Boy from the Woods (9781311684776) (10 page)

“We’ll be there,” Gaby nodded. “Goes without
saying.”

Moritz looked
so genuinely happy
, a broad grin
splitting his face in two, that he resembled a cheerful toddler
despite his mohawk and numerous piercings.

Axel returned
holding two drinks, squeezing himself between Gaby and Tamara as he
sat the beers down on the table.
“Here you go,
ladies.”

“What do we owe
you?”
Gaby asked, digging around in her
purse to find her wallet.

“A heart-felt
kiss, darling. What else?” Axel winked
lecherously
.

“Sounds like a good deal
to me.”
Gaby inched closer and pressed
her lips to Axel’s cheek. “By the way, we
have
to tell you about the
new London plan,” she quickly prattled on. “Moritz is about to make
history in England. Listen to this.”

As
Gaby, Florian and Tamara filled Axel in on the
details of Moritz’s shot at fame next month, Julia observed her
cousin over the rim of her beer glass. She could be mistaken, but
she was fairly sure he’d turned slightly red when Gaby had kissed
him just now. A hint of a smile crossed her face. Well have you
ever – she never would have seen
that
coming.

“What the hell?”
Gaby suddenly blared, shooting a glance in the
direction of the dartboard, her eyes widening.
“Do my
eyes deceive me? Is that
Michael
? Shouldn’t he be in the
hospital?”

Julia moaned
inwardly.
Not again – she was full up on
stories about Michael’s amazing recovery. What’s more, she didn’t
want to be subjected to Gaby’s scrutinizing look once Axel and
Florian told her how he’d invited her for a game of darts. If she
started blushing, Gaby would have it in for her.

“I’m going to the restroom,” she announced
abruptly, pushing her way through the O’Malley’s crowd without
looking back. She kept gazing ahead, just to make sure she wouldn’t
catch a certain someone’s eye while passing the games corner.

When Julia
emerged from the restroom, Gaby was waiting for her at the door.
“I’m sorry I brought him up,” she apologized, sounding contrite.
“Axel explai
ned to me you already talked
to Michael and how he made you kind of nervous.”

“Well,
nervous…” She shrugged.

“And no
surprise there
. I mean, seriously, what
is he
doing
here? Shouldn’t he be in bed with some kind of
IV drip in his arm? He looks like nothing happened to him. Good
call, by the way, turning him down for that game of darts.
The bastard.”

“Yeah, I thought it was
best to avoid him.”
Julia felt her face
turn hot. Not because Gaby had paid her a compliment, but because
she was lying through her teeth. She
didn’t
want to avoid Michael. She
wanted to know what was up with him, what had changed him, but at
the same time, her inner voice of reason agreed whole-heartedly
with Gaby.

Frowning, she followed Gaby and rejoined
their group. When Michael left the pub with his friends about ten
minutes later, he gave her a look over his shoulder and caught her
eye, smiling warmly at her. Julia bit her lip and looked away
without smiling back.

“Well done,” Gaby mumbled next to her.
“Ignore him. He did the same thing to you.”

“So, are we
going to Shamrock next time?” Julia asked
. That way, she’d at least be able to avoid encountering
Michael with all her friends around.

Florian nodded
vigorously.
“Good idea – I’m telling you,
that place is good for our love lives. I bet you’ll meet someone to
play white knight to your damsel there too, Jules.”

Gaby nudged her. “Maybe you should invite
Thorsten along,” she suggested, waggling her eyebrows.

“Who’
s Thorsten?” the rest of the
group asked in unison.

Julia rolled
her eyes. “Gee,
thanks
,” she grumbled.

Gaby shot her a wide smile. “You’re quite
welcome. It’s time for the winds of change, sweetheart.”

5
.

The
next morning, Julia woke up to the sound of
swooping music coming through the thin wall of her bedroom.
Apparently, Anne was watching her
Lord of the Rings
DVDs for the
umpteenth time at maximum volume.

She yawned,
reaching out for her cell phone on
the
nightstand to look at the time. Half past eight.
Way
too
early to be woken up on a vacation day. Her little sister was
risking her life.

Still half-spinning with sleep, Julia got up
and dragged herself outside to pound on the door of Anne’s
bedroom.

“Hey!” she shouted.
“Can the hobbits tone it down a bit? Some people
are trying to sleep in, you know.”

She heard
Anne clattering through the room. The door swung open, showing her
little sister sporting the most lovable smile imaginable. “Will you
watch with me?” she asked, her eyes radiant. “I got us milk and
cookies downstairs.”

Julia bit
back a smile. “Why no
t. I’m awake anyway.”
She wanted to sound grumpy, but found she
couldn’t.
She
used to be the one waking up before anyone else,
waiting downstairs for her sister with milk and cookies so they
could watch cartoons. When their father had still been around. The
fact that Anne wanted to do the same thing for her made her choke
up a little.

Julia sat
down on the bed and watched Anne pour her a glass of milk.
She
accepted the glass and the plate of
cookies, scooting to the left so Anne could sit down next to her.
Her sister had hit pause on the DVD. Legolas was frozen on-screen,
squinting his eyes to peer at the horizon and make one of his elven
Captain Obvious remarks.

“Jules,”
Anne
mumbled next to her around a bite of
cookie. “You think the prince of the trees could also have long,
blond hair?”

Julia’s eyes
swerved from the handsome Legolas on TV to Anne’s questioning eyes.
“Sure. It’s a fairytale, and you spin those yourself. If
your
prince has long, blond hair, the story adapts.”
She poked Anne in the side. “That’s the fun thing about
dreaming.”

“Isn’t it better when a
dream really comes true?”
Anne asked
timidly.

