South Dakota

           

            I opened my eyes and saw her standing there above me. Her red hair shimmered in the leafy sunlight and her yellow dress billowed in the warm South Dakota breeze. She looked at me curiously with her confused, deep green eyes studying me as though I weren’t human. Her eyes darted to her left and I turned to see him. He wore nothing else but denim shorts; his hand was tucked behind is back. Like a crazed James Dean he smiled at me with widened eyes. I could make out the difference in the skin tone between his stomach and the top of his hip. They’d been here a while.
“The hell are you doing in our woods?” He spoke as though he had tobacco stuck in his cheek.

I paused in the silence of the rustling leaves. I spoke calmly.

“Sorry sir, I. I’m just passing through, I fell asleep here last night…”  

“Just passing through huh?”

He thought to himself. His eyes darted back and fourth between me and the girl.

He stood there on the spongy forest floor, his arm behind his back still. Contemplating for a while until the scent of cooking eggs wafted in the forest air.

“You’re hungry aren’t you?” I nodded my head fiercely.

We trekked under the canopy 100 feet downriver to a poorly constructed tree house where he served me half a portion of scrambled eggs. I tried not to look around all too much but the green-eyed girl continued staring at me. She tried to smile when I caught her glance but I noticed a weakness in the faint curve of her lip. Kind of like how I smiled when Jason’s friends would ask me how my father was.

We ate in absolute silence, listening to the muddy rush of the river. I didn’t ask because I didn’t want to know the answers and possibly he felt the same. When I finished my plate I stood slowly, thanked the man and left.

As I faded back into the brush I heard a woman burst into childlike laughter.

-Corey Maxson