Blood in the Woods

by J. P. Willie

  “No – well – I – aww,” I stammered, trying hard to keep the secret behind my teeth. “No, I didn’t hear anything about it.”

  “Really?” Angela was curious, “‘cause Justin Richardson told me that you guys were back there and found some dead cows.”

  My heart hit the bottom of my stomach, and I knew then that my secret was out. The secret that even I, the mouth of the south who made kids believe Ninjas lived in the woods, had kept for so long – the cat was well and truly out of the bag.

  “Justin said that? Huh, I don’t remember seeing anything like that. It was a long time ago, anyways. All I saw was a spot that some of the older kids hung out at. We didn’t see any crazy stuff like that. I bet Justin just made that up to scare you,” I told Angela.

  “It didn’t scare me. I thought it was kind of cool how you guys got out of there. You’re pretty brave.”

  “One – I’m not brave, Angela; I’ll run away from my shadow if it startles me, and two – the story’s not true. Don’t listen to anything Justin tells you, okay? It’s all bullshit.”

  “Well, something was pulled out of those woods,” Angela pushed, rocking back and forth on her feet. “It looked like a T-Rex had come stomping out of there – the trees were all either knocked down or at least tilted over some.”

  “That’s pretty funny.” I grinned at the mental image. “You said a T-Rex came stopping out of the woods.” I repeated, and then broke out into forced laughter, in the hope of changing the subject.

  Angela started giggling too, and before we knew it, we were the only two kids left in the hallway, other than the stragglers hauling ass to make it to class on time.

  “Oh! We’re going to be tardy!” I said.

  “What class do you have next?”

  “Hold on, let me look at my schedule.” I slung my book sack around to my front, unzipped it and reached in to grab my schedule. I pulled it out and opened it up.

  “I have Math, room 306. Do you know where that’s at?” I asked.

  “Not a clue,” Angela replied with a shrug of her pretty shoulders.

  I glanced back down and read through my classes once more.

  “French? I’m taking French? What the hell!?”

  “Welcome to the sixth grade,” Angela said with a big smile.

  The bell rang as soon as I flew through the door of Mr. Morris’s math class just as all the other doors in the hallway slammed shut behind me. The entire class looked up from their desks and I shrugged my shoulders at them to gesture, what the hell are you looking at?

  “Take a seat, son,” Mr. Morris instructed. He was writing some mathematical equations on the chalkboard, the type of which that I had never seen before, and by the looks of it I could tell that Math was going to be a son-of-a-bitch that year.

  I looked around to locate an empty desk, but the only one that was empty was the one right next to the dirtiest kid in school, Kent Lester. I shit you not, that kid smelled like ass; he must have never taken a shower or a bath in his life. It wasn’t that healthy odor you get from good, honest exercise sweat, or anything close to that; Kent’s stank was straight-up gorilla ass. Now, I’ve never lived in the jungle, or personally gotten up close enough to smell a gorilla’s ass, but that was the closest thing my imagination could compare Kent to.

  Later that period, I was sitting back in my chair doing some type of refresher multiplication test, and I suddenly felt a fart cooking up in the lowest bowels of my belly. I knew I was only getting the bubble-guts because I had forgotten all the times tables over the summer. I was so nervous, and I didn’t want Mr. Morris to think I was an idiot, but that fart was inching its way out of my rear end and there was nothing I could do to stop it. So, I did the best I could to prevent the catastrophe of embarrassment and squeezed my ass cheeks tight together and begged God to not let it slip out.

  Well, I guess I hadn’t said my prayers good enough that morning, ‘cause the gas came blasting out of my backside like the detonation at Trinity. It pounded its way out onto the plastic chair in full force, making a terrible sound so loud that it sounded like someone had stacked 12 bullfrogs on top of each other and stomped on them all at once. Laughter spread through the class, and Mr. Morris came storming over toward my and Kent’s desks.

  “Alright, who did that?” Mr. Morris demanded to know, although I think he had a pretty good idea.

