hedgerows in the South of France all night.”
“Suit yourself. What are you thinking about?”
Connor smiled. “About tonight.”
“What about it?”
“I don’t know…” Connor pitched a rock out toward the road. “Something just feels weird.”
Seth pitched a rock out as well. It didn’t go as far. “Yeah, girls are weird.”
Saturday, 8:11pm
The sky was striated with bands of amber and violet as night settled in. Connor took in the view, finding Rorschach patterns in the clouds as he and his friend once again returned to their sanctuary. It was, after all, the last weekend night they would share together here that wouldn’t involve worries about homework for many months.
“How was your dinner?” Seth asked.
“Okay. Dad made hamburgers on the grill. You?”
“Leftovers again. Mom said she didn’t want to cook. I think the docs upped her anti-depressants. C’mon, let’s go.”
Trudging up the hill to the fort at night was a real pain. The summer foliage was thick and seemed to absorb any trace of light that got in its way. The streetlights on Farmers Road bounced some glare back up through the trees, but mostly Connor and Seth had to navigate the path by moonlight and two small flashlights.
Thankfully the path was wide and traveled frequently enough that even in the dark you had a sense of where it was before you. Besides, Seth and Connor had been there enough times at night to be experts at finding their way even if there wasn’t a path. The only real danger, aside from getting too close to the hill over the road and falling a good hundred and fifty feet straight down, was walking through a spider web.
“Mosquitoes are hungry,” Seth said.
“I’ve got Off in my backpack. Wait ‘til we get there.”
Through the trees they could see the lights on at the baseball field in the park. Must be another little league game letting out, Connor thought. They usually ended at eight o’clock.
Seth entered the fort first and lit the dozen citronella candles inside. In the enclosed space they lit things up like a sun.
“Here, let’s go outside to spray this on so we don’t light the place on fire.” Connor handed the can of Off to Seth.
“Well, d’uh.”
Both boys ducked back out into the woods for a moment and sprayed themselves with the insect repellent. As they were finishing up, they heard twigs snapping back on the path.
Connor’s chest grew tight. “You think that’s them?”
“It’s either them or the trees are walking. That part always scared me in The Wizard of Oz .”
“That’s because you’re a pussy.”
“And you’re a douchebag.”
“You’re a level 18.” Connor burst out laughing.
Seth gasped. “Oh my God, you dick. Not cool. Besides, everybody on that game cheats. They all have modded controllers!”
Seth was referring to the Halo 3 videogame, which they often played on his Xbox console. The game allowed you to rank up depending on how skillful you played. Connor was at 30, but Seth had been stuck on 18 for months. It was a sore spot with the boy. Seth didn’t fare well with real sports, Connor assumed he only signed up for them so they could still hang out together during soccer season. Videogames, however, were another story. Seth was a master at gaming, and could usually beat a game in under a week. Connor was pretty terrible at gaming, he just couldn’t move the characters the way he wanted to. For some reason he excelled at Halo 3’s online gaming system, where he had a knack for anticipating other player’s moves before they made them.
The snapping twigs grew into footsteps that got closer and closer. Someone in the dark swore and made a comment about how they could be at a party. Amanita. The cherry tip of her cigarette appeared in the blackness like a rogue firefly.
A second later the two girls stepped out of the gloom and into the spotlight glow of Seth and Connor’s flashlights. “Hi, Connor,” Nicole said. She was smiling. She