Boy from the Woods (9781311684776) (31 page)

Her sister shook her head. “Well, I don’t
know what Michael sounds like, exactly, but it couldn’t have been
him. It was a different kind of voice. I think it belonged to
someone who lived in the forest for centuries. Someone old, but his
voice sounded young. It was the strangest thing.”

Julia
frowned. It seemed as if Anne still believed in her fairytales
about the Prince of the Forest, and it had to stop. It was
dangerous to hold on to silly fantasies any longer.

“The Prince of the Forest doesn’t exist,
okay?” she snapped. “It’s just make-believe, Anne.”

Anne’s eyes
welled up with tears. And then she smiled, looking old and wise and
ageless.
“I know that boy wasn’t him. I know that
now.
But I
was
protected by something in the
woods, Jules. I felt love all around me.”

Julia decided
to give up. Anne sounded like she’d had a near-death experience,
including all the requisite sensations of unbounded love and voices
from beyond. The only thing missing was a light at the end of a
tunnel. But maybe it was a good thing Anne had experienced the
ordeal like this. She had almost died in that horrible hole in the
ground. In the elevator, her mom had told them about Andreas’s
heavy sedatives almost killing Anne. Thank God there hadn’t been
any signs of sexual abuse – thanks to Julia, Andreas had been
arrested before he’d had the chance.

It was time
to try and get things out of her head.
Her hand tenderly caressing Anne’s forehead, Julia
whispered: “I’m happy someone protected you, darling. And now
you’re safe with us.”

Gran joined
her
by the hospital bed to give her
youngest granddaughter a cuddle.
“Are you allowed to
go home today?” she asked.

“Late afternoon,” Anne
nodded.
“They wanted to keep me here for
a few more hours to see how I’m doing, that doctor
said.”

“That’s very good news, sweetheart.”

As Julia
absently listened to her mother, sister and grandmother
chatting to each other, she typed out a text
message about how Anne was doing and sent it to all her friends,
including Thorsten. He’d helped her and supported her so well
before the others had arrived at her house; she couldn’t have
managed without him. Michael would probably read the message during
his coffee break; he was working this morning. She’d asked him to
tell their boss why she wasn’t there today. Martin would have to
schedule her on one of her free days to catch up on working hours
later.

‘so good 2
hear she’s doin well!! CU at flo’s l8r? he invited us 4 a
terrace
get-together! xx’ Gaby texted
back after a few minutes.

‘sure! what
time?’ she replied.

It didn’t
take long for other messages to start pouring in. Everybody said
yes to meeting up on Florian’s roof terrace at four o’clock. It was
time to catch up
with her best friend!
Gaby and Axel were suddenly an item, and Julia hadn’t even been
able to talk about it with her.

She smiled.
Now that Anne turned out to be okay, her summer was looking bright.
She had a wonderful boyfriend, Gaby had hooked up with her cousin,
she had a cool job, and they’d all be off to visit England next
month. ‘hey, u gotta tell me ALL abt Axel ;)’ she typed out to
Gaby.

‘sleepover
tonight? everybody’s gonna be there today eavesdroppin & stuff…
or has michael taken my place?? :p’

Crap.
Gran knew Michael had spent the night at her house. Her
mother would
not
be amused if she found out. If only Gran would
shut up about it. Nervously, her gaze darted between her mother and
her grandmother. She wished she was telepathically gifted so she
could beg her grandmother to not tell her mom.

“Do you think
Ignaz
could drop me off at the bookstore
later?” she asked. “I want to talk to Michael and apologize to
Martin for bailing on him today.”

Gran
smil
ed warmly at her. “Of course. You
must be eager to tell him how everything went. I wonder what he
told his parents when he got home last night. That must have been
quite a story, don’t you think?”

Julia blinked
at Gran owlishly. Maybe telepathy really
did
exist… or maybe Gran was
just being her wise, old self again, trying to avoid causing
trouble when there was no need for it. “Thanks,” she mumbled
humbly.

