Tuesday, 18 March 2014
Thursday, 13 March 2014
A Poem for Victorian Ladies
We must sit here prim and
proper,
As drawing breaths gets ever harder.
Hair neatly coiffed and faces
pale
As dresses sweep by hind’ring
trails
Eyesight blurry, heads grow
dizzy
Yet we must seem never busy
Like flowers wilting to the
still
They slowly try to crush our
will
Always do as husband wishes
Doling out our night-time
kisses
Having babies, one by one
Being a Lady is such great fun
Chapter 5
And
so he climbed... Up through the branches, Emma always a few feet above him. Arm
over arm and foothold after foothold, he went higher. It was agonizingly slow
work... he had to inspect each place before he put his weight on it so he could
be sure it would hold him. Emma offered no help; she would scuttle up a few
feet then wait for Kieran to catch up only to go a bit higher once more. Kieran
felt as if he were one hundred feet in the air but in reality the long half
hour had only taken him twenty feet up. Kieran was speechless. How would he
make it to the top? He was out of breath and his hands hurt horribly where he
had been grasping the rough bark.
"What’s keeping you?" Emma called from a branch she was
perched on five feet above him.
"I'm tired!" Kieran said looking up. Emma wrinkled her
nose at him. Then she grabbed the branch she was standing on and flipped forward...
Kieran gasped aloud, sure his friend was going to fall to her death, but Emma
held on, swinging slightly, dangling off the branch she had just been standing
on.
"Oh my God," Kieran breathed, "you scared me to
death!" Emma just laughed and wiggled her tongue at him. Then she let go
of the branch and landed perfectly on the one Kieran was crouched on.
"How did you do that?" he demanded.
"Maybe I'm just good at climbing trees!" she retorted.
"Fine, whatever” Kieran turned away from her and looked up
through the branches of the tree... The top seemed miles away.... Unreachable
but still calling to him.
"Come on, let’s go!" he said shortly to Emma and started
once again to climb.
"Bet I can beat you there!" Emma started nimbly up the
tree, accidentally brushing Kieran as she scrambled up past him. Kieran’s foot
slipped off the branch... His hands scrabbled in mid air... He felt himself
tipping... Sliding... Falling. Kieran let out a frantic yell... squeezing his
eyes shut. His arms pin wheeling through the air. Faintly he heard Emma scream
as well. There was a whooshing sound all around him. Branches smacked at him,
he grabbed at them but only came away with leaves. Again he faintly hear Emma
yelling something. Nothingness on every
side of him. Open air.
Oh God, I'm going to die,
he thought and squeezed his eyes shut tighter... Willing it to go fast... For
no pain. Then suddenly, simultaneously his fall was stopped by something soft
and there was a loud crack and pain shot up his arm. Kieran heard a loud oomph
and then a small groan. He hardly dared to breathe. What had caught him?
"Ughhh get off me!" Kieran opened his tightly clamped
eyes in a flash.
"Emma?" Kieran scrambled off her, careful of his wrist, wincing
when he put weight on it.
Emma was flat on her back, her leg twisted at almost a right angle
at her knee away from her body, her face was contorted in an odd expression,
“Emma, are you ok? Oh God your leg.”
“Kieran can you straighten my leg out.” Emma’s eyes were closed.
“Wh- What? Won’t that hurt you a lot? Here, I- I’ll go get someone
to help!” Kieran started to turn, to go get someone from the village, someone
to help.
“No! please Kieran, please,” now Kieran was scared, Emma never
said please, “Just straighten out my leg, that’s all I need you to do.”
Kieran did as he was told, ignoring Emma’s slightly sick
expression and the nasty grinding noise her leg was making. He straightened it
as best he could but it still jutted out to the side a bit. When he finished
there was a light sheen of sweat on Cianna’s forehead and Kieran could feel
sweat dripping down his. Cianna’s leg looked lumpy and there was a large bump
around her knee obviously caused by a misplaced bone.
“Thank you,” Emma said, finally opening her eyes and sitting up,
“I probably could have done that but for a second there I almost thought I was
going to pass out. I hate being remin-…” Her voice dropped away.
“What are you going to do? You can’t walk that way? You need
help,” Kieran leaned closer to Cianna, he used his sleeve to first wipe his
sweat away and then hers. When he touched her though, she glared at him and let
out one of her characteristic growls, “S- Sorry.”
“It’s fine,” Emma took a deep breath, “you were being kind.”
She took another deep breath and unsteadily got to her feet, no
sign of pain or anything on her stony face.
“Wh-what are you doing?!” Kieran yelped, he didn’t know medicine
but he definitely knew she should not
be standing up on a broken leg. Emma ignored Kieran though, studying her leg,
which was a bit shorter than the other and quite disfigured by the jutting bone
just under her skin. She looked up.
