Something in the Woods

Chapter 13

Time began moving fast since Barrett had met Katie and Byssa. There were days where he almost forgot he's been trapped on Earth for nearly five months, but he began to feel more and more anxious to leave this place. For starters, he didn't like that the military had more weapons at their base, Byssa may have said that it was just restocking inventory, but that didn't make him any less nervous. The portal will open soon, he can't afford to get caught now! 
It was also dreadfully boring in the woods when Katie and Byssa weren't around. Barrett tried to stay occupied by covering his tracks or looking for food to ration for the remaining time but he could only do that for so long. The only thing he could do while the girls were at school or home was cloud watching or star gazing depending on the time. Barrett had no idea how he stayed sane before Katie entered his life, because each day he felt like he depended more on the girls for a source of entertainment. 
One of his favorite games to play was a game they called tree jumping, where Katie and Byssa jumped from tree branch to tree branch and whoever stays in the tree wins. Barrett always had to be the one to save them from falling but he didn't mind it. He was glad that they trusted them enough to catch them. 
"Okay, on your mark, get set, go!" 
The two girls leaped from branch to branch as if they were ninjas. Byssa had a head start as she was physically stronger than Katie. However, Katie was not too far behind. Her smaller body made it easier for her to jump onto branches that would probably snap under Byssa. 
Another issue with Byssa's size was that she was taller and constantly had to slow down to duck underneath branches. Katie had an easier time catching up to her. Now Katie was in the lead, she continued to swiftly jump to the next branches. She has been on a losing streak lately, but she was almost to the finish line! Katie was finally going to win again! 
But then she overshot her jump, her heel slipped off the branch and gravity forced her to fall down! Before she could let out a scream, Barrett shot his hand out and caught her with plenty of time to spare. 
"Are you okay?" He asked. 
"Yeah…" Katie huffed as she readjusted her glasses."Just thought I'd win this time." 
Byssa had jumped over to a branch that was just above where Katie hovered. She had a smug smile on her face. "I win again." 
"You only got lucky."
"And you got reckless again." Byssa told her. "But that doesn't matter, I won, so you have to pay up!" 
"Fine, what's the charge?" 
Byssa smiled. "You have to go to the movies with me tonight." 
"Which movie?" 
"The Revengers! They're showing an early screening tonight." 
"Wait, you actually wanna watch that movie?!" Katie exclaimed. 
"Absolutely! It's only my favorite comic series!"
"You never told me you liked comic books!" 
"You never asked." Byssa jumped down from the tree and waved for her friend to follow. "Come on, if we hurry we can be first in line to get the best seats!" 
Katie jumped out of Barrett's hand and onto a nearby tree branch, before quickly climbing down to the ground. "Oh, let's go to Wawa and get snacks to sneak in!" 
"I like the way you think!" 
The giant's chest began to ache. He was just going to be left behind like that? It wasn't fair and Barrett wasn't going to stay quiet. "Wait!" 
The girls stopped and looked over at him. 
"Can't you see the movie another time?" Barrett pleaded. 
"It's the Revengers, dude!" Byssa said. "It's gonna be the biggest movie of the year!" 
"Yeah, but I thought we were going to hang out all day." 
Byssa just waved him off. "We can do that any other day. Come on, Katie." 
Katie seemed torn by the decision. The smile on her face was gone once she looked up and saw her friend's plea to keep them around.
"Katie please…" Barrett's voice softened as he extended his hand out to her. 
"I…. I wish you could come with us." 
Barrett sighed, being here was so unfair sometimes, he couldn't just blend in with the world around him. He had to stay hidden and that meant he couldn't do some things that the kids his age could do. If the roles were reversed, he could sneak them into plays and they could all watch the latest source of entertainment. Barrett withdrew his hand. "If you wanna see it, then see it."
"I'm sorry." She whispered. "I'll see you tomorrow." 
Barrett nodded as he watched the girls walk off. There he was, back to being secluded again. This wasn't the first time he was blown off by them to go do fun things in town and Barrett feared this would keep happening until Katie had no desire to come with him to Jotunheim.