Records of the Forest (Completed)

Real Life Ghost Story

"I'm really sorry about that, by the way. I've been trying to catch that stupid bugman all summer," Anne offered her hand, but Rowan declined, opting instead to rub the back of her head. The girl shrugged, moving off. "I'm Anne. I'm guessing you're Rowan?"

"Yep. Great meeting you." She brushed something sharp out of her hair. "Something stings like crazy, whatever did you do?"

"Sorry about that too, that's rock salt. It's supposed to drive Shifters crazy. Apparently not."

Rowan raised an eyebrow and gave Anne a look-over. She was about the same height as Rowan, but her hair added another couple inches. She wore stylish clothing, carefully applied makeup, and was chasing bugmen. "You're trying to catch a Shifter?"

Anne looked at her as if she just asked what color the sky was. "Um, yeah, what about it?"

"I mean, aren't we a bit too... Well, a bit too old?"

Anne, who had been messing with fishing wire, paused. "I guess so," she sighed. Something in her voice hurt. "Yeah, I know I am. But, you were chasing him too. What else would you be doing back here?" She stood up, looking around. And in that moment Rowan felt years worth of memories fill the air. "It's just that I spent so many days, so many summers out here looking for some proof of those stupid bugs. I've never been able to catch one of them or that annoying doll!"

"The doll? Jack?" Rowan asked, standing slowly. She was still a bit shaky. But she was offered no chance to regain for feet, for Anne grabbed her shoulders and began to shake.

"Jack? That's his name? How do you know it's name? Where did you hear that?"

"T-t-thh-hhh-e t-t-t-aa-pess-"

"Oh, right. The tapes." Anne stopped shaking and let Rowan fall into a pile of branches. It took her a moment to notice. "Oh! I'm sorry! Again!"

"No problem..." This time she took Anne hand; she pulled up with surprising strength. "But, wasn't it the tapes that freaked you out yesterday?"

"You know how rings show how old a tree is?"

Rowan blinked a couple times, not seeing the correlation. Hopefully she didn't always switch topics this extremely. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"Look at these," Anne held up a thick branch that Rowan had landed on. Looking at the broken edges, they were all a clear green-white surface.

"There are no rings."

"Yeah, like these were grown today."

"But some of these are as thick as my arm!"

"I mean, that's not really saying much." Anne chuckled to herself. But when she looked over to see if her joke was funny, she was met with a black stare. "Oh, heh, sorry."

"Someone left a huge pile of branches by our back door last night." Something connected in her head. "Dad and Mom assumed the neighbors had left them there as a joke, but what is they were... Grown there?"

"I mean," Anne began to walk out of the alleyway, gesturing for Rowan to follow. "Given your neighbors the answer's probably both."

Rowan ran a bit to catch up. The two girls walked up the sidewalk, back towards the houses. "What do you mean?"

"Your house is right by the forest, Ro. Can I call you Ro?" Rowan nodded and Anne, pleased, continued. "That place is the last home of the Foraoise, ya know? It has tons of creatures and Shifters and fairies in it. It's exciting, right? Knowing you live on the edge of a mystery?"

"Yeah... exciting."

Anne stopped for a moment, letting her stride match Rowan's. She looked concerned. "You really didn't want to move here, did you?"

Rowan huffed through her nose loudly. "Not really, no. I've lived the same place all my life. And then suddenly, the summer before senior year, they want to pick you up and put you somewhere you've never been or seen or heard of? In a weird house with weird rooms with weird hidden compartments?" She paused. "Well, that last one's not too bad. My younger self would have adored a secret compartment."

"Is that where you found the player?" Rowan nodded and Anne grinned. "Well, why don't you let your older self be excited too?"

The two walked in silence for a bit, Rowan simply following Anne's lead. Why didn't she let herself enjoy it? Because that would mean she'd have to be happy about the move, that's why. The last thing she wanted to do was let her parents know they were right. They had a strange habit of rubbing things like that in. Besides, this was a chance for Rowan to prove she was an adult. Mature, responsible. She has noticed the glares they, or rather Anne, was getting from the older residents as they walked. Being excited would mean a bad first impression in a town full of impressionistic people. Being exciting would mean forfeiting any chance of being normal. Was this really worth that? Suddenly, she found herself in her new backyard, Anne making a beeline for her house's side door.

"I mean," Anne whispered. "You've heard the recordings, right?"

"Yeah," Rowan replied, following Anne.

"What do you think happened to him?"

"Happened to him?"

"You don't even know, do you?" Anne gestured to the house and backyard. "Ian vanished, Ro. One day he just disappeared. Some people think he was kidnapped, others thought he ran away, but most thought he met a worse fate. His father was apparently a jerk, to put it lightly."

"Yeah, I got that from the tapes."

"They combed the whole area for him, parts of the forest too, but they never found him. He's a real-life ghost story."

Rowan laughed. "Great, now I live in a haunted house."

"But there's always been rumors about Ian leaving a bunch of tapes behind," Anne giggled. "I even did a report about it back in elementary. But I never imagined I'd ever hear those tapes."

"Do you really think they'll tell us what happened to him?"

Smiling, Anne looked back at her. "Why don't you go grab them, and we'll find out?"

Rowan didn't move. Should she? She could just say no and leave. Go back to her room, begin setting up, maybe feed that crow that was perched on the roof. It would all be very calm, very...

Normal.

But, as if by some force, she found herself running into the house, looking for the player. Maybe she could give up normal for a bit.

Just for today.

***click***