Boy from the Woods (9781311684776)

Jen Minkman

© 2013 Jen
Minkman

Smashwords
Edition

Front cover photo by
Ilya Terentyev

Cover design by Jen
Minkman

This book is copyright.
Apart from fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research,
criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part
may be reproduced by any process without the prior permission of
the author.

Mein Ruf ist dünn und
leicht,

verschleiert und fast
schüchtern.

Spürst du mich?

Ich berühre das Gold

der Dämmerung des Lebens.

Ich bin der Engel der dich
trägt.

Du bist mein Kind, mein
Stern

Meine Sonne, Meine Liebe

Ich sehe durch dich;

Spürst du mich?

(German original poem used as lyrics for the song in this
book)

Jen Minkman, 2009

F
lashing disco lights lit up a
sea of faces and clusters of bodies in motion. The air in the
school hall was vibrant with the booming pulse of trance music
blasting from the speakers. At eleven o’clock at night, the
temperature inside the building was stifling, despite the late hour
and the open windows.

Julia Kandolf
stood at the edge of the dance floor, her eyes scanning the crowd
writhing to the beat. She couldn’t find her friends. Where had Gaby
run off to? And where was Axel?

“Hey
, Julia.” The voice startled
her. She knew who it belonged to.

Julia’s heart
sped up as she turned around, her gaze settling on the boy behind
her. Michael. His trademark cheeky smile made her blink shyly at
him.

“That’s a
really nice dress you’re wearing,” he continued when she didn’t
respond and just kept staring at him, mouth slightly agape. He
gestured at the medieval costume she’d rented for the
party.

Julia
swallowed, her mouth turning
dry with
nerves. “Your costume is really cool, too,” she finally responded,
letting her gaze trail down his body. He was immaculately clad in a
sexy Napoleon outfit.

“Wanna
dance?” He put down his glass of beer on a table
and extended his hand courteously.

“Y-yes, of
course!
” she stammered, her stomach
giving a lurch. Together, they made their way through the throng of
party-goers. From the corner of her eye, Julia finally spotted Gaby
on the other side of the hall, giving her an encouraging nod and a
thumbs-up before taking out her plastic vampire teeth in order to
gobble down some crackers from the snack table. Julia giggled
nervously and followed Michael as he pulled her onto the dance
floor.

“Weird, huh?
Our senior year finally ending.” He looked at her pensively. “I
mean, we’ve spent, like, an entire
era
at this school. We grew up
here. And now we’re here, celebrating our graduation.” Julia felt
his arms around her waist and his hand on her lower back as he
pulled her a bit closer.

“Uhm,
yeah
.” A blush crept up her face. “It’s
really great everyone passed their exams, but now we’ll all go to
different universities. That’s sort of sad, you know. We might
never see each other again.”

“Well, never
say never,” Michael commented breezily. “Don’t forget those
wonderful
reunions they always organize here.”

“Yeah. I
guess you’re right.” Julia looked up at him, biting her lip. “I
wouldn’t mind seeing you again sooner, though,” she whispered
almost inaudibly.

Oh, crap. Had
she just said that out loud? Or as loud as she’d dared, anyway. She
looked at him insecurely, registering the look of surprise on his
face.

“Me?” he
asked, clasping her hand more tightly. “Why?”

She gulped
down the lump in her throat. Her heart was hammering like crazy,
despite Gaby’s pep talk and the three glasses of wine she’d downed
earlier that night.

“I, uhm...”
she started out, her voice faltering. In the dimly-lit room, she
saw a smile tugging at Michael’s lips. That all-too-familiar,
teasing, somewhat mocking smile that had made her shy in his
presence for the past two years – that had followed her in her
dreams, even. He lowered his face closer to hers.

“I get what
you mean. I don’t want to let you out of my sight tonight, either,”
he mumbled, his hand trailing up her arm, caressing the sensitive
skin of her neck.

Julia stopped
breathing altogether when he came even closer and pressed his lips
to hers seductively. His arms pulled her upper body against his
chest. He leaned in and kissed her again, more deeply this
time.

She couldn’t
believe this was for real. He was kissing her. He was
really
kissing her! This was not a daydream – Michael was holding
her in his arms.

Julia melted
into him
. When he let go of her at last
and asked her if she wanted another drink, she was shivering with
sheer excitement. Sporting a jubilant smile, she stayed put at the
edge of the dance floor, scanning the multitude for Gaby. Her best
friend waved at her from the other side of the room and was now
giving her
two
thumbs-up. Julia’s face split into an even
stupider grin.

By the
time
Michael returned with a beer in each
hand, her heartbeat had slowed down to an acceptable rate again. It
made her hand steady enough to quickly save her number to his
contacts when he handed over his Blackberry.

S
unlight and green
leaves.

Those
were the first things she saw when she opened
her eyes and peered at the sky above through squinted
eyelids.

Julia
held still, acutely aware of everything around
her – rustling leaves, the fat trunk of the tree against her back.
The oak felt steady, reliable, and supportive, the century-old life
force in the trunk like an extension of the energy running through
her own spinal cord. She was part of something bigger – a dream
encompassing the entire forest spreading out around her.

Every once in
a while, she felt the strong urge to come here to rest – or
‘meditate’, as her mom playfully called it. Julia loved venturing
out into the woods bordering on the small Salzburg suburb where she
lived. People called her loopy for it, but so what? This spot under
the ancient oak tree had become her solitary hang-out, the oak
being a true friend whenever she felt down and out.

