In the Woods Somewhere (3/3)

Levi opened her eyes, early in the morning. If she had a watch, if she had anything, she would see that it was 7:28AM.

She climbed to her feet, her small stature finding it hard to immediately catch her balance. She gets herself together, though, and looks around her with wide eyes. She doesn’t know which way she had to walk to get home.

Levi is lost.

So, she just starts walking. She walks and walks and walks. She walks, until she gets to a road and a fear strikes her. She is not allowed to cross the street alone. Levi looks at the country road, back and forth, the woods calling her name behind her. Something surges her forward and with all the adrenaline her small body could muster, she victoriously crosses the empty road. All by herself. She is proud, but she is here for a reason.

She feels like, looking upon the giant house, filled with monsters probably, and ghosts, where the Cuco lives, there is someone in there important. Someone she has to meet.

She uses her hands and legs to quickly climb up the large stairs to the porch of the big, old house. There is something frightening about the home, and comforting all at once. The young girl finally approaches the door. She looks down at her tiny, dirty hands and rub them off on her small overall shorts. Her yellow sun shirt is dirty. Her tia will be mad. She does her best to dust herself off, and pat some leaves away from her hair.

She gets on her tippie toes to knock. And waits.

The door opens, and Olivia breathes out an audible sigh of relief as she sees the face of her best friend. Opening the door so casually, Olivia could just punch her in the face.

She doesn’t, though. Instead, she just steps forward quickly and pulls the smaller woman into a hug and Levi laughs so loudly, it wakes the woods up from its slumber a few feet away until it groans in annoyance.

“Olivia!” Levi yells excitedly. “You found me! I thought you were never gonna find me. You took forever!”

“Of course I did! How was I supposed to know you were gonna be here?” Olivia pulls away from the hug, punching Levi in the arm and making the girl yelp out. Olivia can’t stop her heart from beating out of her chest, all the worrying melting from her. It was replaced with a slight anger.

“Ouch! Hey!” Levi rubs at her arm. “You’re here, aren’t you?”

Levi turns and walks into the house, leaving Olivia on the porch with the expectation that the other woman would follow. Olivia hesitates. This is the home where she grew up. Since leaving college, it has been empty; her father trying desperately to sell it. Olivia frowns. She supposes, this is the home where Levi grew up as well, in the same way that the home where Levi had stood gave her moments of growth.

They grew up together.

Olivia walks into the home. The darkness of the coming night beginning to envelop the rooms. It takes a moment for her eyes to adjust and she finds Levi where the couch used to be. Olivia sits next to her and stares ahead as well. There should be a TV in that spot. Muscle memory is beginning to kick in.

“Yeah, I’m here.” Olivia says, through the comfortable silence presented by Levi. “But why are you here?”

“Well, I was upset and I went to the woods and the father told me that I need to go back to where we started, so I came here.” Levi pauses. “They were real upset when they saw you weren’t around because we argued over some silly stuff. I’m sorry I got mad at you, maybe I overreacted. I didn’t mean to. I guess everything just feels like a lot lately.”

To anyone else hearing this, it would’ve sounded like total nonsense. However, Olivia nods and Levi smiles softly. She’s never needed to explain too much to her Olivia for some understanding. They were made to be friends.

“Back to where we started, huh? I guess we’ve been needing to focus up and stuff, remember who we are. But then again, I don’t feel like we forgot.” Olivia shrugs, folding her legs over one another as she gets a little more comfortable on the floor. “I don’t feel like anything has changed much at all.”

“You don’t?” Levi sounds confused and thinks that maybe, her brain might be backward. She pulls her knees up to her chest and hugs them, her words mumble but still enough for Olivia to hear. “I don’t know, I feel like a lot of stuff has changed.”

Olivia smiles at Levi pitifully, understanding that the innocent girl has spent the last few months learning a lot, taking in a lot. She’s felt proud and devastated, all in the same day at times. There has been nothing but ups and downs and turns on the blossoming of Levi’s career and life lately. Olivia gives a supportive squeeze to the shoulder of Levi.

“Hey, it’s okay. Changes in life are important, but nothing will ever change between us. I promise. Me and you are stuck together forever, we have to watch each other’s backs, you hear me? A million opportunities will come and be won or lost, twenty Jacksons are going to come and go, we can argue about nothing all day, every day. It doesn’t matter. We’re still going to be friends. Nothing has changed.” Olivia pats Levi and lets her hand fall back to the ground. She turns and watches the newly exposed corner of the ceiling, her adjusted eyes places photos on the walls where none stood anymore.