Anne had to
rest again, so the visitors were ushered out by a nurse. They left
the hospital and found Ignaz in the parking lot. He dropped Julia
off at the edge of the Old Town and promised to return to the
hospital later to
drive Anne home
together with her mother.

Julia
whistled a happy tune as she strolled toward the bookstore. Maybe
it was a good idea to work for a few hours today before visiting
Florian. She felt upbeat and energetic. Anne would be home
by tonight, Gaby would stay over and they’d
catch up on everything and nothing.

All had ended
well thanks to Michael. Julia thought back to her grandmother’s
words: Michael saw more than the rest of them did.
Had
he told his parents? Or his other friends?
She didn’t think so. He had changed, and she was the only
one who knew just how much. There was no real explanation for it,
but it didn’t matter. It was as it was. And everything about the
way things were made life great.

13
.

“I
’m going!” Julia yelled in the direction of
the kitchen.
She was in the hallway,
hopping around on one foot, trying to tie the shoelaces on one shoe
and balancing a stuffed overnight bag from her shoulder.

“See you tomorrow!” Anne and her mother
hollered back.

Julia would have loved to have breakfast with
them, but she’d overslept and now she had to hurry like crazy to
make it to work in time. Two minutes ago she’d stormed into the
kitchen to grab a banana and indignantly ask her mother why she
hadn’t woken her up.

“Because you
have to set your own alarm?” her mother had replied with a
smirk.
“You’re eighteen, you know.
In other words, a responsible adult. Do you want me to wake
you up for college after summer’s over and check your homework as
well?”

“I
did
set my
alarm,” Julia grumbled. Her mom’s sarcasm was too much for her this
early in the morning.

Her
shoe
laces were tied. She rushed through
the yard and turned right to get to the road leading to the bus
stop. Sadly, her sprints weren’t what they used to be. She’d
gradually gotten out of shape ever since things between her and
Michael had become serious. Time was scarce – she now worked four
days a week, and in her spare time she mostly hung around with
Michael. A few days ago, Gaby complained to her, demanding a framed
picture of Julia so she’d ‘remember what her best friend looked
like’. Fortunately, they were going to London soon, so that would
be the perfect opportunity to spend time with her friend. In the
meantime, Michael had also bought himself a ticket to join them.
They’d agreed that the boys would get their own dorm in the youth
hostel and the girls would get another. Tamara was now the only one
in the group without a partner, and she’d whined about their
expedition turning into a ‘couple’s trip with one sad single
tagging along’.

“Don’t fret,” Gaby had replied with a naughty
grin. “We’ll find you a sexy Englishman, and we won’t even mind if
you take him up to our room.”

Julia tore
around the corner and caught sight of the bus just closing its
doors. “Wait!” she screamed, even though the bus driver couldn’t
possibly hear her. Arms milling, she sped up e
ven more.

Unexpectedly
, the front door
swung open again and Thorsten’s head popped out to grin at
her.

“In a hurry?”
he chuckled. “I told the bus driver to wait for the cute blonde
trying to stop his bus with her bare hands.”

Gasping for
breath, Julia got on the bus and nodded at the driver
grateful
ly, then followed Thorsten to sit
down somewhere in the middle.

“Where are you off to this early?” she asked.
“Don’t you need to catch the other bus to Eichet?”

“No, I’m not working today. It’s time to take
care of some uni stuff. Getting all the appropriate documents
stamped and such. You know the drill.”

Julia nodded
in comprehension. Thorsten would start his sophomore year at
Salzburg University after summer, so that meant a lot of red tape.
Thankfully, her mom had helped her with her own application, even
if she was supposed to be a ‘responsible adult’ by now.

“And where
are you going with a heavy bag like that?” Thorsten inquired,
eyeing Julia’s bulging baggage.
“Are you always
dragging that much stuff to work?”

