Hidden Lives by Kestral Gaian

Author:Kestral Gaian
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Green Spiral Arts

Twenty-One

Keep Looking

Aaron threw his hoodie on over his blazer and sat on his bike as he pulled his phone out and checked the time. Seven thirty. Far earlier than he’d ever usually leave for school, but he just hadn’t been able to go back to sleep after the dream he’d had last night. He was still feeling a little rough, too. Not so much dizzy, but a little feverish. Like his head was just a little out of step with reality.

It was his second to last week of school this term, and he could do without a fuzzy head right now. He couldn’t wait for the break from school to start, giving him the time to do some cycling for fun, to work more on his university applications, and to really get to the bottom of the investigation with X. Shoving his phone back in his pocket, he pushed off from the side of the house and headed toward the clearing in the woods that would take him back past the hut and towards school for the day.

The sky was still dark as Aaron pushed down on the pedals, the wheels of his bike picking up sodden earth as it slowly churned and turned to mud beneath him. As he passed the clearing and headed into the woods even the cloud-obscured glow of moonlight and impending sunrise faded, leaving his bike lights the only source of illumination in the dark mass of trees in front of him. Noticing some strange markings on the ground ahead of him, Aaron stopped his bike and slowly unclipped his front bike light from the mount that held it to the handlebar. Sliding off the saddle, he lent down to investigate.

It looked like someone had been spray painting the earthen floor of the path, creating yellow lines along the edge of it, marking it out like a builder before starting work on a road. He shone his torch over to the other side of the path and saw the same markings, stretching out along the path, roughly equidistant to one another.

Shining his bike light into the distance, something vaguely metallic seemed to be reflecting back in his direction. He stood up and tried to strain his eyes to see what it was but couldn’t quite make it out yet. Getting back onto his bike, he reattached the light and started to cycle slowly forwards, down the familiar path that had suddenly inherited unfamiliar characteristics.

The object reflecting his bike light grew closer, and he once again slowed his bike to a stop. There, at the side of the path, was a metal fence panel. Looking ahead he could see that the fencing continued into the distance on both sides of him, closing it in. It was like someone had cordoned off the woodland around the path, protecting it from passers-by.

A thought suddenly crossed his mind, and he set off at a faster pace down the now-enclosed pathway. The hut—it was just off the path, would there

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