by Roxie Spears
“Alright, let’s do this thing!” Beth said, inching the door open and stepping outside. Gerald turned around, smiling at her. She had emerged holding a hammer in her hand, Dara by her side. The duo knelt by the steps leading up to their cabin, inspecting it closely. Dara produced a couple of nails, squinting at them for only a moment, smiling before she handed them to her mother.
“Here, let me do it,” Beth said, holding the broken part of the step in place and hammering a nail into it. The raven haired ten year old watched her mother with a wonder, the silver of her eyes flaring up. Beth fixed the broken step, her eyes focused and hard, Gerald watching her with the compassion of an angel.
“Need any help?” he asked his wife. She shook her head no, determined to eliminate this annoyance that had been haunting her for weeks now. “Alright,” Gerald said, crossing one leg over the other, marveling in her fixation. Dara looked just like her. Her hair was up in a bun and she was perched like a bird in the grass, admiring Beth. They wore heavy clothes to shield them from the fall, and sported a similar pair of hiking boots.
Inside the cabin, the boys could be heard running around. Gerald sipped his afternoon tea, trying to take in the scene unfolding in front of him. His daughter was growing up to be beautiful, just like her mother.
“Can I try?” she asked, inching a bit closer. Beth hesitated. She then crouched a bit closer and got behind her daughter.
“Here, hold it in place. Right here,” she said with her head on Dara’s shoulder. She grabbed the hammer and gently clobbered the nail in place. The little girl smiled, as if proud of her own creation.
“About time we fixed this thing,” Gerald said, rising to his feet and joining them. “Not a day passes without me tripping and falling on my face.”
Dara laughed. She looked back at her father, who couldn’t stop smiling. His eyes then snapped the door, which burst open. Two boys came running outside, chasing each other, making a beeline between the trees, the light drizzling down on them from the canopies.
“You’re it!” The air carried Ronald’s voice; it was like a lullaby to his father’s straining ears.
“David, Ronald! Don’t go too far!” Gerald yelled, his eyes scanning the place. He had gotten used to keeping his kids close and his wife closer. They couldn’t afford to take any risks. Fifteen years of being careful had paid off quite well; for once, Gerald felt like he belonged to a place. He belonged to the woods and trees and everything in between. He belonged to his family.
Despite having been away from home for almost two decades now, he had managed to find another one, a greater one, the greatest home of all.
Dara had run back into the house when Gerald slumped down on the step Beth had just fixed. “Great job you did there,” he said, beaming.
“It was all Dara,” Beth replied, staring at him through the corner of her eye.
“Can you believe we’ve made it this far?”
“I can’t. I wake up every day and it’s like a revelation. Sometimes I wake up thinking I’m still in West Haven, thinking that I don’t know where you are. I still have nightmares about it sometimes.” She squeezed her own arm and tilted her head in the sun. She kept her eyes on her boys as they continued to chase each other and play Tag.
“Well, it’s a good thing we’re here now,” he said, smiling wide. “I know I tell you this every day, but I’m glad you came with me.”
“I’m glad I came with you, too,” Beth said, not taking her eyes off the horizon. “Ron, David! Come back, time to do your homework!” Silence ensued, and it wasn’t long before her boys came skipping back, bolting into the cabin.
The family gathered in a tiny kitchen, Beth and Gerald making lunch, and making their way around the tight space.
As they sat down and ate, Gerald felt grateful. He observed his children eating, and said a little prayer to himself, something he had grown used to doing every day for the past fifteen years.
Suddenly he heard a rustling outside. “What was that?” he asked, jumping to his feet. Dara looked around her, a worried look on her face.
“Don’t worry, honey. Gerald, you’re scaring them.”
“Hey, it’s okay,” he breathed, bolting out of the kitchen purposefully, heading into his room and pulling out a gun case. He unlocked it swiftly, pulling out his shotgun and hurrying outside. Gerald zoomed past the kitchen quickly, so even his kids couldn’t see him. He stood out on the porch for what felt like an eternity, his ears straining for sound, absorbing the quietude. Suddenly the woods weren’t as tranquil. Something wriggled in the air, something unknown.
Gerald cocked his gun and pointed it in a vague direction. A car rolled up in the distance, so he adjusted his aim and waited. They hadn’t gotten a surprise visitor in years, and so this seemed like a relatively peculiar occurrence.
He squinted at the man stepping out of the car, only to realize it was Colt.
“What?” Gerald mumbled under his breath, starting in his direction. He couldn’t believe his eyes. Coming towards him was a slightly more overweight version of his estranged brother. He was smiling, waving his hands up in the air. Gerald almost didn’t recognize him. A strange feeling overwhelmed him, and at that moment he felt as though he would burst into tears.
He turned around, only to find his family peering at him through the window. He smiled at Beth reassuringly, motioning for her to come outside.
The soles of his feet shifted on the grass for a moment before his feet carried him towards his brother. Colt began marching uphill, not slowing down, his arms swinging back and forth as he picked up speed. The two men met halfway, slamming into a hug that seemed to last an eternity.
“I can’t believe it,” Gerald sobbed, his voice shaking. He buried his face in his brother’s shoulder, drinking him in, not wanting to let go. As his vision cleared up again, he spotted someone else, another figure, marching uphill.
Immediately he pulled away and cocked his shotgun again.
“Hey, don’t scare her like that,” Colt said, his lips parting into a grin. Gerald couldn’t believe it. Marching uphill was a teenaged girl with a familiar face; she was Krystal, but in another life, a different time.
Beth and the kids watched from behind the window, shaking their heads in disbelief. Colt hugged his brother again. They were then joined by the velvet-haired girl, whose eyes were flaring up like fireworks.
“Is that a way to greet your brother and niece?” Colt asked, his pearly teeth showing through his smile. The canopies made way for light to enter, to shine down on them. Gerald closed his eyes and sank into this unison; for a moment, all was well with the world again.
