Boy from the Woods (9781311684776) (23 page)

Anne glowered
at her and stomped away indignantly. Julia sighed, slumping against
her grandmother when the old woman put a hand on her shoulder.
“Don’t budge, Julia. Anne is reaching puberty and she has a very
strong will of her own.” Gran frowned. “I
can sense something is bothering her.”

“Yes, that’s
my impression too. She’s running away from upsetting things lately,
fleeing into the woods all by herself, writing in her diary a lot.
I think she’s beginning to miss Dad more and more.”

Her grandmother
nodded.
“Maybe we should talk about this.
Why don’t you come over for dinner tomorrow night? I’ll make your
favorite pancakes.”

Julia bit her lip.
“I can’t. Uhm... Michael is coming over for
dinner tomorrow.”

“Oh, really?” Gran shot her a curious
look.

“Yes. He
turned out to have a job at the bookstore too. He told me… well,
he’s in love with me.”

“How wonderful for you, sweetheart!” Gran
gave her a sunny smile. “So it wasn’t as complicated as you thought
after all.”

Actually,
it
was
complicated, but she didn’t have the time or energy to
explain it to Gran. Julia rubbed her forehead with a pained
expression on her face. Her grandmother opened the top drawer of
the hallway cupboard and pulled out a strip of paracetamol.
“Stay here. I’ll get you some water.”

Gran popped into the kitchen and soon
returned with a glass of water, Anne following in her wake.

“Are you
going out tonight?”
Anne wanted to know.

Julia made a
noncommittal sound. “I’m just going to Axel
’s for a few hours. But I think I’ll stay in if this
headache doesn’t go away.”

“Hmm,” Anne
muttered, sounding a bit disgruntled over the fact
that her big sister wasn’t going out. Julia
frowned. Could she be planning on sneaking out to the woods with no
one around to pay attention? Perhaps it was better if she stayed at
home then – she wasn’t about to let Anne off the hook.

“Shall I ask
Ignaz to give you a ride home?” Gran asked. “
That will be quicker than the bus.”

“Yes,
please,” Julia sighed. Gran’s neighbor often helped them out
by playing cabbie, and she couldn’t wait to get
home and lie down.

A little
later, Julia was slumped into the back seat of Ignaz’s old Volvo.
Anne was in the passenger seat chatting animatedly to their
grandmother’s neighbor. Her foul mood seemed to
have blown over. She hadn’t mentioned the woods again, but
Julia was determined not to let Anne out of her sight. Besides, she
really didn’t want to go out anymore – so far, the paracetamol
hadn’t worked at all.

“Hey, look,
Sabine is having a barbecue,” Anne enthused when Ignaz dropped them
off at their doorstep. “Shall we
go and
say hi?”

“Go ahead,” Julia said. “I was there before
picking you up. Why don’t you ask them if they have any sausages
left for you, and I’ll call Gaby to cancel our date.”

As Anne
dashed into the neighboring yard, Julia shambled inside. “Hey,
Gab,” she said when her friend answered the phone. “I have a killer
headache. I won’t be able to make it tonight.”

There was a
pause at the other end of the line. “But…” Gaby started, her voice
sounding a little strangled.
“I’m already on my
way!”

“Well, good.
Say hi to Axel for me. I’m sure you guys will
have a good time.”

“But he
invited us both.
Please don’t ditch on
me. Maybe he doesn’t want to see just me.”

Julia snickered. “Don’t be
an idiot.
Why wouldn’t he want to see
just you? He asked you out to dinner, for crying out loud.
Just
you.”

“Movie night
is totally different
, though,” Gaby
persisted.

“Oh, for the love of Pete. I can’t deal with
this right now. My head is about to explode, and you’re not
helping. You’re a big girl and I’m sure you’ll survive this night
without me just fine.”

Gaby swallowed audibly.
“Well.
Okay then. Talk to you
later.”

“Call me.” Julia hung up
and flopped down on her bed.
Maybe her
headache was a blessing in disguise: this would give Axel the
opportunity to have Gaby all to himself for the night. She could
only hope he’d use this golden opportunity to his advantage – if
her best friend and her cousin were going to be this twitchy around
each other for much longer, it would drive her stark raving
mad.

Julia pushed herself off the bed and looked
out the window. Anne was sitting at the neighbors’ yard table
having a hotdog. Good – she was being taken care of. Mom would be
home in less than thirty minutes, so she could hit the sack at the
same time Anne went to bed. This day, wonderful as it might have
been, had left her drained.

Just as she was dozing off, her sister’s
voice startled her from sleep. “Hey. Have you been in my room?”

Julia sat
upright, blinking at Anne holding a pile of paper in one
hand.
Her little sister looked upset.

“Oh. Yes, I have. I picked
up some of your drawings.
The wind had
blown them off your desk.
Why?”

Anne bit her lip and gave a tiny shrug.
“Nothing. I just thought you’d secretly taken a peek.”

“Why would I do that?”

Anne didn’t
answer the question. Instead, she clutched the drawings close to
her chest. “You can’t look at them,” she said
nervously. “They’re secret.”

Her sister’s
words stung more than
Julia cared to
admit. Maybe the times sharing stories and fairytales with Anne
about the forest so close to their house were gone – a thing of the
past. Anne wanted to keep her stories to herself now.

“Well, I didn’t see anything
world-shattering,” she replied, smiling weakly. “Just put them away
properly in the future.”

At that
moment
, Julia heard the front door
slamming shut downstairs. “I’m home!” their mother called up at
them.

“I’m going to
say hi,” Anne said, padding out of the room still clutching her
drawings. Julia decided to put on her pajamas and crawl into bed.
She was dead beat. By the time her mother popped in to say hello,
she had almost fallen asleep again.