“Don’t watch Kieran, this
is going to be a bit unpleasant.”
“What is?”
“Kieran, I can’t exactly go around with a broken leg, can I? I
need to fix it obviously.”
“Fix it? But, how can you just… fix it?”
“Fine, watch if you wish.”
Emma bent forward placing her forehead on her knee, then she
lifted her head and placed the flat of her palms on either side of her knee.
Kieran could feel his jaw drop as he stared incredulously. Cianna’s leg was
moving, not normally, but the lumps and bumps in it shifted, the skin over it
rolling like the waves on the river. The bone visibly retreated to its normal
position and her leg grew to match the other one. There was a constant grating
noise and then a small pop. Kieran could feel himself grow nauseous, his small
breakfast coming up again. He just turned away when, with a great heave of his
stomach, the food rolled out of his mouth and splattered onto the forest floor.
Kieran retched, more and more of his breakfast was forcing its way
out, onto the ground. All he could see was Cianna’s skin, shifting and rolling
over and over, the sound of bones moving, tendons snapping back in place. After
a few seconds, Kieran got control of his stomach and straightened up again,
wiping the back of his hand across his mouth. Emma was standing a few feet
away, her face concerned but with a hint of smugness.
“I warned you not to watch,” she said in a knowing voice.
“I didn’t think it was going to be like that,” Kieran cringed as his left wrist bumped against his chest
where he had been cradling it.
“Oh, are you hurt too?” Emma took a step towards Kieran and held
out her hand, “here, let me see it.”
“God, no,” Kieran took a step back, he didn’t want to ever watch
that again, “I’ll be fine.” But as he said this the throbbing in his hand
seemed to increase as in protest.
“No you will not, actually. So come here right now, I promise it
doesn’t hurt.” Kieran took a cautious step forward, it was paining him and
obviously Emma had somehow fixed her leg.
“Oh, come on!” Emma said impatiently. Kieran scowled then walked
toward her, scooting around the pool of sick. Emma grabbed Kieran’s wrist
roughly and Kieran cried out in pain.
“Be a man,” she said meanly but her hands were gentle, they
fluttered around his wrist, testing it here and there, almost stroking it. Emma
had the most dangerous mood swings; Kieran could never tell how she would react
to something.
“Is this where it hurts the most?” Emma tapped the outside of his
wrist gently, Kieran cried out again in pain.
“Seems like it is,” Emma smiled momentarily.
Emma scrunched up her nose and put one hand on each side of his
wrist like she had done to her knee. This time Kieran had the sense to look
away, but it didn’t stop him from letting out a gasp of pain, Emma had lied,
this hurt a lot. It seemed to progress in pain until he was about to yell for
her to stop and that he would get it
fixed in town where the surgeon would set it properly then bind it up and he
wouldn’t rely on some forest vagrant to put him right. Then suddenly it
stopped. Kieran looked back at his wrist, it had shrunk back down to normal
size and it didn’t hurt anymore. The purple was even fading before his eyes. Emma
let go of it and her hands swung back down to her sides.
“There, how’s that?” Kieran moved his wrist in amazement, there
was no pain, no sting, nothing, it was as if Emma had turned back the clock to
before Kieran had fallen out of the tree.
“Whoa, how did you do that?” Kieran twisted his hand back and
forth, “can I do it?”
Emma let out a small laugh, “Probably not, think of it as
something special that only a few people can do. And no, it’s not something you
can learn,” she said catching Kieran’s look.
“Why not? How can you do it then?” Kieran whined, “I want
to be able to do that.”
“No you don’t,” Emma said quickly, “the skill doesn’t
exactly come to you pleasurably.”
Kieran loudly made a sound of discontent and inspected
his wrist again. It was perfectly healed, well the break was, the scratches on
it from jaunts through the brambles were still there. How peculiar. So Emma had
fixed only what he had hurt falling from the tree; she had targeted just that
injury, none of the others. It was amazing.
Kieran looked back at Emma “Well, no matter where you
learned the skill, thank you.”
Emma flashed a rare smile, “You’re welcome. Now I think
it is time for both of us to go home, we can climb the tree again another day.”
“I guess so,” Kieran said, “As long as you promise to
teach me another day.”
“I promise,” Emma replied and she led him back almost to
the gates of the city, stopping only just out of eyesight of anyone in town. As
always she had no desire to be seen by anyone other than Kieran.
Beatte Wempe woke up wet. She first became aware of it as
sleep was releasing her from its tight hold. She was aware of a dampness all
over her right side and in the bed. It did not seem so important to her at that
moment but as she moved closer and closer to consciousness it became stranger
and stranger still. She had not urinated in the bed, nor had her husband
Joachim; the wet was near her head and torso. And though the air smelled
faintly of excrement that couldn’t be it either. Of course it not rained inside
her house, that was just silly.
