“Why do I have to stay here anyway? Why can’t I be with my friends?”
Mom sighed. “Because the police are searching the woods. They can’t have you kids walking through a crime scene.”
“A crime scene? They think it was a crime?”
Dad gave her a warning look. “Something happened. We don’t know what. It’s too soon to jump to any conclusions, so just let the police do their job.”
“What are they looking for?” I asked.
“Your friend Brandon was taking them into the woods. He thought he knew somewhere they should check.”
My heart felt like it would pound right out of my chest. Of course Brandon would.
• • •
We pulled onto the winding road that led to the lake cabins. I glanced at Jennifer through the rearview mirror. “Are you sure you’re up for this?”
She nodded.
She’d grown silent as we approached the lake. Almost in a trance, the way I remembered from that summer. “My family never came back here.” It was a stupid thing to say, but I needed to break the silence. “What about you? Did your family ever come back? To look for Sarah?”
She shook her head. “No, but they kept the cabin. I think in case she ever came back.” Her tone was cold and blank, like she wasn’t there anymore.
I cursed silently, noticing a rusted Ford truck in the driveway. Part of me had held out hope he wouldn’t come. “There’s Lee.”
She nodded.
Lee looked ragged, and old. His chin sharp as a razor, and his cheekbones hollow and gaunt. He looked twenty years older than he should have. His hair had gone prematurely gray. It was funny to think this was the person we’d been afraid of as kids, the one who’d bullied us into submission.
He walked right past me and enveloped Jennifer in a hug. He held her longer than necessary, and whispered something to her that I couldn’t hear. She gave a tentative nod, and then he approached me. “Been a long time, Nate.”
“Yeah. Yeah, it has.”
“Do you two want to unpack first, or head straight down to the cave?”
I looked over my shoulder. Jennifer was catatonic. “We should probably unpack. I think she might need a few minutes, so you can fill me in on what you remember from that summer.”
His eyes went dark for a moment, and he didn’t reply.
“Surely you remember something?”
He smirked. “Is this the part where I tell you not to call me Shirley?”
I sighed, grabbing the bags from my trunk. Jennifer was already up the stairs, turning the key in the lock.
He grabbed my shoulder, tight. “Is she okay? What did you do to her?”
I jerked out of his grasp. “I didn’t do shit. Before we left she started talking crazy. Something about making a bad choice, or the wrong choice, or something. And then, when we got here, she just spaced out. Like that summer.”
Lee rubbed the stubble along his chin. “Did she say what kind of choice?”
I must have given him a strange look, because he waved me off. “Nevermind. She’s probably just nervous about being back.” He turned, and I noticed a rolled up notebook protruding from his back pocket.
“Hey…” I grabbed it and tugged. “This reminds me. That summer, you took a notebook from Marcus’s room.”
He jerked it from my grip and looked around nervously. “Not out here. Let’s go inside.”
I nodded and followed him up the stairs. I noticed he didn’t bring any bags.
• • •
Jennifer, Brandon, Lee, Sarah, and I all sat on the couch while Mr. Matheson reamed us out about lying to the police. “You kids know better. Every bit of time and attention you take away from these officers puts Marcus in more danger. They spent hours out in those woods looking for a cave that doesn’t exist. You should all be ashamed of yourselves!”
I saw Lee pinch the inside of Brandon’s leg. Brandon squirmed, but didn’t make a sound.
It’d been Brandon who decided to tell the police everything. He told them about Marcus leading us to the cave, and the weird stuff we’d found inside. He told them about the rhyme we’d found written in the closet. When the police searched the closet, they’d found nothing.
Brandon then offered to take them to the cave. They circled the path for hours. He couldn’t find his chalk marks, and they couldn’t find the cave. The police finally decided he was lying to them.
When we left the Matheson house we were told to go back to our cabins, and not to wander into the woods. My parents were already packing.
“Wait, we can’t leave. Not while Marcus is missing.”
My mom frowned. “We can’t help by staying, and what if there’s a kidnapper or someone out there? It’s dangerous. The police have cleared us, so we’re leaving tomorrow.”
“Mom, I—”
“Don’t argue with your mother, young man. We’re leaving, and that’s our final decision. I’m sorry that you can’t stay and play with your friends, but the other families are leaving too. There’s no point in staying.”
“Jennifer’s family?” I asked.
He nodded. “Leaving tomorrow.”
“Can I at least say goodbye?”
“Tomorrow.”
The next morning I got dressed and ran to Jennifer’s cabin. I sat on the steps, waiting. I sat for what felt like hours, before I decided to go tap on her window.
She opened after a few taps.
“Are you leaving today, too?” I asked.
She shrugged. “We were going to, but we probably won’t. My parents will want to stay and look for Sarah.”
“What do you mean ‘look for Sarah’?” I saw a shadow in the room behind her. I stood on my tiptoes and caught a flash of red bandana. Lee. Lee was in Jennifer’s room.
“She’s gone. She went to play with the Forest Man. She won’t come back; they never do. Don’t be sad, she won’t be alone. She’ll be with Franklin and Marcus.”
“Jennifer, did you tell your parents? Why is Lee here?”
She nodded. “Yes. I told them all about the Forest Man. They don’t believe me;