“Hey,
M
om,” she mumbled blearily. “Michael’s
having dinner here tomorrow.”

Ms
. Gunther cocked her head.
“Michael Kolbe? That boy from the woods?”

“Yeah, that
one. He’s one of my colleague
s.”

“Ah.” Her
mother looked at her expectantly, a smile tugging at her lips.
Slowly, Julia’s face flooded with color.

“We… we went
out today,” she floundered.
“To the park. And it was
fun.
And so I thought it’d be nice to
invite him for dinner.”

“If you’re cooking.” Her
mom winked.
“How about pizza? I’m going
to pay aunt Verena a visit during the day, so I won’t have time to
prepare anything, but you’re not working tomorrow, are
you?”

Julia smiled. “Leave everything
to me.”

“Well, why
d
on’t you get some beauty sleep now? You
have an exciting day ahead.” Her mother kissed her on the forehead
and walked out the door humming a happy tune.

With a faint
smile still on her lips,
Julia switched
off her bedside light and floated off to sleep in mere
seconds.

10
.

S
he was walking in the forest.
The trees around her were giants looming over her, and just for a
moment, Julia felt as if she herself had shrunk in size. Somewhere,
far away in the distance, music resounded in the woods.

‘Have you seen him?’ the trees whispered to
her, their ancient voices like leaves in the breeze.

‘Who?’ she
asked without speaking.

‘The boy from the woods,’ the trees
replied.

‘Who? Michael?’

‘His heart longed to be with you.’

The music grew louder. A moan escaped from
Julia’s throat when she slowly woke up and realized her phone was
ringing.

Groping
around blearily, she found her bag under
the bed and rummaged around to find her cell phone and
answer it.

“Hey Flo,”
she
muttered. “Thanks for your wake-up
call.”

“Oh, I’m sorry!” Florian
yelped.
“I thought you’d be awake by
now.
It’s eleven o’clock, you know.”

“Really?”
Julia sat up a bit straighter, rubbing the sleep
from her eyes. “Geez, I’ve slept the whole morning through. And I
went to bed at nine yesterday! Strange.”

“Well, I bet you feel very rested then. Would
you like to join me this afternoon when I go to Moritz’s band
practice? I’m going to be his Yoko for the very first time.”

“Sounds great! What time are you going?”

“Around four.”

“Oh, uhm, no.
That’s inconvenient for me, really. Michael’s
coming over for dinner tonight.”

Florian started to
chuckle. “Ah, yes!
Axel told me. You went
on a date with him yesterday, right?”

“Yeah
, and it was
awesome.”

“I’m really
happy for you,” Florian said warmly. “Apparently, that blow to the
head did wonders for his social skills.”

“Yeah, it did.
And don’t ask me why, because I’m not asking any
more questions myself. I’m just so sickeningly happy that I don’t
care.”

“Well, enjoy the rest of your day, Julius.
I’m going to call the others. Axel might join me. Do you know
whether Gaby and Tamara are working today?”

“Haven’t got a
clue.
Let’s all meet up together some
evening this week, okay?
Say hi to Moritz from
me.”

Julia rung off.
The dream images were still lingering in her
mind. The trees talking to her, telling her that Michael had longed
for her… was it possible the forest sprites had really known what
he felt for her? Was this their way of telling her? She couldn’t
escape the feeling that the dream had been a message. It had felt
so life-like, despite the fact that it contained very strange
elements.

At that
moment, her mom pushed open the bedroom door. “Hey,
sleepy head! Finally back in the land of the
living? There are some fresh breadrolls downstairs if you
want.”

“Great,
M
om, thanks!”

“You’re
welcome. I have to go now, but I’ll be back around five. Anne is
going on a playdate with Sabine, so you’ll have the house to
yourself. Why don’t you take your time to lay the table with our
velvet tablecloth and take out the candlesticks, honey?”

“You’re so
funny, ha-ha,” Julia grumbled, but still got up to give her mother
a quick hug. “I’
ll take things easy
today. Have fun at Aunt Verena’s.”

After her mom
left, Julia rooted around in her wardrobe to dig up a light summer
dress and flip-flops. Still in her PJs, she made her way to the
bathroom to take a fresh shower. Anne was in her room, loudly
playing the Lord of the Rings soundtrack.
She was
probably drawing or writing again.

Just as Julia
stepped out of the shower cabin with a towel around her body, she
heard Anne’s phone ring in the room next door.
Her sister turned off the music and answered her cell phone
in a hushed voice. Strange.

“Was that
M
om calling you?” she asked when she
bumped into Anne in the hallway.

“No,
one of my classmates. She asked if I wanted to
come along to the pool.”

“I thought you had a playdate with Sabine
today?”

Anne stared at the floor. “I don’t know if
I’m going to the pool yet.”

“Oh well, you
don’t have to choose, do you? You can also go to the pool with
Sabine
and
the other girl.”

“I don’t know,” Anne repeated, looking
subdued.

Julia
impulsively flung an arm around her sister’s slender
shoulders.
“What’s up, Annie? You feeling
down?”

Anne shrugged. “Yes and no.”

Again with the
evasiveness. Julia sighed. “You know, why don’t we have breakfast
together?
Maybe you’ll want to talk about
it over a nice, big plate of breadrolls.
Okay?”

“All right.”

In silence, they walked
down the stairs.
It wasn’t until Julia
put down two plates of food on the kitchen table that Anne opened
her mouth again.

“Who’s that boy who’s coming over for dinner
tonight?” she asked softly.

“Michael? He’s a colleague of mine.”

Anne looked at her attentively. “Are you in
love with him?”

Julia
blushed. “
Busted,” she joked. “Yeah, I
really like him.”

“How do you
know when you’re in love with someone? Or when someone is in love
with you?”
Anne continued.