The fog
No room.
Maya
I said that first.
Maya
Hi. It’s Maya. Welcome to Maya and the Fog.
Leo
And Leo. I live here too.
Maya
It’s October. This one is about the day we built a fort.
And left Twiggy out. And the fog came for us.
Leo
Came for you.
Maya
The real fog. The one in our name.
Leo
Fog is tiny water drops floating near the ground. Damp air cools, and the drops form. It’s science.
Maya
It said "No room."
Leo
Fog doesn’t talk.
Maya
Keep listening.
Leo
…Is it a lot scary?
Maya
It’s scary. If you want a hand to hold, find one. Okay. Here’s what happened.
The fort
Bea
Okay! Today we build the haunted fort. One refrigerator box. One tarp. Two poles. Trick-or-treaters crawl in, and we scare them.
Milo
I’m holding up the roof!
Ashi
It’s a tarp. You’re standing on a bucket.
Bea
And this is the Door of Doom. Everybody crawls through it. Even the scary ones.
Ashi
It’s a broom handle and a garden stake.
Bea
That’s what makes it doom.
Milo
It’s wobbly. Captain says it’s wobbly.
Ashi
Captain is a toy dinosaur.
Milo
Captain is the guard. He guards the Door of Doom.
Bea
Fine. But he stays off the loose pole. The one that goes knock.
Milo
Captain touched it.
Ashi
I made hats. Members only. One. Two. Three. Four.
Bea
Four hats! That makes us a club!
Maya
We’re a club!
Bea
Members: Bea. Maya. Ashi. Milo. And nobody goes in the back corner. That’s the ghost corner. It stays empty, for the ghost.
Milo
What if the ghost doesn’t come?
Bea
Then it’s the best-kept ghost corner in California.
Twiggy
That’s a good fort.
Bea
It’s a club.
Twiggy
Can I be in it?
Bea
It’s four. We’ve only got four hats.
Twiggy
There’s room in the back.
Bea
That’s the ghost corner.
Twiggy
There isn’t a ghost. There’s room.
Ashi
It’s not really —
Milo
Maybe —
Maya
No room.
Twiggy
Oh. Okay.
Maya
Okay! So! The fort!
Bea
The fort!
Milo
Something went in the corner.
Bea
Nothing went anywhere. Stories!
The tales
Bea
Okay. Now it needs a story. A haunted fort needs a real fog story.
Maya
You can see it from here. Past the fence. Sitting on the water.
Bea
My cousin Dani is ten. She says the fog takes kids. It carries them away, and they never come back.
They’re still in there. On foggy nights you can hear them. Playing. Really far away. And nobody comes to get them.
Ashi
Moose is barking at the fence.
Milo
My brother says it takes the sound first. Then the street. Then you. If you yell, it’s like yelling into a pillow. You could be right in your own yard, and nobody would hear.
Twiggy
It isn’t coming off the water. It’s coming up the street. It’s never done that before.
Bea
Twiggy. It’s fog. It’s always fog.
Milo
Listen.
Junie
Ten! Nine! Eight!
Lucas
Not it! You’re it!
Bea
That’s just kids down the street!
Twiggy
It’s Saturday dinner. There aren’t any kids down the street.
Milo
It’s cold in the ghost corner.
Bea
That’s the pretend ghost.
Milo
It’s sitting in it.
The fog comes
Ashi
The wind chime stopped.
Milo
It takes the sound first. Like my brother said.
Ashi
The fence is gone.
Bea
It’s behind the fog. Fog goes in front of things.
Maya
The house is gone, too.
Ashi
Lucas’s book. Page forty. "Never stand at the edge of the fog alone. It takes whoever’s alone first. Nobody notices until dinner. Then there’s an empty chair."
Bea
Then we’re fine. Clubs are never alone.
Maya
It’s so quiet. Like it already knows our names.
Milo
Moose stopped barking.
Maya
Mom?
Mom
Maya? Where did the yard go?
Maya
We’re in the fort, Mom! We’re right here!
Mom
Maya?…Honey, I can’t hear you.
Ashi
Hold hands. Everybody. It said alone. We’re not alone. There’s four of us.
Bea
Dani says there’s kids playing in there. So play! Hide and seek! You’re it! One. Two. Three —
Maya
Bea, don’t!
The fog
No room.
Maya
It said "no room."
Bea
That’s wind. Wind makes shapes. Leo says. Physics.
Milo
It’s in the ghost corner.
The fog
Come.
Scooped
Bea
It’s lifting the fort!
Milo
I’m floating! Captain’s floating!
Ashi
Hold on to each other! Not the fort! Each other!
Bea
Put us down! Put us down!
Milo
It’s carrying us. Like Mom carries me when I’m asleep.
Maya
Except Mom’s warm.
Twiggy! She’s by the step! It’s not touching her!
Twiggy
Maya!
The outside
Maya
It put us down on nothing. White, everywhere, no edges. My voice came out tiny. Like it belonged to Milo.
Bea
Where are we?
Ashi
Outside.
Milo
Outside of what?
Ashi
Outside of everything.
Milo
Will anybody notice at dinner?
Maya
Mom will. Mom always notices.
Milo
Maya? Are you scared?
