Another flash, then sudden darkness. I closed my eyes to hold the image, but everything was unfamiliar. The looming trees, the gnarled branches. I didn’t know the way. Go! Move! My heart fluttered and panic squeezed the hard lump in my throat. Inside my head, I tried to focus on Carl’s voice. Hey, Magic Boy. Carl was my friend. I was certain of that. Gloria was wrong; she always said I’d never make friends. But that was before she made that sign and pointed at a tree. Told me not to move. And Carl came along and let me follow him. Didn’t ask for a single thing in return, and just invited me to stay. That was friendship.

I tried to keep a straight line. One foot in front of the other. I felt something glide past my leg. Wet and furry. I jumped. An animal? Or moss on a rock? Didn’t dare reach down to touch it.

Carl will be there. He was always there. But what if, this one time, he isn’t? He said he was going to be there until he died, or was reclaimed, was it? But was Carl a reliable person? What if he and Girl took off? Moved to another bridge. What if there was nobody waiting?

What if I’m alone in here?

Another flash. The woods had grown denser. It felt like hours since Gloria had turned me out. Since Maisy had watched me from inside. Fear made my lungs wheeze. I rushed ahead, fingers spread, grasping and tearing. A root grabbed my ankle. I stumbled. Face struck. A stone? A log? I was on all fours now. Pain radiated out from my chin, and my throat swallowed mouthful after mouthful of watery blood. My tongue felt a gap near my bottom lip. Then a small pebble. No. My tooth! I spit it into my hand. Pushed it to the bottom of my back pocket.

Leaves and bark and dirt stuck to my arms and legs. Stuck to my neck. In my hair. I sat back on my heels. Lightning flashed again. Thunder cracked. Rain dropped through the trees, blanketing me. It was drowning me. I was shaking. Could hear clanking inside my head.

What was I thinking, running away? What did I even know about Carl? His mother was a ghost. He acted like he could read the future. He had a nice dog, but he also had three different people chattering inside his skull. He liked to eat food from a package or a can and he thought birds were picking surveillance wires out of trees and every time I saw him his eyes were redder, and his beard was thinner, and he talked more and more about the workers.