The Crosswood

The Crosswood — page 1 — For Dylan and Ethan

The Crosswood — page 2 — Chapter One It’s quite comfortable here in the woodshed With the door open it’s not dark And I found a nice log to sit on I lean back on the dusty wall and look at the ceiling Okay there are a couple of spiders up there That’s not great Outside back at the house I hear the screen door slam open Blue Blue Where are you I need help with the twins 1

The Crosswood — page 3 — The twins My brother and sister They are nearly ten Their names are Indigo a boy and Violet a girl And they are in my mother’s words holy terrors I don’t see how that’s my problem It is nearly dinnertime I’ve spent most of the day chasing after the twins in the yard I am over it Over them and their antics Indigo filled his pockets with beetles I think he might have eaten one Violet got sap in her hair and a pine needle in her eye They both lost their socks How do you lose socks in your own yard I’ll tell you Somehow you throw them up into the tallest tree If I lean out the woodshed door I can still see them up there Indigo’s mismatched blue and white socks Violet’s red socks one with a hole in the toe I have no idea how they got them up there Neither does Mom even though she watched us all day from where she was building a chair on the porch Blue get back here Indigo is in the rafters again Mom never lets the twins out of her sight She even homeschools them I take the bus to the 2

The Crosswood — page 4 — school in town But the twins get to stay here in our cabin at the edge of the woods I’m pretty sure they just run around all day I don’t think they learn much But they don’t need to They’re both weirdly smart Unlike me I’m weirdly average The twins are weirdly weird actually I know it’s normal for little kids to have active imaginations but wow Indigo and Violet take it to new levels They claim they’re royalty They tell me their real last name is Nash Panash Buckthorn Briar It’s not It’s Jasper same as mine They talk to fireflies Only not in English Not in any language I recognize They speak it to each other too Mom says that’s normal for twins But nothing is normal about Indigo and Violet They drive me crazy BLUE Get in here NOW I’m fourteen I’m starting high school at the end of this summer Ninth grade I’m going to have enough stress I’ll have to take a new bus to a different town I’ll have to get up earlier I’ll probably have a ton more 3

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