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There was a boy in the woods. Sally didn’t know where he had come from, how far he had wandered, how he had navigated the twisted paths to come so close to Knothole. He couldn’t have done it on purpose, because he didn’t know she was there. But here he was, sitting with his back pressed to the trunk of an oak tree. His legs were curled to his chest, spattered with mud up to the hip. His too-large hoodie was ripped at the sides, and he clenched the drawstrings between his teeth. He pressed his knuckles to his forehead, shaken by the woodland chill and the sobs he couldn’t choke down.
He didn’t notice Sally until she was standing over him. His head snapped up, and every muscle in his body went rigid. For a moment, Sally feared he might bolt into the brush, or lunge like a cornered animal. Instead he curled into a tight ball, hiding his splotchy cheeks and red-rimmed eyes between his knees.
Sally circled him at a distance and sat down on the other side of the tree. As soon as she was out of sight, he sucked in a shuddering breath. The whimper that followed was muffled by his hands clamped over his mouth.
“Are you able to talk right now?” Sally said. There was no response. “I understand. I need to ask you some questions. Knock once for yes, twice for no.”
A single knock, chafed knuckles against bark, echoed through the oak’s trunk.
“Are you lost?” Sally asked.
The boy knocked once. Yes.
“Are you looking for something?”
Two knocks. No.
“Do you have somewhere to go?”
Knock knock.
“Did you lose someone?”
Knock.
“I’m sorry,” Sally said. “I know what it’s like. It doesn’t get easier. But when you’re ready, you can come home with me, and we’ll figure out what to do next.”
She lost track of how long she waited, pretending not to hear the wails that clawed their way out of him. She could have waited longer, but his sobs soon became whimpers, then hitched breaths, then silence. Then there were rustling leaves and footsteps, and then he was standing over her, wiping his face with the side of his hood.
“Didn’t know anyone lived out here,” he said.
“We don’t get a lot of visitors,” Sally said. She didn’t comment on the lingering tremor in his voice.
The boy held out his hand. Sally took it, and he pulled her to her feet.
By the time they arrived in the village, Sonic was smiling as if nothing in the world had gone wrong.