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I crouched down onto the floor and wrapped ht The rooether in a line It was then I finally realized so alone in the dark

Maybe it was just about being alone

The only person I felt any sort of connection with in this new/old life was Sammy, and I’d only seen him for a matter of s¸ I didn’t knohen I would be able to see Sa about King

Suddenly I felt like breathing the air in that house, in that roo poison Theto die right then and there on the bedroo to suffocate

I had to get the fuck out

I didn’t bother with shoes Still in the shorts and tank top I wore to bed, I stepped up onto theseat and pushed open theI shuffled until e like Tanner had done There was nothing but darkness beneathonto theframe with one arm, I stretched out the other and felt around for the tree branch I kneas there The second my hand touched it a sense of fa been acquaintances, I was sure of it I may have not knohere to look or what to hold onto, but ed to lower myself onto the tree branch and with a second nature type precision, I found a branch to grab and ridges for ht at all At one point, without knowing exactly how far down the ground was beneath e to jump

So I did

Sharp blades of thick grass stung the soles of my feet on impact I crouched down to brace ht buzzed to life, its soft huht train barreling down the tracks at full speed Tanner ht on

And then I ran

Darting off across the yard, kicking up water, grass, and mud onto the backs of s move

The short iron fence around the property stopped at the line of bushes that defined the back yard The natural foliage acting as its own kind of fence I ran directly for a s down as I ducked down into it, h like I’d done it a thousand ti h, but I continued on until I eed on the other side of the path onto a s over the ht reflected off the still water looked as if soht switch I followed the shoreline, the cool water lapping over my feet, the mushy sand pushed up between roves infrom the ‘fence’ of the backyard out across the water several feet, I didn’t give what I was about to do a second thought I turned and waded into the dark water It had felt onlybut as the water inched up higher and higher on ht cold

When the water rose overinto the soft earth, sending little waves crashing against the base of the trees So darted out into the water in front of ht it was a snake, the way it slithered fro an S shape in the water I waded out further to avoid it, but when it slithered right by e lizard It hissed as it passed, like an angry driver giving er

Once I cleared the trees I sloshed back up to the shore on the other side My shorts hung heavily off of hs

I found myself in a small alcove with an old weathered dock that connected to an even older and more weathered pier Tethered to the pier was a dilapidated houseboat that was decades over its expiration date The tethering was entirely unnecessary as the boat was le that toldti odor of er Much to my surprise I inhaled deeply and unlike the extreme sense of panic I’d experienced in the house, an eerie sense of calm washed over me

I smiled I knew this place I loved this place

I didn’t know or understand the how’s and why’s, I just needed to be closer to it