Boy from the Woods (9781311684776) by Jen Minkman Read Free Book Online Page B

feel like borrowing
money from a guy she’d just met one minute ago – not to mention
sitting next to him looking all rained out and bedraggled. A hint
of a smile crept onto her face when she re-entered the woods. Anne
was actually right for once: Thorsten was a cute guy indeed. She’d
wanted to make a good impression. Him being the boy next door
really cheered her up.
    Under the
trees, it was hot, dark and damp. The leaves swished in the wind as
rain still pattered down, bolts of lightning lighting up the woods
every now and then. Julia’s shoes left deep footprints in the muddy
soil that made her slip and almost lose her balance
twice.
    Julia
came to a stop, panting for breath.
Leaning against a thick chestnut tree, she spluttered a curse and
rubbed her ankle. Damn – she’d almost twisted it due to the
slippery mud. What a stupid idea it had been to go
running in this dreadful weather. She should have just taken the
bus. By now she could have been home sitting on the couch with dry
clothes on, sipping hot cocoa from her favorite mug. Instead, here
she was, soaking wet, half-shivering, and even somewhat afraid of
the heavy thunderstorm. In the oppressive darkness of the storm,
the trees seemed to surround her like a hostile army, their shadows
towering over her. In fact, the forest looked like it was about to
spit out an evil Krampus any moment. This would be
a good time to bump into a mythical woodland creature waving a
magic wand to transport her home, but alas – that wasn’t going to
happen.
    Julia patted
the pockets of her jogging pants looking for Gaby’s iPod. Music
would probably dispel her dark thoughts.
She turned on the player and slowly jogged on in the semi-darkness
as the first sullen tones of ‘A Forest’ by the Cure filled her
ears. Not the most cheerful song imaginable, but the fact that it
was the first song to start playing in shuffle mode was too much of
a coincidence for her to skip it.
    Julia wiped the raindrops from her cheeks and
trudged doggedly on. The rhythm of the song spurred her on and made
her run faster, her heart beating wildly in her chest, tapping out
an indeterminate fear.
    The singer
droned in her ears. I’m lost
in a forest, all alone... I’m running towards nothing, again and
again and again . Her hands clenched into
fists and her eyes squinted against the rain falling from the sky.
Only a few more minutes and she’d be home.
    And then
something caught her eye . She froze. In
the light of a bright lightning strike setting the forest ablaze
with cold fire, she saw someone lying on the ground. The black
stain of a person on the edge of the path. A motorcycle on its
side, smack in the middle of the forest trail.
    Julia came to
a standstill, her breath ragged. With trembling, slippery fingers,
she fumbled with the player to turn off
the music. She’d ended up at her favorite oak tree, the place
suddenly looking sinister in the gloom. Her throat turned dry as
she peered at the unconscious figure on the forest trail. Step by
step, she shuffled forward. Her eyes followed the tire tracks that
the motorcycle had made in the muddy soil. Julia’s heart stopped
when she came even closer and recognized the Honda bike.
    No –
thi s couldn’t be happening. She rushed
the last few yards separating her from the boy on the ground. Julia
fell down on her knees next to his lifeless body, her stomach
filling with dread as she noticed the left side of his face was
covered in blood. He’d hit his head on a sharp-edged
rock. His head injury looked really, really bad.
    “Michael?” she whispered softly, putting a
trembling hand on his forehead. “Can you hear me?”
    He lay very
still, his lips almost blue in the macabre light of the
thunderstorm flashing occasionally. If only she could see whether
he was still breathing! She couldn’t hear
him breathe over the din of the rain and wind in the
woods.
    With shaking
hands, she grabbed her cell phone from her jacket pocket, setting the camera