Chapter 2

The property belonged to his parents, had since long before he was born, and if he chose to believe his grandpa, it was the place their little family settled some decades ago. Of course, if a dirt floor, single room cabin ever sat on the parcel of land it was long gone, swallowed up by renovations and additions and pushed into history by modern conveniences. Not that he was going to complain.

With his parents off on a cruise to the great white wonder of Alaska and his sister mere weeks away from popping out the first grandchild, Keston knew he’d have the place all to himself.

Just him and the critters of the surrounding forest.

He followed the winding road, having slowed considerably for fear of suicidal deer, and even turned down the country tune currently playing. A hit of the power window button and soon he was listening to the whisper of rustling fall leaves and a choir of birdsong. Keston relaxed.

“I needed this,” he said to the car. “Some time away, get my head cleared, get things figured out. Maybe decide if my life requires change.” He passed a cabin that belonged to someone else. “Am I having an early midlife crisis, is that possible?”

Off the other side of the road was a place Keston knew well, and he slowed as he came upon it. The rundown cabin had seen better days and it marveled him how it remained standing all these years. Growing up, he remembered how his parents used to remind him and his sister, both quite sternly, to stay away from the place. It wasn’t safe. They’d get hurt. “What if you fall through a weak spot in the floor and nobody knows you’re there? You could die.”Mom, a sweet woman who enjoyed baking cookies, but also managed to always think of the worst-case scenario, and often chose to share it.

Why hasn’t someone bough that place and fixed it up?Unless rules and regulations had changed, which he highly doubted, no new developments were allowed in the Kona Forest, and it was prime camping territory. Maybe he’d look into the property while he was here, see about purchasing it and setting things right. He could turn it into an investment property.

It was somewhere to start, something to think about. Maybe it would lead to a new career opportunity. Who knows.

A little further down the road Keston turned into the gravel driveway to their place. The company his parents paid to maintain the grounds in their absence kept the grass and the bushes trimmed, cut back any tree limbs that might scrape along the roof, and as always requested by his mom, left the carpeting of fall leaves in place. “They serve a purpose.”He killed the engine, listening to it tick as it cooled.

“This is gonna be good,” he said.

Keston gathered up his duffle bag, found the cabin key in his pocket, and headed for the front door.2

Keston dumped his belongings at the cabin, then took a quick trip to the local grocery store to stock up on food and a few other items. He spent the remainder of the evening getting settled, watching reruns of a popular sitcom.

Little did he realize he was being watched, had been since the second he turned down the barely two-lane road that wove like a scar through the mostly untouched landscape. It wasn’t just one set of eyes that monitored his movements, keeping tabs on his coming and goings, no, it was a handful, the forest abuzz with the arrival of a human. There was a ripple of concern on what he planned to do, how long he’d stay, and if he knew. Those who remembered him as a youngster questioned if he recalled any of the events that transpired when he was a child.

Minds were more easily manipulated back then, more willing to believe in the magic that tried its best to remain hidden. Adults…Well, they tended to panic when the unusual happened, and that always came with a high risk of discovery.

“Think we’ll be okay?”

The question earned a shrug from a set of very hairy shoulders. “Only time will tell. Maybe he’s only here for the weekend.”

“I don’t know,” chimed a third voice, “he had an awful lot of food in those bags.”

“Which he can take with him when he leaves,” Hairy Shoulders pointed out. “Let’s just monitor things, and stay out of sight. The sooner he leaves, the better.”

The trio melted back into the shadows across from Keston’s cabin just as he approached the window that looked out in their direction. He sipped a chilled beer. He tinkered with the latch and pulled the window up an inch or two, letting the fresh air filter in. If he heard the snap of a twig, he likely played it off as a deer, none the wiser to being watched.