Page 20 of The Woods

As though saying her name summons her, his nana steps out the back door. Panda escapes along with her and runs over to sniff the dead raccoon. His mom aggressively shoos her away.

“Aren’t you going to bury it?” his nana asks impatiently. “Leave it there much longer and it will attract vermin and God knows what else.”

Panda barks from the other side of the lawn and then starts pawing at something in the grass. Skirting in circles around whatever she’s found, pawing, barking, sniffing. Quinn leaves his mom and dad to see what his dog is going on about. Only a few feet away he hears his mom ask his dad, “Do you think a person did this? Because of. Well, you know. The history of the place?”

“I doubt it,” his dad says flatly.

With Quinn’s approach, Panda grows even more excited, practically spinning in circles around whatever she’s got. “Fuck.” The word shoots out of him as soon as he sees it. A ball of brownish-gray fur, not moving, the grass around it darkened with blood. “Another one!” he calls out, and his parents both come running.

It’s hard to tell what the thing is, so his dad goes and gets a stick to turn it over. His nana gets in there too, leaning over to study the furry lump in the grass. His dad pokes it a few times before he’s able to get it on its back and see the face of the thing. A rabbit, front and hind paws missing, along with the ears.

“Okay, Geoff,” his mother says, sounding frantic. “That’s four. Four dead animals on our lawn in one morning.” She turns in circles looking at the woods. “I mean, is that normal when you live in the woods?”

His dad puts a hand on his mom’s shoulder and starts to lead her back toward the house. Quinn and his nana automatically follow.

“Some animal went on a hunting spree last night,” his dad says. “We’ll just keep an eye on Panda when we let her out for the next little while.” He rubs her back, which makes Quinn feel better too. “If it happens again, we’ll get in touch with Animal Control.”

“Okay,” his mom says, sounding skeptical, her eyes still darting all over the place, as though something is about to charge out of the woods at them.

“I’ll clean it all up,” his dad adds as they skirt around the pool to avoid the raccoon. “You need to get to work.”

“Shit. I’m so late.” His mom moves faster toward the back door. “And you’re really late, Quinn. I’ll write you a note, but you’ll have to finish making your own lunch.”

Polly opens the back door just as his mom is about to go through it. “Why’s everyone out here?” she asks, looking past their mom to the yard. “What the hell is that?” she says, and he hears his nana huff loudly behind him.

His mom moves her to the side to squeeze through the door. “Your brother will explain on the way to school.”

“Geoff,” his nana calls out as she heads toward her cabin. “Let me know when everything is cleaned up. I’d like to sit by the pool and read. It’s supposed to be hot today. A true Indian summer.”

Quinn’s dad lifts a hand and gives her a thumbs-up as he retrieves a shovel that’s leaning against the side of his writing studio.

“You can’t call it that anymore, Nana,” Polly calls out, still standing in the back door. “It’s not politically correct.”

His nana turns back. “And when, my dear, have I ever cared about being politically correct?” She swoops her hand up in the air dramatically and laughs before disappearing into her cabin. Polly rolls her eyes and slams the back door.

His dad looks over at Quinn and shakes his head. “What a piece of work.”

Alice

She hasn’t stopped thinking about those dead animals all day. In between meetings she googled every variation she could think of to try to identify an animal that systematically dismembers other animals. Her only search result: ritualistic sacrifices by human beings. The whole thing makes her wonder if she made the wrong decision, moving her family to a house in the woods.

She texted Geoff twice, suggesting that he get in touch with Animal Control now, rather than waiting for it to happen again. He gave a thumbs-up emoji the first time and didn’t respond the second. So, on her way home from work she bought a trail cam. The kind that connects to your phone if it’s in the vicinity of Wi-Fi. She needs to know what’s out there.

She thought installing it would be easy, but the ladder keeps slipping across the tree bark and she can’t reach far enough to get the straps of it all the way around the trunk. Her arms have scratches all over them and her T-shirt and leggings are now filthy and drenched with sweat.

“Why don’t you put it on a smaller tree?” She didn’t notice Quinn arrive, and it startles her. Losing her grip on the tree, the ladder starts sliding to one side and she has to leap off so she doesn’t go down with it. She lands hard on her butt in the dirt, pain already settling into her tailbone, but she holds up the camera triumphantly in one hand.

“Sorry,” Quinn says. “I didn’t mean to scare you.” He holds out a hand to help her up.

She gratefully takes it. “It’s okay.”

“Why didn’t you ask Dad for help?” He glances toward Geoff’s writing studio.

“He was asleep in there when I got home.” Her answer causes a flash of worry to cross Quinn’s face. Alice knows it’s because he’s afraid that his dad napping in the day will be a strike against him. That it might cause a fight later tonight. It makes her feel like shit. She forgets sometimes how much her kids notice about the dynamic between her and Geoff. How highly tuned their radar is for discord between their parents.

“I thought I’d let him sleep. He’s probably exhausted after cleaning up all those dead animals.” Alice doesn’t think that at all, but she wants to dispel Quinn’s worry. She knows that Geoff is exhausted because he drank too much last night and slept on the couch in his writing studio. That’s the strike against him and it will probably come up at some point, but she’ll make sure Quinn’s not around for it.

“I can hold the ladder if you want.” His offer surprises Alice. She’d expected the miserable-tyrant version of her son to come home from another day at school. “I think you should try that tree though. It’s not as wide but just as close to the tree line so it should pick up the Wi-Fi.”