For a moment, I swear, I saw a pair of eyes looking at us from the woods under the dark sky from the woods and those eyes looked big and were red.

The old man said, “Spaced out? Well don’t do that again, things like these can land you up in trouble whether it’s a silent forest or hustling metropolises.”

“I won’t let that happen again.” I said. This sentence was literally rehearsed in my blood now.

“But did you see something odd in the woods now, over there?” I asked pointing my finger in direction beyond the fenced area in the busy area of wood.

The old man frowned, “There is nothing there and let’s head back inside It is getting late You should sleep.”

“But there-”

“Casey, there is nothing there, you are probably seeing things, exhaustion gets the best of us.”

“What are-”

“Go to sleep, you have to get up early tomorrow.” He said while looking around and then whistled. Rock came from the other side of the garden I did not notice before.

I did not ask him further questions about; I don’t want to land up in trouble in case he reports my every action like Mrs. Anna, my mom’s partner’s mother. Mrs. Anna did that all the time; that old woman, reported every mess up of mine to her son and my mom. If someone asked me to differentiate between her and a complaint box, I’d say that they both are the same.

I headed back to my assigned room. I glanced at my pending novel beckoning me to read it. But unfortunately in a battle of novel v/s sleep, sleep won. This was rare, like very rare. I fell into deep slumber ignoring my intrusive thoughts due to exhaustion.

~~

The old man put the scrambled eggs on my plate. “Eat up, don’t be shy about eating too much, you are a growing kid.”

“I am not a kid.” I grumbled.

“Considering the age gap between us, for me you are.” The old man said with a sly smile.

“Anyways, help me out with gardening today.”

“I don’t much about gardening, but what do I need to do?”

“Not much just remove the weed plants, they compete for nutrition, water, space with desirable plants. This destroys those desirable plants.”

“How do I know which plant is weed one and how to remove it?” I asked him.

“I will show you.”

~~

“So this plant is a weed.” The old man said pointing to some plant like grass which all looked the same to me. But after some moments of doubt and comparing it with others plants, I got it. The sun was very bright today, way too past to call it sunshine; it was rather too much to bear. But I decided to ignore it and get the task done as soon as possible. Uprooting the weed out was quite hard, on the positive side, it was a good physical outdoor activity, as I barely touched grass these days.

I wiped the sweat off my forehead, and was going to uproot another weed when my hands brushed against paws. I looked and saw Rock holding on hat on its one end with his mouth and then he put it down in front of me.

I gave him my gratitude, by petting his head. He acknowledged it before dashing off to other part of the garden, somewhere beyond the fence. The garden’s wired fences glistened in the heat, casting a shining line across the Cabin’s plain area separated from the dense forest towering up to the cabin’s height.

“Casey, after you’re done with work in the garden come back inside for some snacks.” shouted the old man from his garage.

“Yes I will.” I said and then moved my attention to the weeds spreading in between the vegetable plants. I internally sighed. Why do weeds exist? These are some of the things we never asked for.

“Casey!”

I looked back and saw the old man standing under the porch's shed, showing me a water bottle, which he kept at one of the chairs. “Keep yourself hydrated.”, he said before disappearing into the house.

Thank you, Cole Sir.

A gush wind blew across the garden, causing the tiny leaves and some dry leaves to fly up in the air, only to land back sprawled even more far from each other. I had not even started on sweeping the plain garden area and yet the task was deemed to be daunting already.

~~

I settled myself on the porch’s floor, sipping the water bottle which was already less than half full. I glanced at my other side and saw Rock sitting by the entrance of the cabin. If it were not for the hat, I would have been completely tanned. The dog gave me a suspicious look, while sticking his tongue out, breathing and just staring at me. Despite, the Rock’s mistrust towards me, I had a feeling I was going to adore him no matter what.

I lay back down on floor, not caring whether the floor was dusty or not. Rock tilted his head to one side, confused but then sat next to me, wagging his tail. Glancing up, I saw the wood planks properly lined one over the other. Somewhere in the between the line joining all the planks, I saw a small dreamcatcher hanging. Its rope length was small, so it could barely oscillate. How did I not notice it before? It had feathers of brown and black color, and then one in red. It had a design on it. I got up and tried to look around it to get a better view, but before I could a high pitched voice pulled me away from my curiosity.

Rock began to growl, the very same way it did yesterday upon my arrival. Was this person a stranger to Rock, too?

“Oh my, who could you be?” She was taller than me, wearing a red hat which hid her most of her face but not her smile, a wide smile. Being a witness to a lot of smiles, I knew it was fake one, even though I could not see her cheeks reaching up near her eyes.

Rock growls became even more intimating than before.