The Woods (Original)

Down In The Forest

Finally. Fresh air.
I walked out of the hot, cramped house to feel a nice, cold breeze hit my face. I breathed in the sweet, clean oxygen of the great outdoors and felt immediate relief. That house was no place for me, I was basically claustrophobic in there. I looked around at the beautiful forestry, something that always calms me down. I found a tree that was hollowed out around the trunk that I took shelter in.
"You're losing him Jones..." I thought to myself. I leaned my head against the bark of the tree and tried to clear my mind.
   "Jesse, right?" I hear a voice say.
   "Ah!" I jumped in surprise. My gaze was met by the chocolate brown eyes of that red-haired girl. Her look was soft, unusual for someone tougher than the whole football team combined.
   "Oh. Yeah," I spoke nervously.
   "You're in my physics class, right?" She asked.
   "Yeah, and algebra 2." I said.
   "Really?" She seemed surprised.
   "Yeah, but I'm usually pretty quiet and I sit way in the back corner," I explained.
   "Ohhh," she nodded. "Room for one more?" She queried, pointing the the semi-trunk I was sitting in.
   I looked beside me; there was enough space for another person to fit, especially if I scooted over a bit. "Oh, yeah, sure," I said as I began to shuffle my body over.
   "Thanks," she smiled at me as she sat down in the bark-encased semi-circle, letting out a long exhale as she joined me.
   I played around with the dirt with my fingers for a few seconds before I found the courage of words. "Jones." I said.
   "What?" She questioned and turned her head towards me.
   "My last name is Jones," I replied.
   "Ohhhhh! That's who you are!" She said with a face palm and a slight chuckle.
   Our algebra 2 teacher always called us by our last names, so that must be why she never knew I was in that class. Her name was right before mine: Petra Jackson. Our physics teacher never really bothered with roll call, just counted the people that were there and asked who was missing if he came up short.
   "So, Jones, what are you doing out here?" She asked me.
   I inhaled deeply, and let out a large sigh. "Axel convinced me to come with him. At first I thought he would stay with me the whole time... Then he saw Olivia and ditched me..." I trailed off, remembering the promise he had broken.
   "Harsh," she said with a grimace.
   "So what about you? Why are you out here?" I questioned.
   "Ah, I always come out here during Aiden's parties. I don't know why I even bother showing up to any of them, I guess it's because he's my 'friend'." She answered. "But every since Gill and Maya got together he's been a real jerk."
"I know how that is," I said looking down. "Axel never has time for me anymore. I'm always left out, and when all three of us hang together, I'm just the third wheel. I miss when it was just all three of us as friends."
Just then her phone went off and when she checked it she slammed it down in frustration. "Uuugggh!"
"What's wrong?" I asked.
"It's Aiden. He's drunk. That idiot..." She trailed off.
"Isn't he... A little bit..."
"Young?" She scoffed. "Pfft. He doesn't care."
"Does this happen a lot?" I asked.
"Every now and then. He's been getting worse and worse, I think it's because of Gill and Maya."
"Why would that cause him to act this way?"
"Probably because he's jealous of them. I'm not saying he likes Maya or anything, but he's just jealous of their relationship." I nodded as she explained.
Petra looked at the house, and I was hoping she wouldn't say what she did next. "How about we head into the house for a few minutes?" She offered.
My heart began to race "Uhhh...." I clenched my shirt between my fingers over where my heart was, instantly breaking out into a sweat. "I-"
   "Hey," she interrupted, touching her fingers to my shoulder, "it's ok if you don't want to go, but I'll be with you the whole time," she smiled at me.
"Hey man don't be nervous. I'll be there with you the whole time." He smiled at me, and I smiled back. I remembered Axel's words he spoke to me in the truck, a broken promise.
I looked down, still gripping my shirt. "Don't leave me alone."
"I promise," she said as she stood up and extended her hand towards mine as if to help me get up. I took it, and she smiled at me as we made our way inside.