Reminiscing In The Woods

“It’s a pretty nice night.”

‘Yeah, full moon, quiet… It’s really peaceful.’

“Justin,..Remember when we were kids, and we used to play in these woods all day? That tree house your dad built for us.”

‘Yeah, man. I would BEG my mom to let me stay out later with you, playing in the creek was my favorite thing when I was a kid. You know the tree house is still up, right? I still have to hide up there sometimes.’

“Really? I haven’t gone up there in ages, didn’t think of that. Anyway, we would run around and play all night, until the street lights came on and then some! Then my dad would be pissed when I tried to sneak back in my room at, like, 10pm, 12am.”

‘Your dad was a jerk, Marcus. I don’t think he ever liked me.’

“Nah,..he…he was a..rough kinda guy.”

‘...I know. You used to hide out late just to get away from the guy. We talked all night, about school and you struggling to live under the roof as that bastard. I get you though, man, you barely even got a real childhood… Being raised by someone who didn’t even treat you like his kid. I’m glad you don’t have to deal with him again, since last year.’

“Yeah, It…sucked to say the least. But, uh, you remember when we got chased by my neighbor’s dog and ran in my house? We got mud ALL OVER the carpet and all the way up the stairs. He was SO mad!”

‘Ha. Yeah, he was pissed. Wait, no, remember when I fell out that tree and my mom called your dad? THEN he was mad. My mom didn’t have a car, so she wanted him to drive me to the hospital. Since it was your fault, of course.’

“MY fault?! How was it MY fault?”

‘Are you serious? How was it not?.’

“What are you talking about? I was so scared for you when that happened! I thought you were gonna die or something! Little kid me didn’t want to kill someone. I sat at home ALL DAY, hoping you were ok!“

‘Dude,.. you pushed me.’

“...Oh, yeah. Well, I was still worried.”

‘Ha.. Whatever.’

“Seriously though, I loved that time.”

‘Pushing me out of a tree?’

“No! Being a kid. Running around carefree, playing outside… going to school, I hated school, but even still. It was a nice era, I guess.”

‘You were a dumb kid.’

“WHAT!? No, I wasn’t! Why do you say that?”

‘Mr. D-, hates school, huh? I wonder why.’

“Haha! It’s not my fault, you know I had trouble focusing in school.”

‘You have trouble focusing on everything. You got ADHD or something?’

“Huh? How should I know? I’m not a psychologist.”

‘Well, it’s your damn brain.’

“I don’t know what goes on up there!”

‘Me neither, man, me neither.’

“Maybe I do have something wrong in my head… I can’t control it. I didn’t fail on purpose, I just… I don’t know. I have never been just like other kids.”

‘It’s all good, dude. You might be a little iffy, maybe just a few screws loose, but that’s alright. It makes you… unique. Normal people are all lame.’

“Yeah, I guess so… Ha, well, you know what? If I’m a little messed up, then you are too.”

‘Really? What makes you say that?’

“You’re my friend!”

‘Dang, I guess that’s proof enough. Hah.’

“I bet you get tired of me. You’re way less, I don’t know, eccentric? Less than I am, at least. You keep it low key.”

‘Nah, I never get tired of you. Never have, never will. If I didn’t like you, I wouldn’t be around you so much, now would I? I trust you too, more than my other friends. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be in the woods right now, late at night, with a man I didn’t even want to be around.’

“You know… that’s a pretty good point. Heh, I trust you too. I’d trust you with anything, you don’t tell secrets, like some.”

‘Yeah,...some... Chris.’

“UGH! I hated Chris. That guy sucked as a kid and got worse when he got older. He was so annoying.”

‘And a snitch.’

“AND a snitch! Man! When we were kids, I thought we were going to be some sort of super trio. I was so wrong. The amount of times I’d get detention because he went to the teacher about us, or he’d tell his parents on me, I have no idea why we hung out with him for so long.”

‘My parents made me hang out with him. They said he didn’t have any other friends, no wonder. He was not a fun kid to be around. He was a teacher’s pet, mommy’s little angel, everything. I did NOT like him. Seriously, he was draining. Why did you reconnect with him?’

“You know how I am. I’m too nice to people, he kept reaching out, I kept answering. He’s annoying, but he made it hard to ignore him.”

‘I ignored him.’

“That’s because you’re tougher, man! His attempts didn’t work on you, but he made ME feel bad. I couldn’t brush him off.”

‘He almost got us caught up. You could’ve talked to him about old times and hung out, but did you have to mention all the other stuff?’

“I didn't mean to… I slipped up and said something I shouldn’t have. I tried to play it off, but he wouldn’t let it go! He was a persistent guy.”

‘Come on, dude, really? You know he was a snitch, you thought he wouldn’t tell?’

“I know, I know. I’m sorry.”

‘You’re lucky he came to me first, we both are.’

“Why’d he go to you though?”

‘I don’t know, maybe he thought he could confide in me, or play detective and see if I was in on it. Unlucky for him, I was.’

“Ha, good thing we took care of that.”

‘Yeah, speaking of, can you hurry and help me bury his body? I appreciate the nostalgia break, but we’ve been out here forever, it’s getting late.’

“Oh, yeah, my bad. …Still a nice night though... You still wanna go to that burger place tomorrow?”

‘Start digging, Marcus.’