  I raised my hand slowly, eventually extending my pointer finger directly at Kent. “Kent did it, Mr. Morris. And it smells horrible!” I said.

  “No I didn’t! You did!” Kent yelled, his face reddening.

  By this time, the class was uncontrollable with laughter, and I joined in. Now don’t get me wrong, I knew what I did wasn’t right, but I’ll be goddamned if it wasn’t funny.

  In the long run, sitting next to Stinky McStinkPants turned out to work quite nicely for me because, every time I had to fart I would just point my finger at Kent and blame it on him; and it worked every single time.

  It was two minutes before the bell rang for lunch, and I was finally going to be able to see Jack. Plus, everything Angela had told me about Justin was starting to creep back into my mind and I wanted to talk to him too. I knew I had to find Justin quickly because if I didn’t, the whole school was going to find out about what happened a year ago.

  The bell finally rang, and I made my way out of the classroom into the hallway that led straight to the playground. I opened the double doors, and eyed the swarms of kids who were already playing outside; it must have been lunchtime for the eighth-graders as well, because I saw kids who were all at least four inches taller than everybody else.

  The school’s playground was completely fenced in, with no way in or out. Grass covered the majority of it, except for the hollowed out dirt pit that was underneath the monkey bars. As I looked around, I noticed two boys playing chicken on the rusted monkey bars, swinging their dangling legs in their attempts to wrap them around the other’s and pull them from the bars. Directly in front of me was a group of girls huddled together, gossiping, and a fight was breaking out between some older kids at the far end.

  Kids began bumping into me as I stood in the doorway like a dumbass, instead of getting out of the way. They ran by me to join their friends, throwing up high-fives and giving out hugs as if they’d been incarcerated for years and not just one morning. I looked around for Jack, but I wasn’t sure if he had the same lunchtime as me: some kids had the lunch that was thirty minutes after mine, which was pretty cool since they got an extra ten minutes.

  I made my way out into the middle of the playground, walking slowly as if I had nothing to do, but I was really trying to get a good look at all the kids’ faces as they milled around – I didn’t want to accidentally pass Jack up. But, after a few minutes or so of looking around frantically for my friend, I called off my search and decided to look for Justin instead. Then, much to my surprise, I spotted him standing over by one of his friends named Chase, trading baseball cards. I made my way over and placed my hand on the kid’s shoulder. “Hey, Justin. Can I talk to you for a second?”

  “Hey Jody. Sure, hold on.”

  Justin turned to his friend, gave him some more cards and then turned back toward me. I noticed that Justin had grown a couple of inches since our excursion into the woods, and had slimmed quite down a lot too.

  “Let me guess,” Justin said, crossing his arms like a bouncer, “you want to know why I told Angela about the shit that happened in the woods.”

  “Yes, I do. What the hell were you thinking, man? That shit’s going to get around to everyone.”

  “No it’s not.”

  “Yes it is! If you told Angela, then how many other people is she gonna tell? And then, how many people will those people tell?”

  “Damn, Jody. I didn’t know it was that big of a deal.”

  “Well it is, Justin. Didn’t your parents tell you not to say anything?” I asked.

  “I didn’t tell my parents,” Justin said.

>   “What! You didn’t tell your parents?!”

  “Hell no! If I’d told them about what happened back there, my ass would’ve never left the house for the rest of the summer.”

  “I thought you did tell them, and that was why I hadn’t seen you around in so long.”

  “No, that’s not why I haven’t been back over,” Justin told me. And then his voice dropped to a near-whisper and he scooted up closer to me, “I haven’t been back over because I’m scared out of my damned mind. I don’t want to ever step foot onto Rhine Road again.”

  I took a step back and realized how badly that incident must have traumatized Justin. I had yet to think about how he was dealing with the situation, ‘cause I was too busy trying to deal with it myself. I felt horrible about it, but there was nothing I could do about it now besides listen to what the poor kid had to say.

