Chapter 2: Echoes
The entire week the boy had been filled with energy and feverishly worked on his new home. It took a whole day to make, but he had made a crude stone axe. A pile of broken rocks sat in his work area showing the struggles of his creation. He was glad he couldn't feel pain in this world. A day of hitting and grinding rocks together left his hands no less tired and injury free. With an axe made, he could focus on another need. On some of the trees, the boy had found a thin, spiky vine growing which he used to help secure the axe head in place. It broke easily at first until he decided to twist and braid it slightly. His work was originally shoddy, but after being redone multiple times, it got better.
With his new axe and his method for crude rope, he got to work on his structure. He chopped the straightest trees and branches he could find and stripped most of the offshoots and twigs off of them. Using a thin rock, holes were dug around the perimeter of his area and the poles were put into them. Poles of different lengths and thicknesses made the start of the wall look odd and misshapen, but a wall nonetheless. He mostly stuck to the juniper trees for poles as the branches were a lot straighter than the oak. A week of chopping and carrying the branches got the skeleton of his structure about three-quarters built. He had it fully assembled two days before, but decided to move them closer together for a more solid wall. It would take more time and effort, but he had no shortage of time and he didn't tire from working.
Most nights the moonlight allowed him to work longer and he would stay up well into the night. His sleep was frequently interrupted, but he used the time awake in the middle of the night to weave more of the vine into rope. He woke frequently in the beginning of the week so he had no shortage of the rope. Reliance on sleep wasn't an issue for him and this week got his spirits up. If he could continue to work like this, he would have a permanent structure in no time at all.
***
Spring break was coming to a close. His older brother had moved out last year for college so Spencer's family didn't go anywhere for the week leaving him to sleep as much as he wanted. It was already past noon, but he didn't want to get out of bed.
bzzt bzzt bzzt
Sighing, Spencer got out of bed to check his phone. It was probably Mike or Jorge. They had mentioned hanging out over break, but it was already Saturday and so far nobody made any moves to set anything up for the last two days of break.
'Think you can come over later and help my Dad and I with some yard work? He said he can pay you for your help if you want' The last minute request was from Mike.
Spencer didn't mind helping out Mike and his dad. He had known Mike for years and had been over to his house enough where he was basically part of the family. He wouldn't take any pay, just go and help for a while. A little bit of exercise would never hurt and the weather was still cool enough where it wouldn't be obnoxious to work in.
'Sure I'll be over at 3. No pay. Just make sure there's some sweet tea for me.' Spencer responded. He headed downstairs to get something to eat so he would have energy to work.
When he got to Mike's, a pair of work gloves were immediately thrown at him.
"We're moving some rocks and branches to clear an area towards the back. Might be made into a fire pit, maybe a putting green for dad. Maybe it'll end up being left alone if my dad never gets around to it."
Mike's dad has a tendency to start projects one after the other without finishing the one before. They would occasionally get done, but not in any sort of timely manner. Mike's family lived on a large property compared to most in the immediate area. Filled with trees, it was a favorite place to play when they were in elementary school. The back half of the property wasn't well kept so they mostly avoided playing in it, but over the years, Mike and his dad had cleared it out a bit better to make the yard more usable. The area was really rocky. No matter where you went within miles, you couldn't dig more than a few inches before starting to hit big rocks. Past that, you start hitting solid rock you'd have to break up with tools. Some rocks on the surface could be picked up or easily wiggled out of the ground, but others required a bit of digging to get out.
"I'll dig at the ones over here. Y'all two start picking up the small rock and branches over by the low trees." Mike's dad called out.
The spot Spencer and Mike headed to was the furthest back section of the area they were working on. The branches hung lower to the ground making it harder to get to some of the rocks. Mike's dad was planning on trimming back the lower branches, but decided to start clearing the area while he was trimming the first tree. The first rocks were easy to get to, but the ones under the tree were harder. Without gloves it would have been impossible due to the catbrier that filled the area. While grabbing a rock, Spencer also accidentally pulled some of the catbrier with it. The brier stuck to the glove after he tossed the rock into the pile. He absentmindedly started to toy with it, twisting and pulling it.
"When did you learn to do that? Are the thorns not getting through the glove?" Mike had noticed the fiddling Spencer was doing with the thin vine.
Looking down, Spencer realized he has twisted and braided the strand a few inches without even realizing what he was doing.
"I don't know. I was mostly just messing around with it. I wasn't really doing anything purposefully."
Spencer had felt a hint of familiarity seeing how the vine was twisted. The subconscious motion he had done with his hand was so natural that he didn't even notice. It felt like a motion he's done for a long time like something he's done hundreds or thousands of times such as tying his shoes.
He shrugged and tossed it aside. Realizing that the thorns actually had pierced through the glove, he winced slightly. It didn't hurt, but it made his hand very uncomfortable.
"Oh make sure you watch out for the catbrier under the trees. I've been meaning to clear it out, but you know how that goes with me." Mike's dad called out a bit too late to warn the boys.
"Yeah, be careful." Mike echoed playfully, seeing the discomfort on Spencer's face from the thorns.
Hitting Mike lightly for the joke, Spencer got back to work.
***
It was well into the day when the boy woke up. He had his best sleep all week. He slept through the night and a couple hours into the day without waking up once. He had stayed up late the night before so sleeping longer made sense. With how much work he had been doing over the last week, the sleep was probably much needed even if he never really felt tired.
The boy was in need of more rope. He had some more of the vines sitting in his lean to, but none of it was made into rope yet. He had planned to do it if he woke up in the night or when he woke up in the morning, but he both slept soundly and slept in too long to do either. He needed to make more before doing anything else that day. He reached for some vines from the pile next to his sleeping area.
"...watch out for the catbrier..." A voice echoed in the boy's head.
Startled, the boy looked around quickly. He stuck his head outside his shelter and looked around. Nothing out of the ordinary. It was a warm, sunny day and there was hardly even any breeze.
"Hello?" The boy called out.
He hadn't heard another voice in all his time in the world. He would talk himself through his plans occasionally, but he didn't talk to himself all that much. The voice he heard wasn't his, yet it wasn't unfamiliar.
"Is someone there?" He called out again, but was met with only a slight echo of his own voice.
The feeling that he was alone still sat firm in him, but he knew that he had heard a voice. He reached back for the pile of catbrier. The boy figured that it was probably something from a dream. He had some deep sleep last night so he must have still been groggy. He still firmly believed that he heard a voice, but somehow it didn't bother him anymore. He had work to get done.
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