Julia shook her
head.
“This is my overnight bag. Because
I’m staying at Michael’s house tonight after work.
You
know.”
She flushed a little as she said
the words. It was the first time she was going to spend the night
at his place since their first date. Actually, she was kind of
nervous. Of course he had a ginormous house with at least four
guest rooms, but he
also
had a king-size bed in his
own room.

Thorsten
caught her blushing. “Ah. Okay,” he nodded, pausing for a few
seconds. “Well, you’ve been together for a month now, right?
Spending the night is part of all that jazz.
You
know.”
He playfully nudged her in the
side, which made her turn even redder. Thorsten was probably
wondering why this seemed like such a big deal to her – he was two
years her senior
and
he’d been a freshman at Graz Uni last
year.

“Yeah, you think?” she mumbled.

He smiled.
“Nah, I’m just yanking your chain. You should take as much time as
you need for these things. Don’t feel rushed or
anything.”

Julia nodded, falling silent when a group of
young children with colorful backpacks got on the bus, a mom
ushering them inside like a mother hen. It looked like a birthday
party.

Anne
had celebrated her birthday a few days ago. The
day had gone reasonably well, even though Anne had been quieter and
more reserved than usual around her friends. The gruesome event she
experienced had had an indelible impact on her. Ms. Gunther had
decided to book sessions with a child psychiatrist twice a week, to
minimize the risk of Anne sustaining trauma from unresolved issues
later on.

“Are you still happy with him?” Thorsten
suddenly asked out of nowhere. He tried to sound laid-back, but
failed.

Julia turned
toward him, blinking at
her neighbor in
surprise.
“Why, yes. I am. Very happy,” she
stuttered.
“I know people still don’t
understand how it all worked out for us, but...”

Thorsten had
heard stories about Michael from her cousin. Axel still had to get
used to the idea that she and Michael were so close. A few days
ago, they’d all convened in Julia’s yard to celebrate Anne’s
birthday in the evening, and Julia had accidentally stumbled into a
conversation between Thorsten and Axel. Her neighbor had asked her
cousin some things about her history with Michael – and undoubtedly
Axel had related to Thorsten how her boyfriend had cold-heartedly
dumped her first before suddenly changing his mind. Axel didn’t
hate Michael, but he wasn’t fawning all over him either. “If
someone hurts my family, it will take that person a while to regain
my trust,” he’d confessed to Julia once. “But hey, as long as he
makes you happy, you won’t hear me complain.”

Thorsten
heaved an unhappy sigh. “I don’t have to understand,” he mumbled
softly. “I can see the way he looks at you, and that’s what’s
important.
The past is dead. And he’s a really nice
guy.” He cleared his throat. “I must be a bit jealous.
Still.”

Julia tried not to gape at
him.
“Oh.”

Her gaze drifted to the world outside.
Thorsten’s words confused her. She couldn’t understand why he still
had these feelings for her when she was very clearly off the
market. Plus, he looked like every college girl’s wet dream, so
he’d have a girlfriend in no time after summer. And yet, he didn’t
seem to be able to forget about her. It almost made her feel guilty
– after all, there had been a time when they had definitely
clicked, and she’d welcomed it for a while before Michael had
gotten back in the picture again.

She
start
ed when he put his hand on her arm.
“Hey, you,” he said gently. “I don’t want to make things difficult.
It’s just that you stirred something in me that I’ve never felt
before. That’s why I’m having kind of a hard time forgetting about
you. Oh yeah, and the fact that you live across the street doesn’t
really help, either.”

His dry tone
made Julia smile,
but his words took her
by surprise at the same time. They were such sweet words, sounding
so genuine and straightforward. For just a split second, thinking
back to the whole saga of getting Michael’s attention smarted a
little bit: he’d needed more than just a few days to realize she
had stirred something in
him
. But no, she shouldn’t think
like that. He had turned into a completely different person after
his accident in the woods, and she’d already forgiven him for his
appalling behavior before that a long time ago.