When she finally became so curious she opened her eyes
all she saw was red. The entire right side of the bed was bright red. It was
spurted all over the place, then spread as if someone had deliberately smeared
it over the walls, making swirls and heavy block shapes mixed with smudges and
droplets. The straw mattress was soaking. Joachim was gone. Beatte’s heart
stopped. Fear flooded her body, coldness creeping up her spine. She sat up and
looked around, she looked to the floor. Beatte screamed and screamed.
Joachim was completely naked and his neck had been
slashed. It had been cut literally from one ear to another, a giant red smile
on his white skin. Joachim’s head had been pulled back so it now rested on the
crown. His windpipe was visible along with the white vertebrae of his neck. But
that was not the first thing Beatte noticed. She saw the deathly white of her
husband’s stomach and the giant hole cut into it crosswise. The skin was pulled
back and all of his organs were visible. They had obviously been moved around
as they were all pushed aside giving Beatte another glimpse of his vertebrae
connected to the back of the cavity.
Joachim’s intestines had been removed. They were tied
together and circled his body like some grotesque holy aura. The intestines, a
reddish brown, were what was giving off the foul smell and there were strings
of gore hanging off them. Actually there
were flecks of gore all over the room. There was blood pooled all over the
floor, it was amazing one man had that much liquid in his body. There were
footprints and more designs on the floor around the body. The swirls and shapes
seemed to emanate from the corpse, adding to the look of an aura. Thin, crimson
marks extended outside of the circle then swirled into nothing.
Some bastard had finger-painted
with her husband’s blood, all over the walls and floor, up the bedposts and,
when Beatte looked down, even on her own night gown.
Beatte kept on screaming, her voice rose above the early
morning sounds and she heard the sounds of feet pattering on the floor. For on
terrified second Beatte thought the murderer was coming back for her but then
she heard the voices.
“Mama! What is it?”
“Mama!”
Her screams had woken the children and all four of them
stumbled into the room, the littlest, Anna, who was only three, pulled along by
the oldest, Bert. For a moment all was silent. Beatte had stopped screaming the
second the children had appeared, and all of the children were taking in the
sight of their father. Then Margareta let out a shrill scream and the others
seemed to fully understand what was in front of them and began to yell as well.
Beatte’s paralysis left in a second and she leapt out of
bed, around the body of her dead husband and, sliding once on a puddle of
blood, shoved her children out of the room and ran with them out of the house
and into the street outside.
“Help! Help!” She screamed, scurrying this way then that
in the street, “Send for the surgeon!” People started appearing, wondering what
was going on at the Wempe house.
“Bert! Go! The surgeon!” Beatte knew it was far too late
for her husband to be saved but she couldn’t help but to cling to the hope… Bert
ran off and by that time a crowd of people had gathered around her and
someone’s hands grabbed her. A male voice said, “Beatte, what’s happened? Is
that blood on your gown?”
“The bedroom floor, Joachim, blood, blood, oh God!”
Beatte said shrilly.
“Where’s Joachim? Is he hurt?”
Beatte just moaned, the
children were clinging to her, crying loudly. Even little Anna had tears
running down her face though she almost certainly didn’t know what was
happening. Margareta and Johanna were crying for their father, their arms tight
around each other and their mother. A few men broke off from the group and went
into the house to investigate.
“Beatte what’s happened? What did you see?”
The last thing Beatte remembered before she fainted was
muttering, “I saw red, red, red. All over!” and someone yelling from inside her house,
“Dear God, you won’t believe this!” then blackness came like paint dripping
over a canvas.
Chapter 4
There was a tree, an
ancient, majestic old thing with swooping branches and leafy alcoves. Its bark
was dark like the soil and rough. It was at least two armwidths around and it
twisted and curved into the sweet forest air. This tree was surrounded by more
ancient and more majestic old trees. Yet it reached high into the air, the
topmost branches struggling to keep up with the bigger trees. But this tree was
special, or so it seemed to Kieran. The whole tree tugged at his being and made
him feel wild and untamed, a feeling he relished.
Kieran loved the tree from
the very beginning, from the very start. The first time he spotted it he knew
he wanted to climb it to the very top, to see the forest and his village beyond
from that height. The tree seemed to call to him, it rather pulled at the pit
of his stomach, it pulled him up, up, up. The tree pulled him to a height only
birds knew, where the air was clear and crisp and the clouds seemed in his
reach. When he first saw the tree he and Emma had been running, chasing each
other round and round in the chilly spring morning.
