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I loved the woods behind s underfoot and especially those stray ribbons of sunlight that streah the tree limbs But mostly, I cherished the absolute absence of human intervention God, did I adore the quiet scuttle of squirrels pillaging through the foliage, birds chirping their daily chorus, and the flutter of the breeze through the hollows, like the breath of nature, whispering her secrets to ht the woods witheither my mother, my father, or both eneral It was one big happy retreat

I had no idea why I hadn’t co solitude was addictive And there was so h the forest--or three hundred and twenty acres, as he would classify it The only other property to butt against ours was the Parkers’, and their place was clear on the other side, so I had the entire three hundred and twenty acres all to mysel--

"Watch out!"

Startled out ofmy Kindle to my chest But whathow? Someone else was in ing directly toward me as if the hounds of hell were after him

Ohcrap

He tried to stop and avoid a collision I could tell by the way his ar for invisible brakes, and by the widening of his eyesright before he plowed intothud

The breath snapped fros Momentum from his run propelled me backwards and hi through the air that our gazes ed brown eyes filled with horror Mine, fear That’s all we had tiood scream--before we landed, him on top, me crushed beneath with my back to the forest floor

The fall didn’t knocksince the pain was i out all four liled knot of ars He crushed me to the earth with his warht of what boys ht smell like before But he certainly didn’t exude snips and snails and puppy-dogs’ tails He was musky and fresh with a hint of apple

And then his smell was taken away

"Ohshit" He did an aard crablike crawl to scraht lifted and the release of pressure brought about ony to ripped , because the as still knocked froain "Wake up Please wake up I’ers skiers, containing the slight rasp of callouses against the softest part ofthe boy aspects of hi ers throughfor wounds about the sa on the back of h me, from the back of my head, down, until it shot out the ends of my feet And yeah, I could definitely feel rabbed his wrist and flashed ht, tall branches overhead with the blue sky peeking through, checking on aze until I focused on concerned brown eyes, the skin around them wrinkled into a sympathetic wince

"Are you okay? Let ers wrapped around ently took hold of my shoulder But when he tried to lift me into a sit, I sucked in a breath and curled away froo and shied back "Sorry Sorry"

I rolled ontomy ribs, and bent ood

The boy hovered above ent intensity "Where does it hurt?"

I moaned, orbut breathing until I could bear the ache Then I blew out a breath and began to sit up on my own He shifted toward me and extended an ar his mind