Mary had gotten the old journal out of the shed. She ached all over but her heart’s joy made up for all the pain.

She smiled at George. She was truly thankful to him.

“So this is the book you saw in your glitch…the one that Michael guy and the other girls spoke of right?” George asked.

“Yes. This is it.” Mary said. She held the book to her chest like a precious treasure.
George stared at the book.

It was huge enough to be called a dictionary. The red on its leather cover seemed faded but the moment Mary blew off the dust and cleaned it with her palms, it shone blood-red. Two brown twined threads, too thick to be called threads, hung from a point between two pages of the old book.

Mary saw the curiosity in George’s eyes and smiled. She found his inquisitiveness quite cute.

“Would you like to take a look?” she asked George.

“No. I couldn’t I mean it’s yours…you should be the one to open it first and you should do so whenever you feel you’re ready. Take your time…Days, months…it’s all up to you.” George said, but he was dying to know the contents of the book.

Mary laughed.

“Well I’d like to take a peek now and I want to do it with you.” She said.

“Okay!” Excited George did his best not to do the bunny hop.

While Mary tried to open a random page on the book, a picture fell out.

Its edges seemed bitten off by time and probably rodents, but the image remained clear.

Mary picked it up and observed it closely, so did George.

It was a photograph of four teenagers in front of a familiar house. It was the wooden mansion!

George gasped.

Mary placed her left hand over her mouth.
The four teenagers were very attractive and they all smiled, like they had it all.

They probably did.

One of the teenagers was a brunette. She wore a brown jacket with fur collar over a short pink gown. Her brown hair was made into a ponytail. The blue in her eyes shone into the camera. Her smile was incredible. The perfect set of teeth accompanied her oval-shaped face.

“She’s cute.” George said.

“Yeah.” Mary answered with an involuntary pout.

The second teenager was a pretty boy. He was about George’s age. He wore blue denim sleeves over his bare chest and blue jean pants. A dog tag hung from his neck. His hair was coal black and curly. The perfect strands of curl stood an inch away from his shoulders. His full eyebrows, sat on beautiful brown eyes secured by dark eyelashes. His nose rode on a very obvious indentation that slid down to the top of perfect and almost pink lips. He was breath taking.

“The guy reminds me of Todd. He’s Michael right?” George asked though he knew.

“Yeah.” Mary answered; a wide smile was painted by nature on her face.

“He looks like a girl.”

“He’s pretty.”

“Whatever.” George pouted.

The third teenager looked very familiar. Her white skin so smooth shone radiantly on her thighs. She wore a simple teal coloured sweater over black jean shorts which kissed her thighs. Her legs were long and admirable. The green of her eyes were majestic compared to her sweater’s teal. Amazing hair strands, lush and dark as the shorts she wore, were wrapped into a neat bun. Her smile was lovely. She was not just pretty. She was not just beautiful. She was unique.

“I…I…I guess you’ve always loved buns right?” George did his best to speak but he was overwhelmed by the image of Mary on the photo.

“Yeah I guess so.” Mary smiled.

George’s heart danced a bit. Mary was beautiful.

The teenagers were all bare-footed. All but one. A very different one.

“Who’s that?” George asked after he noticed the last teenager.

“I don’t know, but she was the one who held the book in my flash-back and she’s always protected me in my dreams.” Mary said.

George stared at the last teenager in confusion. There was something about her. Something beyond being just different.

The last teenager folded her arms. She did not smile but stared at the camera as though she was pissed at it. She wore blue denim joggers over a white T-shirt. A brilliant pair of Timberlands was on her feet and several bracelets danced on her almost hidden wrists. Her hair was completely shaved on one side and the on the other, almost gold blonde hair, kept short, kissed her chin. Her green eyes were as bright as Mary’s. No. They were brighter.

“She’s definitely a tom-boy.” George concluded.

“How do you know that?”

“I just know these things Mary. I was rejected by a lot of girly-girls in my life, so my closest girl friends were tom-boys whom I felt free with. Trust me I can tell from just a glance. Blondie is definitely a tough one.”

“If you say so.” Mary laughed.

“I do say so. It’s getting late. Let’s go back before my dad catches up. You’ve been in these woods for a while, so you should lead the way.” George suggested.

“Of course I have and I will lead us home. I know a short cut.” Mary said with pride.

While they prepared to walk towards the wooden mansion, another loud bang echoed in the forest and set creatures of earth and sky in a frenzy.

“Shit! Where’s that short cut Mary? We’ve got to go and we’ve got to go now!” George screamed and picked up his pace.

Mary led the way.

Two hours from sunset, George and Mary ran as fast as they could to the wooden mansion they knew so well.

“Shit is that…” Todd stuttered.

“Your eyes do not deceive you my little brother.” Richard said while he reached out to the middle of the disfiguration on the oak’s bark.

“Fucking hair…fucking human hair…” Confused Todd repeated.

“Not just hair Todd. Blonde hair.” Richard smiled. Madness eluded his words.

Todd stared at the tail of the bullet. It was placed precisely in the middle of an almost perfect ‘X’. An ‘X’ formed by strands of almost gold hair and thumb tacks.

“But what does it have to do with…Why is it…”

“Oh, Todd, Todd, Todd. Our lives have everything to do with this hair. This beautiful hair.”

Richard smelt the hair while he spoke.

“He’s lost it.” Todd thought.

Richard kept a few strands of the hair in the left pocket of his pants and took out a small blade from the right pocket.

He cut a chunk of hair from the back of his head and gave it to Todd.

“You hold unto this.” He said.

Todd took the hair and stared at his brother. He was puzzled and numb. He just watched.

“Take a few steps back Todd.”

Todd did.

“A few more, even more.”

When Todd was more than twenty steps away from the oak tree, Richard pulled out something from his pants.

A gun.

He also took a few steps back and with one eye closed for assumed precision, he shot at the oak’s bark.

Like a loud clap, the sound of gunshot was carried in the wind.

“The hair, Todd.” Richard called out to Todd.

Now, a step away from his brother, Todd had to speak but swiftly.

“Why the shot big bro?”

“It’s a message Todd. A message to the worst kid I ever met.” Richard said while he tried hard to keep strands of his hair in a perfect ‘X’ around the bullet he shot earlier.

He took two thumb tacks from off the blonde-made ‘X’ and placed it on his.

“Perfect. Fuck you too Blondie.” He said.

“Come on Todd. I’m pretty sure the sound of gun shots reached the house. We better get back. I don’t want Alice to worry and three hours are almost up. I definitely don’t want George in my room.” Richard laughed.

He began to walk away from the tree. Joy was written on his face but fear mingled with it in beads of sweat.

Todd stared at the oak’s bark. His brother’s hair was just six inches away from the blonde’s hair and bullet.

“Todd!” Richard called. Annoyance roamed his voice.

Todd took one last look at the tree and then walked forward, with eyes on his brother.

His chest felt as though his heart was left bare in the absence of any covering.

Cold kissed every vein in his body. Fear made itself present.

He sighed and while he walked back to the wooden mansion in confusion, like George would, he uttered the simple words;

“What the fuck?!”