This was the
place she’d come to when her grandpa had passed away. This was
where she’d broken down into tears when her parents had announced
their divorce and her dad had told her he was moving away to
Innsbruck. But this was also the place she went to when she wanted
to write poems or write lyrics or sing out loud without being
disturbed – or to daydream about the boy who had stolen her heart
two years ago, never giving it back.

Julia opened
her eyes wider and let out a heavy sigh. This time, the peaceful
atmosphere in the forest wasn’t enough to calm her down. She was
waiting for something.

She paused
for a few more beats, then sat up and grabbed her bag. Her heart
started to pound as she fumbled around in the front pocket of her
messenger bag to fish out her phone.

Nothing. No new messages.

With a
tortured sigh, she slumped back against the tree, her mind
lingering on the boy she couldn’t get out of her head. Michael
Kolbe’s handsome face. His radiant, green eyes. The teasing smile
on his lips. His lips on her trembling mouth.

She gulped
for breath when her phone abruptly came to life in her hand. ‘Gaby’
flashed across the display, the phone blaring out a ‘Friday I’m In
Love’ ringtone by The Cure. The forest seemed to jolt awake too, a
bird overhead flying off shrieking indignantly.

Julia
couldn’t help laughing, following the bird in flight with her eyes.
“Hiya, Gab,” she answered the phone cheerfully.

“Hey!
Where
are you at?” her best friend said.
“I called you at home, but your mom said you weren’t
in.”

“Oh, I’m in the forest.”

“Ah! Getting
all cuddly with Mr. Oak, huh?” Gaby knew her too well. Ever since
they’d learned the word
treehugger
in English class last
year, she’d been teasing Julia with her ‘unhealthy oak fascination’
– Gaby’s words, not hers.

“Aren’t you
the psychic,” Julia retorted with a grin. “And no, we haven’t
hugged today yet. I’d rather wait for one of Michael’s hugs – if
he’s
ever
going to reply to my messages, that is.” She cringed,
recoiling from the bitter tone in her own voice.

Gaby exhaled
on the other end of the line. “Why don’t you come to town? You
won’t cheer yourself up sitting around talking to trees and feeling
sorry for yourself because Asshole Kolbe hasn’t been as
communicative as you’d hoped for. I’ll see you in a half hour at
Mozartplatz, okay?”

“A half hour
– are you crazy? I’ll have to run like the wind to catch the next
bus!”

“You
aced Phys Ed this year,” Gaby said relentlessly.
“You’ll manage. And if you get here on time, I’ll buy the two of
us
Sachertorte
from Tomaselli’s. The carbs will brighten your
day.”

“All
right,
okay,” Julia caved. “I’ll see you
soon.” She clicked off and turned around to hug the tree behind her
for a second, despite her words to Gaby. She couldn’t leave without
doing this. It was her ritual. “Thanks for your support,” she
whispered against the bark, pressing a light kiss to the gnarled
skin of the oak.

Her hair was
dancing in the wind as she broke out of the tree line, hitching the
strap of her bag onto one shoulder and sprinting to the bus stop.
The doors were just closing.

“Grüss Gott
,” Julia hiccupped
breathlessly as she held the door and yanked it open again.
Stepping inside, she flashed her travel card to the driver and made
her way to the back seat of the bus – her usual spot. Once the
suburb of Birkensiedlung had disappeared from view, she dug up her
MP3 player to listen to some Enya. Maybe that would help her
relax.

After a few
minutes of staring out the window, Julia realized she had once
again pulled her cell phone from her bag, her thumb tentatively
stroking the keyboard. Of course, there was no harm in sending
Michael a text message, but she’d already sent him one two days
ago. And three days ago. And a week ago.

She
was
such
a loser. Why couldn’t she have waited more patiently?
Suppose he was out of town and he’d forgotten to bring his cell
phone. Maybe he’d turned it off, or maybe he’d lost his charger. If
he ever got round to switching his phone on again, he’d immediately
find out that she was Obsessive Stalker Girl.

She frowned
and
put the phone away again, leaning
back in her seat. Gaby’s Asshole Kolbe remark had made her
restless. Of course, her best friend called everyone names
constantly. She was probably just kidding, but then again...
she
had
kind of made it sound like Michael was playing
her.

Why was she
even listening to Gaby? Her friend didn’t know. And shame on her,
Julia, for not having
more confidence in
the boy who’d stolen her heart – Michael, whose kisses tasted of
passion and fire. Michael, who had whispered to her how beautiful
she was, as he lay her down on his bed.

She closed
her eyes and bit her lip, feeling her face flood with color. Okay…
maybe she should leave out a few details when she talked to Gaby.
It all felt too special to divulge everything. Too
precious.

Meanwhile,
the bus was
driving along the river
Salzach, pulling over at the bus stop near the bridge leading to
the Old Town. The river was low – June had been an unusually dry
month in Austria.

While ‘The
Memory of Trees’
started to trickle
through her earbuds, Julia got off the bus and crossed the river.
It didn’t take her long, and she got to Mozartplatz by the time
she’d agreed to meet up with Gaby. Her gaze swept the square, but
she didn’t see her friend anywhere. However, she did spot another
familiar face – her cousin Axel was just exiting the bookstore on
the corner, carrying a plastic bag crammed full of
books.