They Spend More Time in the Woods

Anat Sees Christy A.

After the Woodsman left, the two crawled into their tent. Marc is still mourning the destruction of his leanto. He knows who did it. He will make him pay. The guy will never know what hit him.

They woke up, washed up and made pancakes. They looked at each other. Each of them knew what the other was thinking. Marc took out his phone and texted his parents to ask how the twins were doing. Mom texted back that they were great and she was sorry they were picking them up later. She wanted more time.

Marc texted back that they decided to stay an extra day. Mom texted back the smile emoji. The two of them discussed chilling out in the woods a little longer. They hiked down to the Delaware River and jumped in. They were at a site Marc used to camp in. There was a crooked tree that he loved. He used to stand near it and take pictures. Sadly, it fell.

Their swim was refreshing. They hiked a little bit. Marc showed Alana his old stomping grounds. His favorite greasy spoon closed years ago. It is now a fancy restaurant. He has yet to dine there. One day. They saw several does and their fawns. Beautiful they are. They grazed while Alana snapped a few images and sent them to Anat, Ellen, Jen, Stacey and Tzipora. Alana hasn’t been with her girls since the twins were born. She needed a night out with them. Hopefully, a peaceful one. She still remembers the first night she used her powers when some dumb jock wouldn’t leave Stacey alone in the bar. She still wonders why he was in a goth bar—made no sense. Those women weren’t interested in him. He learned that the hard way after Alana made him whimper. Oh well.

The weather perfect. They got to their site and started grilling to the tunes of the Stripes, Nena’s first band before she found a red balloon.

Anat didn’t know these people. That was the time she was the enemy and had no friends. Wow, how things have turned around. 

Sometimes she thinks of those days. How much better her life has become since she found Jerry abandoned on a bench during her run along Hudson River Park near the West Side Highway. She was out there almost daily. That one day she saw Jerry in tears changed everything. He was becoming quite powerful and doing well in school.

She was out on her run and saw a disheveled-looking Christy on a bench. She was still bruised pretty badly from the recent fight. She was shivering. Anat snapped a shot, texted it to those who needed it, and kept on running.