Page 47 of The Woods

She calls out to Quinn, who’s in the kitchen behind her. “Come on. Nana’s gone into the woods looking for Soot. We should help her.”

Surprisingly, Quinn abandons his pasta and hops up without a fight. The two of them jog across the lawn and through the opening in the trees but stop short. It’s dark in there—night comes earlier amongst the trees. Polly doesn’t see any more flashes of yellow. They both call out for her and listen, too afraid to go any farther.

“What should we do?” Polly asks, secretly hoping that he doesn’t suggest going deeper.

“I have an idea,” Quinn says, turning back in the direction of the house. “I’ll get my drone and fly it above the trees and see if we can spot her that way.”

“Okay. Hurry. It’s almost dark.” He takes off, leaving her alone in the woods. She hears the sound of a branch cracking just up ahead. “Nana?” she calls out. “Are you there?” The wind picks up, moving through the trees, making a hissing noise in the dry leaves.

“Sorry, Nana,” she whispers, before hurrying out of the woods and back onto the lawn, where there’s still a trace of light. Quinn is heading in her direction.

He puts the drone on the ground and hands Polly his phone. “You watch the live video and look for Nana while I fly it.”

Quinn has already opened the screen she’ll watch the drone footage on. It’s blank but Polly focuses on it, waiting. Quinn fiddles around with the control panel and the drone suddenly lifts straight up into the air. The screen lights up with visuals of the lawn and trees, and them standing just below it.

“It’s working,” she calls out. Quinn maneuvers the drone up high above the tree line then sends it forward away from them and over the woods. There’s a staticky noise right before the picture on the screen disappears, replaced with gray fuzz. “Is this normal?” Polly holds it out for Quinn to see.

“No!” he yells at her, looking down at the control panel and then over at the screen. “You must have pressed something on the phone.”

“I did not,” she snaps back.

“Well, it’s never done that before.” He moves the control panel to one hand and is reaching for the phone with the other when there’s a popping noise, like a fuse blowing or an outlet shorting. The lights on the control panel go out and the screen on his phone turns black.

“What the fuck?” he mumbles, looking from the control panel to his phone. He tries to turn the panel back on, but nothing happens. He tries to reload the live stream, but the screen stays black. “It shorted out,” he says, shaking his head in disbelief.

“I don’t understand geek talk,” Polly says. “Is the thing broken or what?”

He stares into the woods and then nods. “I think so.” They stand there in silence, staring at the trees. Darkness has fully fallen, and the only light is coming from the windows of the house.

“We have to call Mom,” Polly says. “We need to tell her that Nana is lost in the woods.”

Alice

They’re halfway through their first drinks and have only just ordered their entrées when Alice gets a phone call from Polly. Her daughter is out of breath, but Alice gets the gist. She tells Polly they’re on their way.

“What’s going on?” Geoff asks.

“Polly said that my mother went into the woods after one of the cats and the kids think she’s gotten lost in there.” Alice signals to the waiter so that they can cancel their order. Geoff takes a sip of his drink, a mocktail of his own choosing. Since his night in the woods, he’s barely touched alcohol, only the odd glass of wine.

“How long has she been gone?” he asks calmly.

“I’m not sure, almost an hour it sounds like.” Alice waves to the waiter, more frantically this time. “Apparently Quinn flew his drone over the woods to see where she was, and it broke.” She turns her attention to the waiter to explain that they have a family emergency and must leave unexpectedly. The waiter nods and hurries off to get their bill. She puts her phone in her purse and reaches around for her coat. Geoff continues sipping on his drink.

“And it’s dark out now, so…”

He nods and sucks it back in one go. “I guess we’d better go home, then.” He takes the paper umbrella from the drink and pulls it closed, then opens it back up. “I can’t believe they still put these things in drinks.”

Alice shakes her head in disbelief, but Geoff’s too busy studying the umbrella to notice.

“Yeah, well, I don’t really care about the stupid umbrella. I’m just a bit preoccupied that my mother is lost in the woods in the dark and the kids are freaking out.”

Geoff’s head snaps up and he looks surprised. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize you were really worried. I’m sure your mom will be fine.” He gives a little laugh and shrugs. “I mean, I was.”

“Yes, but you’re not a seventy-eight-year-old woman, are you?” She gets up and pulls money from her wallet to toss on the table. The waiter is taking far too long to bring a bill for only two drinks and she’s not waiting another minute. Geoff gets up as well, grabs his coat off the back of the chair, and follows her as she marches toward the front door.

“Should I call the police?” she asks on the way out, reaching in her purse for her phone.

Geoff puts a hand on her lower back to guide her though the tables, something he never used to do. Instead, he used to get up from the table first to go to the bathroom, leaving her to pay the bill.