! Julia!" He started to move faster, twigs catching the visor of his cap, tearing it off. If he even noticed, he didn't miss a beat. "Julia, Julia! Can you hear me?"

Scrambling around a rock that obscured his view for a moment, he almost tripped over Julia's legs. She lay on her stomach, arms stretched out as if to ward something off or maybe grasp the stone her fingers barely touched. Her pack had slipped to one side, essentially creating a pillow for her head. He dared to touch her shoulder in an attempt to turn her over.

"Julia, come on, please, it's John!"

A moan.

Thank god she's alive, he thought. "Julia, are you hurt? Are you in pain?"

Another moan.

He bent towards her face and smoothed back a few strands of hair. A sudden smile caused John to almost faint with relief. "Julia come on, talk to me! What happened? What are you doing in the middle of the forest?"

You are reading the story above: TeenFic.Net