Maya
Yes. My voice is all wobbly.
Milo
Mine too. It sounds like a door that needs oil.
Ashi
Lucas’s book says don’t stand at the edge alone. We aren’t at the edge. We’re in the middle.
Milo
My brother said it takes the sound first. It took the sound.
Bea
I’ll find the edge. I’m walking ten steps. One. Two. Three. Four.
Ashi
Five. Six. Seven.
Bea
I’m in the same place. I walked, and I’m in the same place.
Dani said you can hear them. The kids who got taken. Playing.
Junie
Ten! Nine! Eight!
Lucas
Not it! You’re it!
Milo
Are they okay?
Bea
Hey! Hey! Can we play? We’ll play anything!
The fog
No room.
Bea
Who— who said that?
Ashi
Those are our clips. That’s the fort.
Milo
We can go home! In the fort!
Bea
Let us in! It’s our fort!
The fog
Members only.
Bea
It’s… the Door of Doom.
Ashi
It was funnier at the fort.
Milo
I want to go home.
Maya. Look. It’s our tarp.
Maya
There’s no fort. Just the roof. Flapping in nothing.
Ashi
I said that. I said "members only."
Maya
It’s saying things we said.
Ashi
To Twiggy.
I’m holding the list. It’s the only dry thing here.
Milo
My hat fell off. It went into the white and it didn’t come back.
Bea
It was a club! It’s a club! We made it!
The fog
It’s a club.
Bea
Sorry! Okay? Sorry! We’re sorry! Can we go now?
The fog
It’s a club.
Milo
Maybe it’s lost. Like Dani said. Lost things grab. Excuse me. Are you lost? Do you want to go home?
The fog
Oh. Okay.
Maya
That’s how she said it.
Okay
Maya
Twiggy said "okay." Like it was okay. And we let it be okay.
The fog
No room.
Members only.
It’s a club.
Oh. Okay.
Bea
Stop it! Stop saying it!
Ashi
The list. It’s going soft. The edges are going.
Milo
My hat’s gone. Maya? Where’s your hand?
Maya
Milo! Milo, I’m here! Where’s your hand?
Bea! Ashi! Somebody!
Bea
Maya?
Maya
Bea? Bea, I’m here! Say something!
Nobody can hear me. It’s like talking into a pillow.
It was a really big quiet. And I was in it by myself.
Ashi
Dani’s kids. Milo’s pillow. My book. They’re all about somebody nobody’s listening to.
Maya
Twiggy.
The turn — room for one more
Maya
There was room. I said there wasn’t.
Ashi
The game stopped. The kids. They stopped playing.
Maya
She asked really nicely. She asked like she thought we’d say yes.
Milo
She stood there a long time. After.
Bea
It was just four hats.
I made up four. That’s all it was.
Milo
Something opened. Like a flap.
Ashi
I thought it wasn’t fair. I only thought it. I should’ve said it out loud.
Milo
I wanted you to come. I didn’t say. I’m saying now.
Maya
Twiggy! We’re sorry! We’re going to make a place for you. You don’t have to come. You don’t have to forgive us. We just want you to know.
Shh. Everybody stop. Listen.
Milo
That’s the loose pole.
Twiggy
I can’t see you.
Maya
We can’t see you either! Say something!
Twiggy
I’m at the pole.
I’m still mad.
I’m not coming in your fort.
I’m not leaving you in there.
Maya
Twiggy! I can see your light!
Twiggy
Walk to the light. Not the game.
Bea
I can’t see my feet.
Ashi
I’m counting steps. Eleven. Twelve.
Milo
I’m holding Maya.
Maya
Eyes on the light. Both eyes.
The way back
Ashi
It’s getting thinner.
Bea
I can see the fence.
Milo
My hat’s on the grass. It came back.
Captain is in the fog’s pocket. I mean he’s in mine. He’s just very upset.
Ashi
Hats do that. Things come back when you stop holding them wrong.
Twiggy
You were really far in there. I could only hear you when you stopped yelling.
Maya
Thank you.
Twiggy
I’m still mad.
Maya
Okay. That’s okay.
Bea
We’re sorry.
Twiggy
I know. I heard.
Bea
I’m cutting a door. In the back. There’s no ghost corner. It’s a door. It’s big.
Ashi
That hat’s yours. You don’t have to wear it.
Twiggy
Maybe tomorrow.
Mom
There you are! Come in, you’re all cold. Snacks!
Leo
Did Twiggy come to the fort?
Maya
Not yet. She said maybe tomorrow.
Leo
Maybe isn’t no.
Maya
That’s what I thought.
Here’s what I learned. When somebody says "there’s room," and you say "no room," that’s the worst thing. Even in a fort.
Leo
And?
Maya
Now the door’s big enough for everybody.
Leo
Lucas called today. I said I was busy. I wasn’t busy.
Maya
Maybe call him back.
Leo
Maya. There’s fog on the window.
Maya
Is it a lot?
Leo
It’s fine. Fog is tiny water drops floating near the ground. Damp air cools, and the drops form. That’s all it is.
Maya
Then close the window.
Leo
I’m closing the window.
Maya
Leo? There isn’t any wind.
Leo
I know.
Maya
See you next time. In the fog.