The day was nearly done. The air was sharp with the scent of fresh-cut wood and cold mist. Aaron worked alongside the others, the steady rhythm of axes striking timber filling the forest around them. They moved in sync-chopping, dragging, stacking-their breath fogging in the chill. During a break, someone passed around a few cold beers from a battered cooler, just like yesterday. Aaron took one gratefully, the metal can cold against his fingers.
He sat on a fallen log beside Elis, clinking cans in a small, unspoken toast before taking a drink. The beer was simple and bitter, but after hours of labor, it tasted almost sweet. For the first time since arriving, Aaron felt a small sense of belonging. The easy, quiet bond of shared work-no city noise, no fast-talking strangers-just honest exhaustion and the faint hum of quiet conversation. He laughed at a joke about Levi nearly dropping a tree on himself last fall, and for a moment, the woods didn't feel so heavy.
But the moment passed quickly. Jacob stood up, tossing his empty can into the back of the wagon. "Let's finish up," he said. They gathered the last bundles of chopped wood and started down the path towards the farmhouse. Aaron walked a few paces behind Jacob and the others, his axe slung lazily over his shoulder. His body ached pleasantly, but the chill in the air was sinking deeper now, biting through his jacket.
The woods behind them blurred into thick, shapeless shadows as the clearing, Aaron slowed. Something tugged at the back of his mind- a quiet wrongness he couldn't name at first. He squinted through the thickening gray. The barn stood ahead-hulking, crooked- but it was wrong. It was sitting on the right side of the path. Aaron stopped completely, frowning hard. He remembered when he arrived yesterday morning- the barn had been on the left.
Clear as day. He had noticed it immediately: a barn on the left, a house on the right. Now it was flipped. He shook his head slowly, a prickling unease crawling up his spine. "Hey, Jacob, "he called out, jogging a few steps to catch up. "Sorry to ask, but... wasn't the barn on the left when I got here yesterday? Jacob barely looked back, giving a short, easy chuckle. "Nah, " he said. "It's always been on the right. You must be tired from all the work." Aaron slowed again, watching the men ahead of him. None of them seemed confused or even hesitated.
The barn stood stubbornly in the mist, exactly where Jacob said it should be and exactly where Aaron knew it shouldn't. He rubbed a hand over his face, breathing out a slow, misty sigh. Maybe he was tired and just remembering it wrong. Still, the certainty gnawed at him- a silent, persistent wrongness that no amount of logic could wipe away.