Guest had known David in highschool, and kept in touch online in the years after, when David moved up north.

The two had gotten closer over the years, even though they only talked online, through text and video game chats.

The company Guest worked for had been having trouble, and suddenly laid them off one spring. Struggling to pay bills and unable to find a replacement job fast enough, Guest finally told David of their predicament. To their suprise, David offered to let Guest stay with him for the summer while they look for a job.

It was hard to say no to such a generous offer. Especially since it would mean spending a few months in the beautiful forests of Olympia.

Two weeks later, after days of driving, Guest finally found themselves at the address David had given. A dirt track branched from the gravel road they'd been driving on for the last six miles. Half hidden by ferns, a flat rock with the number "281" painted in faded white was the only confirmation that this was the right place.

Another ten minutes and three miles of bouncing over roots and rutted dirt later, sunlight finally appeared through the trees. The dirt road led into a small clearing, an old barn with a rusted tractor sitting off to the side, and up the hill, straight ahead, was an old wooden cabin, just under the edge of another stand of pines.

Guest pulled into the gravel driveway behind the old green Ford Ranger that was already there, and just after they put the car in park, a man walked around the side of the house, wearing a grease-stained grey tank top and a faded pair of blue jeans.

David. Looking much more grown up than the lanky kid Guest remembered from highschool.