Julia fell
silent, worrying
her lip. She didn’t know
what to say to that.

“Sometimes, I
dream D
addy comes back to live with us
again,” Anne continued even more quietly, picking at the hem of her
PJs.

Julia
swallowed down a little lump. “Honey, it’s better if he
doesn’t
come back.”
She stroked Anne’s dark-blonde
hair. “Mommy is way happier without him. They were fighting all the
time.”

“Mommy is
angry with him,” Anne whispered. “Because he never comes round to
visit the two of us a
nymore. I heard her
talking to Grandma.”

Julia pulled
Anne into a hug. “She’ll let go of her anger one day. She’ll
understand we don’t need him anymore.
She
is raising us, and we
love her the most.”

The ghost of
a smile flitted across Anne’s face
.
“That’s what Gran told her too.”

Julia
chuckled. “Isn’t G
ran a smart
woman.”

Anne sat up
and gave the elf on TV a pondering look. “Still, I think fairytales
can come true.
You think the prince could also have
blue eyes?”

Julia frowned
at
her sister’s thoughtful expression.
Suddenly it dawned on her. Could it be her little sister was
secretly in love with Thorsten, the new, handsome neighbor with his
bright, blue eyes?

“Yes, he
definitely can,”
she played along. “Long,
blond hair and blue eyes. It’s your fairytale, and you hold the
illustration rights.” She winked.

Anne nodded, looking pleased. “The prince
will never reveal his true name,” she stated pedantically. “He
remains a mystery to the adults around him, because they can’t see
him for what he truly is.”

Julia smiled.
“Maybe you should write a book,” she suggested. Realizing she was
actually serious about the idea, she continued: “Really.
You should. You’ve got talent.
You
have such a wonderful way of expressing yourself, Anne.”

She hugged
her sister again, her hug turning into a tickle of death until Anne
begged for mercy screaming and kicking.
By the time their mom woke up an hour later and went
downstairs to make breakfast for all of them, Julia felt a lot more
energetic than she had in a long time.

“I’
m going for a run to Gran’s,”
she announced at the breakfast table, stuffing a large bite of
omelet in her mouth.
“Do you want me to bring her
anything?”

“No, you
don’t need to. I’m dropping by
as well
tonight,” Ms. Gunther replied. “I’m working the afternoon shift, so
I’ll visit her afterwards and cook for her. You know, a bit of
mother-daughter time. I hope you can fix dinner for yourself and
Anne?” Julia’s mother worked as a store manager at the supermarket
in Eichet.

“Sure. I’ll think of
something.”
Julia gave Anne a
conspiratorial wink meaning ‘pizza and ice-cream!’. Her sister shot
her a huge, goofy smile.

“Can I go on
a play date with Sabine this afternoon, Mommy?” Anne
asked.

“Of course.
In fact, you’ll
have
to stay at Sabine’s. Someone has to mind you,
right? I arranged things with her mom.”

After
breakfast, Julia went on her way. It was a nice, sunny day, but
strong winds were also stirring up the forest. She was shivering in
the cold breeze when she decided to take a break after ten minutes,
crouching down next to her oak and wiping the sheen of sweat off
her brow. It wasn’t just the cold that made her shiver – something
felt different about the woods. The leaves above her head whispered
restlessly, yet there was a certain stillness in the forest that
she couldn’t explain. It was almost as though the forest was
holding its breath, waiting for something.

Julia
leaned her head against the gigantic tree trunk,
listening to the blood rushing in her ears. “Hello, Mister Oak,”
she said quietly, putting her hands on the roots underneath her
feet.

Nothing
happened. The eerie silence was
now all
around her as the tree leaves stopped rustling. The oak didn’t
answer her.

Julia
couldn’t help rolling her eyes at herself all of a sudden.
Why was she being so ridiculous? Hadn’t she
decided to say goodbye to the fairytales she’d surrounded herself
with in order to keep reality out? And here she was, thinking she
could communicate with a tree. It was clear she was a
nutcase.

With a
grimace on her face Julia got up again. The
woods weren’t bringing her the peace she’d hoped for. This
morning’s energy buzz had dissipated.

She sprinted
away
, still feeling confused. Up till
now, she had always managed to slow down and take her mind off
things in this place, but today was different. The woods felt
different, or maybe it was she who was different.
She
didn’t know.

Out of
breath, she arrived at her grandma’s
house. The old woman was in the front yard, cutting the
hedge and whistling a tune. She waved at her granddaughter and
walked over to meet Julia at the gate.

“You’re panting,” she
noticed.
“Out of practice?”

“I’m not,”
Julia puffed indignantly. “Nothing wrong with my endurance. I just
… pushed myself a little too hard. I was trying to run off some
stress.” She plunked down on the bench outside and took off her
backpack.

“So
did you manage to outrun your own ghosts?” Her
grandmother put down the hedge trimmers and went inside to get
something to drink, leaving Julia to ponder the answer to that
question by herself for a minute.

“A ghost has
ret
urned,” she admitted, when Gran sat
down next to her with two glasses of water. She gulped down her
drink eagerly.

“That one
boy,” Gran said without a question mark in her voice.

Julia didn’t reply.

“Your mother
told me you saved a cla
ssmate of yours in
the woods,” Gran continued.
“Is that
the
Michael?”

“Yes and no,”
Julia blurted out without thinking. Her grandmother looked at
her
curiously. “Yes, it was Michael Kolbe
in the forest, and no, he is no longer
the
Michael.” The more she
said it, she more she felt it was the truth,

“Why do you think that?” Gran asked calmly.
If she was surprised, she didn’t show it.