Page 34 of Ring Around the Rosie

What the fuck?

“No. Why would you say that?” He just blinked. “Let me by, Foster.”

“Why?”

I’ve never wanted to punt a kid so badly in my life.

“Because Solomon is hurt! Really hurt! He needs help!” I shouted.

Foster continued to smile, despite how upset I was. “I know.” I didn’t like the way he said those two words. “But, now we’re even.”

What the hell?

“Even?” I repeated. “Who’s even?”

Foster toyed with the Sapling in his hand. “You know. Solomon burned The Redwood, and so, The Redwood burned him back.” His smile grew larger and larger. “People should really be more careful with nature. You never know when it’s going to retaliate.” He raised the little figure high. “Sabbath said I could play with the Sapling! Oh, it was so fun! And now that blood has been shed, Mother can begin. We all can!”

What the hell was he talking about?

I suddenly noticed something dark dripping from his hand onto the ground. “Foster?” I bent down and examined his tiny hand closely. His palm was bleeding, and the blood was black like mine. It was enough to stain the Sapling and the inside of his palm. My eyes widened, and I glanced up at him. “What happened?” I asked. He just stood there and smiled.

“Aster?” I snapped my head to see Nurse B holding a first aid kit. She looked from me to Foster with weary eyes. “What’re you doing?” I quickly stood and stepped back from Foster while I opened my mouth to speak. “Foster, why are you out here, alone with Aster? Why aren’t you with your brother?”

Sabbath ran up to us, almost out of breath. “Thisbe,” he panted. “I’m sorry. Aster was keeping Foster away from the accident while I helped with the campers. She was just doing what I asked. One of the counselors had an accident.” The two exchanged a silent look.

Why is he lying?

Nurse B looked him up and down and seemed to notice the faint traces of paint. Her dark, heavy eyes made their way over to me and did the same. “Yes. I heard.”

Sabbath quickly picked Foster up. “I should take him back to the cabin and get him cleaned up for dinner.” Nurse B nodded. Sabbath completely ignored me and walked away. So strange.

“Aster?” I turned and looked at the older woman. “Care to explain what happened here?” I wanted to tell her the truth, but I knew she wouldn’t believe me.

“Solomon… tripped.” That was a lie. “He fell into the fire and has some really bad burns.”

She stared ahead at the fire. “Did he bleed?” I hesitated and nodded my head. “I see. I can handle things from here. You should head back to your cabin as well. We don’t need the othercounselors questioning the paint on you and your brother.” My face turned white as she walked past me.

Did she know? No. She couldn’t… Could she?

Nurse B rushed to Sol, and I slowly made my way back to my cabin at the edge of Camp Redwood.

The sun was setting, and I knew it was almost time for dinner. I needed to clean up. As I stepped onto the cabin porch, something made a noise. I looked around to see a plague doctor’s mask, just like the ones I saw before. Except, this one had a weird eyeglass. No, it wasn’t weird. It was broken, and it was peeking through the tall grass and trees. “Hey.” It quickly pulled away at the sound of my voice. “Hey!” I sprinted in the direction I’d seen it, running to try to catch up.

I knew it. I’m not fucking crazy. There’s people wandering around in these woods. I don’t know why, but something is going on. Something weird.

“Hey!” I continued to run after the dark figure while it bobbed and weaved through the woods. It was so fast. “Stop!” I watched it move so eloquently. “Stop!” The figure led me further away from camp and deeper into the woods until the sun faded away, and I could no longer see it. “No! Fuck!” I weaved through lingering branches hoping to find it again. But I didn’t. Instead, I found myself lost in the redwoods. “Damn it!” I stopped to catch my breath and spun around, looking in all directions. I had no idea which way to go or where I even was. I just knew I wasn’t alone out here. And that made me extremely nervous. “Hello?” I called out. There was no answer. “Okay, so maybe chasing some masked asshole out into the dark, creepy woods wasn’t such a good idea after all.” I slowly walked backwards and stopped as I listened. It sounded like something had moved off in the distance behind me. “Definitely not a good idea.” I wandered around for a bit in the hopes that I lost whatever it was.

Time seemed to go on forever as I trekked through the endless woods. I swore I felt like I was wandering in circles. It drove me fucking crazy. “Where the hell am I?” I looked up at the night sky and whispered to myself, “God, I’m going to get my ass chewed out so bad for missing dinner.” I blame Sabbath.

My foot hit a rock, and I roughly fell forward. Redwood leaves and dirt shot into the air from my fall. My body ached, and my head throbbed. “Fuck,” I breathed. I didn’t want to move after the painful impact. Just sit there and groan. “I give up.” I lowered my head in defeat and blew the dirt around my face. “I’m never going to find my way out of these damn woods.”

Where’s Sabbath when you need him? Wait.

My arm slid along the ground and reached the scar on my back. “How does this work?” I winced at the pressure.

Sabbath… Please. Find me.

I felt along the raised tissue and traced the scar, as if by pure determination and wishful thinking it somehow would magically lead him to me. “This is crazy.” I stopped and accepted defeat. “There’s no way he’s going to find me simply because of a fucking scar.”

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