Threnody (024).

(This is a 500-word-a-day novel project.)

Now that Maddy was gone he was unable to hold back his bitterness, and a few times he asked her to wait while he stepped off the road into the foliage, returning with raw eyes and a sad smile. She wanted to help him, but even if she hadn’t been bearing a kind of guilt she could barely comprehend, she had no idea whether she could trust him – despite his gruff demeanor he was charming and funny, his jokes and stories lifting her spirits considerably as they walked: but he was armed and she was not. That was all there was to it.

But…he didn’t seem to remember what had happened back at the house. Either he had blocked it out, or something else had happened. In any case, Jesse was keeping the tattoo hidden at all times.

You okay?” Ryan asked her. Need to take a break?

Just woolgathering, she said. Wondering where we’ll sleep, what we’ll eat. Wondering what happened to make all of this in the first place, and what’s making it end.

They considered this, trudging on.

So….what do you think happened? Ryan asked. Tim and…and Tom knew stuff, but they weren’t, like, smart people, and me and Maddy sure ain’t gonna win any game shows, either. He paused, maybe realizing he was still speaking of her in the present tense. But you seem smart, he fumbled, finishing. You’re probably like a doctor or a lawyer, right?

I’m an editor for a book press at the University I used to teach at.

There you go, he said, clapping his hands together. College teacher, see, I was right.

It’s been awhile, she said, and I only taught Lit Intro courses.

Still, he pressed.

Ryan, she said as kindly as she could. I’d tell you if I knew anything.

Sorry, he said, blushing a little. I thought I put all that to bed, the whys is this happening and why is that. Guess it’s ‘cause I hooked up with somebody knew that’s got my head filling up with questions again.

He drew up short, looking at something in the distance, and followed his gaze: her jaw dropped – before them the road’s grade began to descend, and in the distance, barely visible in the rainy gloom, was a sea of green, a forest of a size and magnitude that seemed to defy logic. Forget thousands of trees, this was a mass of millions of them, filling all the world they could see in any direction, fog suspended on their spear points; she thought at first they might be evergreens (and shuddered at the idea of having to pass through a forest this size made of their kind), but saw that they bore veiny, circular leaves coated with some kind of scale that glittered, reflecting what little light there was. They were easily over a hundred feet in height and gigantic in their breadth, fat roots plunging into the soil and threaded violently through one another, their bark tinted red.