Meadowview Acres by Donna Cain

that he felt afraid in the woods – afraid of something behind him, but not knowing what it was. He ended his story recounting how he had found Brody under his bed and how long it had taken him to coax the dog out.
    Hunter listened quietly. At first he thought his friend was overreacting, but then he looked down at the fur blowing away in the wind and realized that something had happened.
    “Something happened,” he thought. “But what? Eli didn’t actually see anything. He didn’t hear anything. He didn’t even smell anything like a fire. What could have gotten him so bugged out?”
    When Eli was finished, they both were quiet for a moment. Eli had finished rinsing Brody and had used the towel to dry him while he told Hunter his tale. The dog, clean but with somewhat less fur, sat quietly between the boys. He seemed a little better, so they led him into the house and settled him into his dog bed.
    “Well, I think there’s only one thing for us to do,” Hunter said.
    “What’s that?” Eli asked.
    “We’ve got to go back to where you and Brody were. Well, more like where Brody was, by that bulldozer. The fact that you didn’t see, hear or smell anything is really weird to me. There must have been something that spooked Brody. We need to find out what that was. We have to go back and really look around.”
    “I don’t know, Hunter. I mean, I doubt I could even get Brody to go into the woods anymore. And honestly, I don’t know if I want to go back either.” Eli felt a little ashamed, but the fear was still there, and if he couldn’t tell Hunter, who else could he talk to?
    “Listen,” Hunter replied, “we don’t even need Brody. He might even be a distraction. We’ll just go in real quiet and listen for signs of anything weird. When we get to the dozer, if everything is still cool, I’ll just go closer till I can see what’s what. I promise if there’s anything that looks off, we’re out of there. Deal?”
    Eli was reluctant, but still a little curious to know what had happened. “Okay. But really, Hunter, if any little thing is fishy, we’re out, okay?”
    “No worries, Bro. I got you covered,” Hunter replied and clapped his best friend on the back. “Let’s go out the back and leave Brody home.”
    They decided to be prepared for anything, so Hunter grabbed a Swiss Army knife and a flashlight. He threw them into a light backpack along with a couple bottles of water. At the last minute, Eli grabbed a garden spade to add to the pack. The boys headed out the side door.
    Crossing the street to the Miller’s house, Eli got a butterfly in his stomach. He had never in his life been afraid of the woods. He had played in them his whole life, ever since his mother had deemed him old enough to go in with Hunter. It felt strange for him to feel such trepidation about entering them.
    They passed through the rough undergrowth at the edge and plunged into the shadowed world beyond. Nothing looked unusual or out of the ordinary. The leaves blanketed the ground, and a rough path was stretched out before them. All of the kids in the neighborhood played in the woods, especially the part closest to the houses. It was empty now, though. The trails were vacant, just as they had been earlier that afternoon.
    Continuing down the rough path, they saw squirrels, chipmunks and birds galore. The smaller wildlife in the woods was abundant as evidenced by the fat cats in the neighborhood. They usually didn’t see any of the bigger animals, maybe a deer once in a while, but nothing more than that.
    The path ended causing the boys to make their way past tree stumps and clumps of rocks and branches while heading in the general direction of the clearing. Eli was feeling a little better since they were well into the woods, and they hadn’t encountered anything out of the ordinary.
    A few more yards in, Hunter stopped and turned slowly around to face Eli. “Do you hear that?” He whispered.
    Eli stopped abruptly. “No.