  “I’ve been having nightmares ever since that day in the woods, Jody. It’s been over a year, and I still don’t want to go to sleep at night; I keep seeing those dead calves every time I close my eyes, and sometimes in my dreams they come alive and let out a God-awful scream. Then, every now and again, I think I see someone standing in the corner of my room, and all I keep asking myself is what if there really had been a crazy guy in the woods with us that day.”

  “We’re not sure if there was any guy, Justin. I think we just got spooked, and who wouldn’t have, man? I mean, Jesus, it was a slaughterhouse back there,” I said.

  “You’re wrong, Jody – I think there was someone back there. I just know it. Did you hear about the Harvest Christian Academy, off Baptiste Road?”

  “No.”

  “Someone put graffiti all over it. They drew circles with stars in them all over that Christian school, Jody. That’s right by my house! I know someone was back there at the trailer with us, and I can’t shake it from my mind.”

  I stood in silence, taking it all in. I didn’t know what to say, but I knew Justin wasn’t lying. Momma, Pepaw and I had driven past the Harvest Christian Academy a few weeks ago, and a fresh coat of paint covered the grey building. The staff had clearly painted over something, it was likely it was the weird graffiti Justin was talking about.

  “Well, if everything you’re telling me is true, then why are you running your mouth to everybody about what we saw?”

  “I only told Angela, but that’s because I think she needs to know. I didn’t want to scare her, so I didn’t even mention that we thought there was a guy back there. I just had to tell someone, Jody, and Angela really needed to know that those cows were killed back there. How would you feel if something bad like that happened across the street from your house and no one told you jack-shit about it? And if it takes me telling Angela about it to keep her away from there – then so be it.”

  “I’m pretty sure she doesn’t play in the woods, Justin,” I said, being sarcastic as ever.

  “You never know. She could be a tomboy.”

  “Doubt it.”

  “Yeah, maybe you’re right,” he said, glancing down at the ground.

  We stopped our conversation there, with a cursory glance around to see if everyone had been listening, and our minds temporarily drifted off into another place. I wasn’t sure what Justin was thinking about, but I replayed the whole scenario at that God-forsaken trailer all over again in my mind. I did have some nightmares, just like Justin, but Momma really helped me get over those and the issue was pretty much dead to me. But just talking to Justin, the floodgates had opened back up.

  “Are you sure you only told Angela?” I asked him.

  “Yes,” Justin replied.

  “Did you tell Jack?”

  “No, I thought he would’ve known about it already, being your best buddy and all.”

  “Well, he doesn’t. And I’d like to keep it that way.”

  “You mean, you didn’t tell Jack? I thought you guys were supposed to be best friends?”

  “He is my best friend, but Momma told me to keep my mouth shut about what we saw. She didn’t want people to turn it into something bigger than what it was.”

  “I never thought about it like that.” Justin said. He rocked back on his heels with his head lifted up to the sky, then reached down to pick up his book-sack.

  “So, you’re not going to tell anyone else, right?” I asked him with more than a little menace to my tone.

  “Don’t worry, I won’t tell anybody else,” Justin said, “but you know what?”

  “What.”

  “When I told Angela, my nightmares eased up a little. It feels like a weight has been lifted off of me.”

  “Well, I’m glad, but can we please squash this?” I asked, sincerely.

  “Sure – if you do something for me.”

  “What?” I growled.

  “I want you to do something for me,” Justin said with a conniving grin.

  “I can’t believe you, Justin. What do I need to do to keep your trap shut?” I asked, throwing my arms up dramatically.

  “I want you and Jack to come to the mall with me tomorrow. That’s all,” Justin said. “We haven’t hung out in a long time and I think it would be fun.”

  I suddenly felt like a douche-bag for getting all fired up for no reason, but Justin had a way of doing that to me. He could get under your skin like you couldn’t imagine; sometimes to the point that you just wanted to kick him square in the balls. I never saw him use his wits in a bad way though, it was always for something good, or fun.