“Thanks, Olivia.” Levi says, sincerely. She watches the face of her friend, the shadows cast and taking a while to show her spaced-out expression. Levi questions, “what’s wrong? Is it weird to be here after so long?”

“Yeah,” Olivia answers after a few moments. “It kind of is. This place has always felt so. Haunted. After everything that happened, you know?”

“It always felt like it was,” Levi states, her voice back to normal tone. “Felt like it was when I stood here too. So, yeah, still feels that way.”

“You slept here for three days.” Olivia realizes.

“Yeah.”

“What did you eat? Where did you sleep?”

“I slept on the floor, I ate chips. I just waited.”

“Because you felt like we should come back to the beginning.”

“Yeah,” Levi stops for a moment, tripping over a thought. For a moment, her head swims. Her vision blurs. She gets it together easily. “I think,” she starts up again, “we should buy this place from your father and fix it up and make it home.”

Olivia doesn’t say anything immediately. She just shrugs.

“You don’t like that idea?” Levi frowns, sitting up straight and turning her body toward Olivia. “I thought you might like it.”

“I do,” Levi pretends not to hear the sniffle. She pretends not to see Olivia turn away to wipe at her eyes quickly. Olivia doesn’t want to admit how emotional she is. She doesn’t want to tell Levi how much she misses this home and how upset she is at her father for abandoning it so easily.

Olivia misses the pictures and the wind chimes and the fireplace. She misses the yard and the attic and the small places in the walls where she would hide playfully. She doesn’t know how to communicate it. She doesn’t want to start crying.

“I think it’s a great idea, Levi. I don’t know what to say. Probably one of your better ideas in a while.” Olivia laughs quietly and Levi gasps.

“Hey! I’m full of good ideas, lady!” Levi finally punched Olivia’s arm back.

“Ouch!” Olivia yells to her. “That fucking hurt!”

“And that’s a quarter!” Levi laughs as Olivia rolls her eyes, getting up from the floor and helping her friend up. They dust themselves off, the house much dirtier than Levi, who has been wearing the same clothes for the last four days.

They hold hands naturally as Olivia guides them out of the home, greeted by the singular street light close to them in the night. They stand on the porch and look toward the woods, watch as the shadows twist and dance within it.

“You know, you really had me worried.” Olivia says. “And then you had me annoyed.”

“Sounds normal,” Levi says. “I wanted to call you, you know, after the first couple of days, but my phone was dead and the house doesn’t have electricity.”

“You could’ve, you know, came home?” Olivia offers. Levi shakes her head, walking down with her friend toward their car.

“Nah, this is home.”

“Yeah, I guess it is now. I’ll call my dad tomorrow and set it up and maybe we can start moving right away. Sounds good?” Olivia and Levi enter the car, throwing on their seatbelts. “Also, that dumb dude Jackson seemed pretty worried, so charge your phone and give him a call. I’m not telling him a thing.”

“Olivia!” Levi yells, “I like Jackson, be nice!”

“You like everyone, though!”

“Olivia!”

“Fine, I guess he’s alright. We’ll see. I still don’t like him, though. Oh, and before I forget, here.” Olivia smiles as she hands Levi a Gatorade, and a black scratch off. $20. Levi drinks the Gatorade and stares at the ticket in her hand, almost straight through it. Olivia looks at her confused.

“That’s the ticket you’ve been asking about, they finally got it in.”

“Oh yeah,” Levi says, looking at it blankly. She shakes her head and throws it in the back seat. “Thank you! I’ll scratch it when I get home. I really appreciate it, my Olivia!”

“Hey…” Olivia studies her face. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

Levi nods her head. “Uh, yeah, I’m sure! I’m great! We’re gonna be homeowners!I’m so excited!”

Olivia smiles at her, starting up the car. “Hey, I’m pretty excited too. This is good for us. Things are going to just go even more up from here. And don’t forget, we have our tag match coming up in Millennium soon. I don’t know about you, but I feel like there’s nothing in the world that can beat us.”

Levi fills with energy, smiling broadly and clenching her first in excitement. “Nothing at all, you and me? We got this!”

“And you know,” Olivia starts. “If we’re going to be co-homeowners, you can just go disappearing like that anymore. That’s not responsible. So, if we do this, you have to quit that. Deal?”

Levi bites her lips, thinking for a moment. Thinking that, running away when she wanted, felt very similar to freedom. It felt great. However, she’s willing to give it up if it meant they could be where they were supposed to. Levi’s head swims again as she extends her hand out. Olivia accepts it and they close their promise with a shake.

“Deal!”

They drive off, prepared for tomorrow.