Page 42 of The Woods

She wasn’t sure if it was because they’d gone so long without having sex or because something about being lost in the woods for a night had changed Geoff, but the sex felt new. They didn’t follow the routine that got them both to climax as quickly as possible so that they could roll away from each other and get some sleep. They did things they hadn’t done for years.

When he went down on her, it felt like the work of three tongues, not just one, and his hands sought out places they never had before. There was sweat and groans and moans—real ones—there was the sound of skin slapping skin, there were dirty words whispered with proclamations of love following right behind them, eyes closed with pleasure and opened to witness it in the other. It was carnal and loving at the same time, it was making up for lost time and starting fresh. In some moments Alice felt like they were two wild animals fucking for survival; at other times they were new lovers only just learning each other’s bodies.

Even Geoff’s smell was new: earth, leaves, pine. He still had it, even after a day out of the forest and a shower. It wasn’t unpleasant exactly. It might have even worked like some kind of pheromone, but it was just a bit too earthy.

It will be gone by morning, she reassures herself as she begins to drift off, utterly exhausted. They’re lying naked on a bed that has been wiped clean of top sheets and blankets. She has not rushed to put clothes on or push his arm off. For once, she does not feel like fleeing from him after having sex; she feels like staying right where she is and falling into a deep sleep.

“Do you mind if I go for a swim?” Geoff’s question brings her back from the brink of unconsciousness.

“Right now?” she asks, opening her eyes. “Isn’t it cold?”

Geoff lifts his arm off her sweaty chest, and it makes a soft sucking sound. “It was warm today, so the water is probably good. Even if it’s not, I’m so hot I won’t be able to sleep.” He gets out of bed and walks over to her side still naked. She surveys his body in the light from the en suite bathroom. Is it her imagination or does he look fitter, younger, not as paunchy? Amazing what good sex can do. Transform the way you see a person.

He bends down and kisses her on the lips and then her cheeks and her forehead. “I’m really glad we did that,” he says.

“Me too,” she answers, meaning it. One night in the woods? That’s all it took for them both to finally appreciate each other—to just be better? He leaves the room, and she drifts off to sleep, only to be woken fifteen minutes later by an overwhelming need to pee. She rarely makes it through the night these days without multiple trips to the bathroom.

On her way back to bed she stops at her dresser for some pajamas and while slipping them on glances out the window to the backyard. The pool lights are on, but the water is still, and Geoff is nowhere to be seen. Peering closer, she scans the yard and sees a figure standing at the edge of the woods. By the height and shape of it, she’s sure it’s him. He’s standing perfectly still, arms at his sides, in only his bathing suit despite the October chill.

Alice grabs her phone off the bedside table and taps on the trail-cam app, going to the live function so that she can figure out what he’s looking at. The screen is static. She curses the useless piece of crap and goes back to the window. Geoff has turned away from the woods and is slowly walking across the yard toward the house.

Alice quickly gets into bed and assumes the position. Why she feels the need to act like she’s sleeping, like she didn’t just see her husband staring into the dark of the woods, she’s not sure. It’s an instinctual feeling, and when he comes into the bedroom, bringing that woodsy scent with him, she keeps her eyes closed tight until she finally does drift off to sleep.

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2023

Quinn

It’s the first time that Quinn’s been in the new house alone. His parents went out to brunch and his sister is at work. They were gone when he woke up this morning. He found a note on the kitchen island from his mom explaining where everyone was. He read it through twice, surprised that his parents had gone out together for no reason other than to have brunch. They’ve been different since the night his dad got lost in the woods. Twice now he’s walked in on them kissing. And they haven’t gotten in one fight. He’s pretty sure that’s a record.

It’s pouring outside. After finding the note and realizing that he has at least an hour to kill without his mother interrupting him, he gets back in bed with his AirPods and pulls up the Killing Their Own podcast. He’s obsessed with the whole Justine Gordon thing and wants to listen to the next episode. The other night he spent ages searching for information online until he found a photo of the Gordon brothers. The younger one, who was his age when his mother killed him, had brown hair like his but was skinnier than him, wore glasses, and had some acne. The photo was taken in the bedroom he’s presently occupying. It doesn’t look that different from how it does now—clothes on the floor, a TV, an unmade bed, a few posters on the wall. Suddenly, he understands why his mom doesn’t want him looking into the murders. He still can’t believe that she moved his entire family, nana included, to a murder house.

The more he finds out, the worse it feels, but he can’t seem to stop. He tells himself he’ll just listen to the end of the podcast and then try to forget the whole thing. Isn’t it better to be informed about something than to be in the dark? He presses Play.

Cleo: Welcome to another episode of Killing Their Own. We’re back with our deep dive into the Justine Gordon case, the woman who killed her husband and two sons over the course of three days in May 2019 and blamed it on the woods that surrounded their family home. We have an incredible interview for you today, listeners! I was able to get an in-person interview with Justine Gordon herself. I sat down with her at the high-security psychiatric facility where she’s being held for an indefinite amount of time after being deemed mentally unfit to stand trial. Justine had one very specific rule for the interview. There is to be no discussion of the murders themselves. She only wants to talk about the woods.

Cleo: Thanks so much for agreeing to this interview, Mrs. Gordon.

Justine: Please call me Justine. And I’m happy to talk to you today in the hopes that I can make sure something like this never happens again.

Cleo: And how do you think this kind of thing could be prevented in the future, Justine?

Justine: My first recommendation would be to burn those woods right down to the ground. Get rid of the whole thing. If that’s not going to happen, then people will just have to heed my warning: Stay out of the woods. It’s as simple as that.

Cleo: When you say “Stay out of the woods,” Justine, do you mean all woods or the woods around your old house?

Justine: Not all woods. Just the ones around my house. There’s evil in there.

Cleo: What kind of evil? What do you mean?

Justine: [silence]

Cleo: Justine, you claim that your husband and sons were what? Changed? By something in the woods?

Justine: [long pause] Not just changed. Taken over. Possessed.

Cleo: Did you think they wanted to harm you?

Justine: I don’t know what they wanted. [long pause] No, they didn’t want to harm me. They didn’t do anything to me. But they weren’t my family anymore. They were different. Has someone you loved ever changed so much that you couldn’t recognize them anymore? Couldn’t reconcile the difference, and it made you feel like you were crazy?