Chapter 17
ϕVeraϕ
He could draw too? Why wasn’t this kid alive? I would actually have a friend for once, or at least someone to really talk to. I decided to go back up to the attic, and naturally, Zac followed me. “Just kinda want to keep digging.” I told him.
“Of course. I wish I could help more.” He said.
“It’s alright, I like going through things like this anyway.” I said. Where were his notebook and sketchbooks??? I had to find those. I was a woman on a mission. Zac kinda floated around the room while I continued to go through things, and then I started to smell something that wasn’t there before. I was holding more dishware, so I knew that wasn’t it, and I hadn’t found clothes in a while. “Do you smell that?” I asked Zac.
“Obviously not.” He gave me the ‘you idiot’ look and I frowned. As I walked around, the closer I got to Zac the stronger it became.
“It’s you.” I said.
“What?” He asked.
“The smell is coming from you. It’s kind of dark, musky. Smells like a guy.” I said. Phantom smells? Yeah, that’s probably it. Maybe he couldn’t control when things like that happened, or it happened when he thought about something specific.
“Uh…thanks?” He said. I laughed a little.
“At least it isn’t cigar or cigarette smoke.” I said. He made a face.
“I never did any of that junk, no matter how cool people said it was.” He said.
“Same here, and now there are lots of other things kids do. Both hard and soft drugs are easy to get your hands on as well as alcohol if you’re underage.” I told him as I kept going through boxes.
“That’s a real shame.” He pushed his glasses up again. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find them so I stopped. It was time for dinner anyway.
~*~
A few days had gone by, and I was starting to feel a little more at ease about the house. Zac and I talked everyday and kept going through things. He explained to me pictures I found and things like that. I did eventually find his sketch books, but I didn’t look through them. I hid them in my room so that one day I could surprise him with them and go through them if he was in a bad or sad mood. I didn’t like it when he would look off and his smile would falter. I continued to climb the tree outside, and I was starting to get better, and then one day I looked at the heavier wooded area beyond the back lawn. “Hey Zac?” I asked him.
“Hm?” He looked at me.
“Can we go for a walk in the woods? I haven’t really gone out because I don’t want to get lost, but with you I know I can somehow navigate my way out if need be.” I asked. He nodded.
“Yeah that will be fine.” He said. I grinned and jumped down from the lowest branch.
“Alright! Then lets go!” I said and yelled into mom to let her know I would be going into the woods. Then I headed into the thick forest line with Zac floating nearby. “You like going through the woods sometimes?” I asked. He nodded.
“Its calming. And the forest never changes, but at the same time, it constantly is too.” He said.
“Well, alright Mr. Philosopher.” I laughed and jumped over a large log. There was a faint path and we stuck to that. It was quite lovely, with the birds chirping and even the sound of scurrying critters added to the peaceful atmosphere. I could see why he liked coming out here. I looked around and something in me really wanted to go to the right. So I did.
“Vera wait, we should stick to the path…” Zac said. I grabbed a large stick and stuck it in the middle of the path as a marker.
“We won’t go that far, I just have a feeling about over here.” I said. He sighed, but followed me all the same. After about 15 minutes of walking, we came upon something I didn’t expect. “A tree house!” I said happily.
