Records of the Forest (Completed)

Dire Need

"Poor Ian," Rowan whispered.

"Poor?! He just bit someone's ear off!" Anne yelled, pointing at the player. "He just went at that guy!"

"I can't entirely blame him. I mean, Dick had been tormenting him a long time, it seems like. Maybe Ian was bound to snap."

"Is that some sort of city-person mentality?"

Rowan glared at Anne slightly. "No," she said quietly. "It's coming from someone who snapped once." She leaned back on the wall, remembering. Sophomore year. There had been a kid at school, James Crabtree, who had been bullying her since third grade. One day, he slammed her hand into a locker and wouldn't let it out until she told him "thank you". While he and the other boys laughed, Rowan had grabbed a baseball bat from one of the gym bags nearby and had swung as hard as she could. She went to the principal with a bruised hand. He had gone to the hospital with a broken femur.

"You bit off someone's ear?" Anne whispered, a bit of shock in her voice.

"No, no," she whispered back. "I just broke someone's femur."

"How?!"

"With a baseball bat."

"Why?!"

"Because he slammed my hand in a locker and made me thank him for it."

"Oh... alright, but that's still a horrible thing to do! He'll never be able to walk the same again, you know."

"Of course I know!" Rowan snapped back. Anne moved back a bit. "Sorry," she immediately hunched over, face in hands. "Sorry, you didn't know. I-I feel bad about that nearly every day. I regret what happened, how angry I was... But I don't regret letting that anger out. If I hadn't it could have been his head instead of his leg."

"That's an awful thing to say."

"But it's the truth. Not everything is so black-and-white, Anne. I would never do that to anyone ever again, though." The two girls readjusted, Rowan taking out the fifth reel and putting in the sixth. "Two more to go..."

"Hey," Anne said, switching topics. "You said you found these in the floorboards of your room, right?"

"Yeah, so?"

"So? Ro, the police records say his recorder was found in the treehouse!"

"...How did you get ahold of police records?"

Anne laughed, rubbing the back of her head. "I, uh, hehe, I may have stolen them when I was a kid."

"You realize in a year that could wind you up in jail."

"Probably, yeah. But nevermind that. Doesn't this worry you?"

"Worry me that you're going to jail? Yes."

"No, not that! The tapes were put in this room with a note with your name in it. We're playing someone's game."

"I dunno," Rowan sighed, thinking. "I mean, why me? I don't even live here, really. I don't even want to be here."

"Maybe that's the point," Anne stood, offering her hand and pulling Rowan up as well. "You know more than most everyone else here, and you won't be missed by everyone else here. Save your parents, of course. But you'll be leaving in a year anyway."

"You have a really creepy way of thinking, ya know?"

"I have been told," she looked around her messy room, sighing. "Here, it's getting late. You better get home. We can meet in your room tomorrow."

"What will you be doing?"

"Cleaning up. I need to find my notes. I've been studying this case since I was nine! I have piles of notes and information that could help." She grinned at Rowan. "I come get you tomorrow... unless they get to ya first."