  “Let me ask my mom. I think she’ll be okay with it, but I’m not sure if Mrs. Renee will let Jack go”.

  “If you’re going, I’m sure Jack will be coming, too. You guys are like conjoined twins,” Justin grinned.

  “Yeah, but I’m the handsome one.”

  “Keep telling yourself that,” Justin said, letting a smirk loose on his face. “I’ll give you a call tonight, so make sure you ask your mom if you can go as soon as you get home. And don’t worry, Jody, we’ve kept it a secret this long, it’s not gonna get out of hand.”

  “Thanks,” I said and walked away from him, knowing that the bell was about to ring. “I’ll ask my mom tonight. Talk to you later on, then.”

  “Alright,” Justin replied and headed toward the double doors that lead back into the school and shortly after he went in, the bell rang.

  ***

  Once I got home, I asked Momma if I could go to the mall with Justin. She approved, and the phone rang shortly after. I answered the call.

  “Hello?”

  “Hey, Jody, it’s Jack.”

  “What’s up? Can you go or not?” I questioned.

  “Yeah, I can go, but what the hell is there to do at the mall?”

  “I don’t know, but we’ll find something to do. I’ll talk to you later.”

  “Alright, bye,” Jack said.

  I hung up the phone and jumped up and down with joy. I had only been to the Hammond mall twice, and both times had been with Momma and Hunter. This time, I wouldn’t have Momma making me follow her around like a dog; I was beginning to feel like a big kid, and not a little baby who had to go everywhere his Mom went.

  “You better not act like a damned fool tomorrow, Jody. If I find out you acted like an ass, you’ll never go anywhere without me again. Understand?” Momma told me in her stern voice.

  “Yes, Momma,” I said, secretly rolling my eyes at her.

  The next day at school went about the same as any other day before it – long, boring and full of stupid teachers. By the second day of French class, I knew I’d never want to meet a Frenchman; French class sucked major dick, and to top it off, my French teacher had the worst smelling breath ever. So, not only did I have to smell the stinky kid in math class, but I also had to endure the French teacher’s shit-breath. By the end of that class, I swore to myself that I would never ask the teacher another question again, because when I did, she’d come over and get all in your face to explain what you needed to know. I simply couldn’t handle it, so I decided that if I nee
ded to ask a question, I would just lean over and ask Krystle, the girl that sat right next to me.

  Krystle was short, thin, with dark brown-colored hair cut into a neat bob hairstyle. She always wore glasses and multi-colored scrunchies in her hair, but was nonetheless very pretty. Krystle had yet to ask a question the whole two days that we’d spent in class together, and she always completed her work before any of us were even halfway through it. I took that to mean she was smart, and boy, was I right. When I asked people throughout the day if they knew anything about her, I found out that Krystle was actually the smartest girl in our school – was always on honor roll, and had never made an F in her life.

  I wished I could say that about me, but I’d be lying to you; there’s no telling how many times I tried turning an F into a B, or an F into an A on my report card on the bus ride home from school. Come to think of it, I don’t know why I kept on doing that, as it never worked. Momma was always able spot the correction, and tore my ass up for it – but whatever, it gave me something to do on the bus. Now, however, I was pretty confident I wouldn’t fail French if I got Krystle’s help.

  When the release bell rang, I got to the bus as fast as possible. I sat near the back with Jack, and when the bus cranked up, we began picking on this nerdy kid who sat in front of us. I can’t remember his name, but I do remember the angry red rash he constantly had around his lips. It looked something like poison ivy, or a nasty case of ringworm. If I’d known what an STD was back then, I would have told you the kid had herpes – the gift that keeps on giving. For all we know, he could’ve gotten that rash from sucking on the rubber end of a plunger, but Jack and I thought of something way better than that.

  “Hey – hey, kid – pssst,” I hissed.

  “What?”

  “Have you been sucking on a cat’s ass?” I asked him, trying to keep the laughter from busting out of my mouth.