Page 34 of The Woods

“Have you?” her mother asks.

“Have I what?” Polly sits up and the room tilts slightly.

“Seen your dad.”

Polly’s so confused. “What? No. Why would he be in here?”

Her mother stomps her foot lightly. “Not in here. When was the last time you saw your dad? The party ended an hour ago but I can’t find him anywhere.”

“Why?” Polly works to bring herself into full consciousness. Everything feels blurry and dreamlike.

“Because I can’t find him,” her mom snaps. There’s fear in her voice, which jolts Polly fully awake.

“I haven’t seen him for ages,” her mom adds. “When did you last see him?”

Polly points out the window. “After you guys had that fight on the lawn. I saw him go into the woods.”

Quinn

“Stupid dog,” Quinn mumbles under his breath. He’s held a shirt of his dad’s up to her nose three times now and told her to go get him, but the dumb dog just stands at the edge of the woods, growling. She refuses to go in there. Through the trees he can see the bobbing lights of the police officers’ flashlights and hear them calling his dad’s name, but it does nothing to reassure him. They’ve been in there for almost two hours now and haven’t found anything. Quinn wanted to join them, but the whole family was told to stay out of the woods since they weren’t familiar with them yet, and in case their dad came back another way.

“I really don’t know what all the fuss is about,” his nana says now as they all stand at the edge of the woods observing the search party. “He probably just passed out against a tree. God knows he was drunk enough. It’s not that cold out and he’ll find his way back by the light of day. My second husband used to do it all the time. Wander off drunk and pass out. He always came back. Unfortunately.” She chuckles at her own joke and Quinn fights the urge to tell her to shut up.

It’s his dad out there, not her stupid second husband. What if an animal got him, a bear, or a wolf? He can’t lose his dad too. He feels panic mounting. “What are we going to do?” he says, his breath growing shallow and rapid. “How are we going to find him? No one even knows what’s in there.” He starts to feel dizzy and his mom reaches out and pulls him into her body.

“It’s okay, Quinn,” she says, rubbing his back. “The police will find him.” Her words and her body calm him. His breathing slows. Then he remembers what Polly said. His dad went into the woods after a fight with his mom.

He pushes free of the embrace. “It’s your fault he went in there.”

“I didn’t send him into the woods, Quinn,” she shoots back. “He was on his way to his writing studio for something. I left before he even got there and had no idea he was going to go into the woods.” She turns to Polly. “Tell us what you saw again, Polly?”

Polly shrugs and Quinn thinks she may be drunk, or high, or possibly both. You never knew with her. “I already told you. It looked like he was going into his writing studio but then he just kept going into the woods. He was stumbly. As soon as he was out of sight I went back inside.”

“And where were you exactly, dear?” his nana asks. “Your mom said she didn’t even see you outside.” He’s pretty sure Polly glares at her, but it’s quick.

“I was at the side of the house.”

“Why on earth were you at the side of the house?” his nana pushes.

“I wanted some fresh air.” Polly’s starting to sound defensive, and she’s got her fingers shoved into her hair so that she can pick at the scar on her scalp from the brain surgery—something she only does when she’s stressed.

“At the side of the house?” His nana will not let it go.

“It doesn’t matter where Polly was, Mom. She saw Geoff go into the woods and the trail cam confirmed it.”

“It also recorded him asking if anyone was there,” Quinn adds. “And then the stupid thing conks out and is all staticky. What if someone was there? Someone who wanted to hurt him.”

“The only person who wants to hurt your father is your mother, and she was inside all night,” his nana says, laughing at her own joke again. God, she irritates him. Why did his mother have to agree to let her live with them?

“Mom,” Alice says firmly, “it’s not the time for jokes.”

Quinn gives Panda a hard shove toward the woods. “Go get him!” he yells at her. Panda curves her body to give him a warning nip and then skirts away from them all, whining.

His mother puts a hand on his shoulder. “Quinn, stop. You can’t force Panda to go in there. Besides, the police are in there, and she’d only get in their way.”

The sentence is barely out of her mouth when a beam of light appears, blinding them all, followed by the police search party exiting the woods. The one in charge stops to talk to them.

“We’ve covered pretty much every inch of that forest and see no sign of him. That makes me think he may have found somewhere else to spend the night. Wouldn’t be unusual if he wanted to continue the party elsewhere, considering your disagreement. I’ll have an officer drive around town to look for him.”