3. Dominic
While April and Mrs. Katz were asleep, I was staying up to keep watch. I knew they didn't want me to, but if something happened to either of them I might lose my mind. The temperature was pretty warm, but the wind was really cold. I pulled out a few sweatshirts from my bag and laid them on April and Mrs. Katz. They both seemed more comfortable after a few minutes. I was eating a few berries when I heard a man yelling. He seemed to be pretty far away, but I poked my head out to see if I could hear him better. Again I heard him scream, but I couldn't make out what he was trying to say.
"Tito! Come back Tito!" I finally understood.
"You stupid little mut, get back here!" He said with gritted teeth. I grabbed a few rocks not knowing who this man was. That's when the dog, I assumed was Tito, ran into our fort. I pet him a few times, then tried to get him to leave, but he could smell our rabbit, and started to dig into my bag.
"Tito!" The man was within 30 feet of our fort. "Come here boy!" I got a piece of rabbit and threw it out of the fort. Tito followed it, and the man picked him up, and started to walk off. Tito started to bark, and he must have been barking at us, because I could hear the man walk back over to the opening of the fort. I sat there, holding my breath, watching the opening, right at his legs approaching the fort. He bent over sharply, and looked inside, right at me.
"Who are you, and why are you in the woods?" He asked, sounding more like a statement than a question.
"My name is Dominic Lewis, and I'm here on a family trip. We were on our way to a place around 3 miles from here and stopped to stay here for the night."
"You're that kid running from the Feds aren't you?" When I didn't respond he knew my answer.
"I believe what you did was right, kid. If you get out of here by morning, I won't tell a soul I saw you here tonight."
"Deal, you won't find us again." He nodded, smiled at me, and walked away with Tito. I was so relieved, more so April and her mom weren't awake to hear me lie to a stranger, and still get caught.
"That was a close one." April said quietly, smiling at me. I looked at her, and we both shook our heads and laughed with each other.
In the morning, we packed our stuff up quickly, threw our logs all over, and started back on our way. April was in front of the group today, and when we were within view of our next spot, she stepped on a rock, and a trapdoor opened in the ground.
"Whoa." All three of us exclaimed.
"I don't care what either of you say, I'm going in." Me and Mrs. Katz looked at one another, she shrugged, and I crawled in after April. The room was huge. No hallways or doors, but there were things lining the walls. Knives, arrows, guns, food. Anything you could need out here. I grabbed the backpack in the back corner and we started throwing stuff into it, as much as it would hold. We were closing the backpack, when a cabinet like door opened from the wall, and an envelope labeled "Dominic" was laid inside. April must not have noticed, because when I gasped she turned around and asked if I was hurt.
"No, no, I'm good, but look at this." I held out the envelope and she grabbed it.
"Can we open it?"
"I kind of don't want to."
"Oh please let me open for you! I'll read it out loud and if you don't like it I'll stop." She begged me.
"Okay fine, but the second I'm uncomfortable you stop." She began reading,
"Dominic, I really hope you never have to read this. We didn't want it to end like this. Go to the apartment at the east edge of the woods, and open the back of the toilet in the guest bathroom. We love you Dominic, and hope to see you soon. Love, Your parents."
It took me a minute to fully process what had just happened.
"Are you okay Dominic?" April looked really worried.
"Yeah I'm okay, never thought that's what I would find in here." We stuffed the envelope into the backpack, climbed up and out of the trap door and kept heading towards the apartment.
"What kind of stuff did you guys get?"
"We got apples, and meat, and knives, and a few spear heads," April was really proud of our findings. "We also found something for Dominic.." She hesitated and looked over at me, I nodded in approval and she continued. "It's a letter from his parents."
"What? What was it about?"
"It was telling me where to go to find another one, which is where we're headed now."
We arrived at the apartment a little after noon. We went inside, set our stuff down, and turned on the radio from the top of the dresser. I ran into the guest bathroom and practically ripped the lid off the back of the toilet, and grabbed the letter out from it. It hadn't been sealed shut, so I pulled the letter out enviously.
It read,
"Dominic. Thank you for following my instructions and finding the next letter. I hope you didn't get too beat up getting here. We left food in the overhead cabinets, and your next letter is where the land reaches the clouds ;) I hope you hear from us again, your parents."
I ran over to the cabinets and pulled out the food they left. It was labeled "astronaut" food, whatever that meant. I stuffed some in my bag and went to find April and her mom.
They were standing on the porch looking at the forest in front of us. Pine leaves gave the air an unforgettable scent, like christmas. The river out back made the air dewy and cold, but none of us were complaining. We heard a truck or an atv in the distance, so we quickly huddled back inside and into the dining room. I pulled out the astronaut food, and her mom grinned.
"I haven't had astronaut ice cream in years!" I assumed that meant it was good enough to eat. We opened a pack so me and April could try it, and crumbs went everywhere.
"Oh goodness, this is a disaster." April seemed annoyed, which was unlike her. She usually didn't mind making a mess or two; especially for food. Her mom glared at her and she winced, taking a chunk of the chalky "ice cream".
"This is actually pretty good, not at all what I expected."
"Yeah I agree, better than the food we've had lately." I was glad me and her mom were getting along, which made it easier for me to get close to April. We only ate half of the bar, then wrapped it back up and put it away in my bag. We figured we would stay here a few days, granted I had no idea where I was supposed to go next.
Where the land reaches the clouds…
No idea. No recollection of hearing this phrase before.
That night we went to bed early, to hopefully wake up before sunrise and watch it from the treehouse above the river behind us. Suddenly we were all woke to a thud on the ceiling, dust raining down after it. I sat up, and waited for another thud, but nothing came. I waited for a good ten minutes before deciding I should go back to sleep. Just as my head hit the pillow the door flew open, and a huge dark figure was standing in the doorway.
"WHERE IS DOMINIC." The huge beast called out. I stood, my knees groaned beneath me.
"I'm here." I surprised myself at how clearly I spoke.
"Come forward and assume your position." I walked forward, and bowed my head, now being able to think of what other position he meant.
He stood before me, sword in his left hand, he brought it up, nearly touching the ceiling, and swung it down right at my neck. I winced, but felt nothing. Until I did. My shoulders were being shaken, over and over until I opened my eyes. It was April, trying to wake me before the sun was already in the sky.
We walked out the back door, and made our way to the oak tree, climbing the branches up to the loft. We sat with a blanket over us, feet dangling from the side. The sky slowly turned into a pink and blue mural. The light morning sky against the harsh rays from the sun. It was beautiful, but I couldn't look at it. My eyes were stuck looking at something much more beautiful, and that thing was sitting right beside me, in awe of the spectacular view. This was it. This was my perfect moment. I hoped it would last forever, but before I knew it the sun was completely unveiled, and the sky had returned to its pale blue color. April's mom came walking over to the tree soon after, holding several kinds of berries, asking me which ones were edible. I climbed down from heaven and told her they were all fine to eat. We waited for April to come join us on the ground, then walked inside to eat something. We didn't talk much, it was still early and none of us had our normal voices yet.