They shrieked and laughed,
stumbling and tumbling (on Kieran’s part) and climbing up and down trees (Emma only,
Kieran couldn’t climb trees, well actually he had never tried). They raced
through the forest, Emma running after Kieran, trying to catch him. He couldn’t
remember what had started the game, whether he had done something to make her
pursue him or vice versa but either way they were now they were sprinting after
each other giggling hysterically. It was a very simple game, whenever one of
them caught the other they switched, the person who was caught was now the
“catcher”.
Kieran knew Emma could catch
him in a flash if she wanted to; she was far faster. He had seen her dart
through the forest when he pretended to be sleeping in the warm spring sun. She
hadn’t known he was watching. Just the week before they had been lying in a
grassy meadow, grasshoppers bouncing all around watching ants go about their
daily work when the sun had lulled Kieran into an easy sleep. He had dreamed of
something terrifying though and, when he was startled awake, he sat panting for
a moment trying to remember. He looked around, the sun had sunk to a
mid-afternoon height and it was a bit cooler than it had been before his nap.
Kieran noticed his cloak was gone. Emma was missing too.
“Emma!” he called.
“I’m right here silly,” And
there she was, right where she hadn’t been a second before. Kieran was sure of
it.
But she always pretended, acting like she
couldn’t quite keep up, although sometimes, like right now, she forgot herself.
Kieran dashed ahead of Emma but she was catching up, her bare feet flying
through the leaves and foliage. Kieran felt a sudden splash of fear, the
converse of his supposed emotions. Fear?
But the odd sensation was washed away by a shout from behind him.
“Ha! I’ve almost got you!” Emma
shouted. Kieran scampered away but right as he entered a particularly dense
grove of trees something flung itself onto his back. Kieran felt himself lose
his footing and he flew into the air. Kieran hit the ground and somersaulted, Emma
tumbling after him. When they rolled to a stop Kieran struggled to push Emma off
of him, both of them started giggling and wrestling, rolling over and over.
Finally they paused; Kieran was out of breath, he made little huffing sounds
every time he let out a breath. Emma poked him in the stomach.
“I think I won,” she said
smiling. But Kieran wasn’t paying attention. He had looked up. There, looming
above them was a giant tree. Something about it took his breath away, as if Emma
had punched him in the stomach instead of poking him. It was bursting into
bloom, the spring had fed it well and it was opening and spreading and just…
vibrant. Kieran froze, then shoved Emma roughly off of himself.
“Hey!” she sounded hurt and
surprised.
“Shhhh,” Kieran didn’t even look at Emma, he was too
transfixed with the tree. He stood up and took a tentative step towards it,
never taking his eyes from the beautiful tree. Kieran’s neck was craned back
trying to see the farthest branches, “Oh, how simply beautiful,” he breathed.
“What is? Oh, you mean the tree?” Emma followed Kieran’s
gaze and looked at the tree as well. The glory of it did not seem to strike her
as it struck Kieran, “It’s just a tree, what’s so special about it?”
Kieran tore his gaze from the tree and looked at her with
incredulity etched on his face, “Well, just look at it! Can’t you see how… how majestic it is! Oh I want to see the
world from the top! I bet I could see all the way to Bremen from up there!”
“Honestly, I see
nothing special about it, it is just a tree in a forest. There are millions of
other ones just like it surrounding you Kieran!” Emma sighed, and Kieran looked
at her again in amazement, she brushed him off and acted as if he were a silly child.
“Oh Emma, couldn’t you teach me to climb trees!” Kieran
looked at her pleadingly, “It’s a wonderfully useful skill, right?” He smiled
at her in a way he had learned she couldn’t resist and hoped, hoped, hoped she
would teach him.
Kieran was learning that he loved the outdoor skills that
seemed to come naturally to Emma. And to his extreme enjoyment, he was slowly
acquiring them all. They had spent one golden afternoon a few days before
finding paths and tracking animals. And yesterday Emma showed him how to move
through the forest without making a sound. Emma slid through the thick
undergrowth like a shadow, barely a sound and not moving a single branch.
Kieran on the other hand clomped around like a wounded animal; no matter how
quiet he tried to be the leaves always rustled, the branches always swayed.
Emma had giggled herself silly, literally holding her
sides and shaking as Kieran tried to sidle through a patch of brambles but
instead only catching his clothes and scratching himself raw. Kieran loved this
side of her, her eyes flashing and mane of hair flying as she laughed until she
cried. Kieran watched her and smiled too, ignoring the thorns digging into his
skin and the scratches across his arms and legs. That night he waited anxiously
for his father to ask about the scratches but his father didn’t even notice; he
just gave Kieran his supper then went back to workshop, never saying a single
word.
The scratches had scabbed over during the night and they
weren’t bothering Kieran at all today, in fact he had all but forgotten them.
Now he was too preoccupied with convincing Emma to teach him how to climb the
tree.
Emma seemed to be mulling it over, she looked at Kieran
and then smiled, “Oh fine, I’ll teach you“
“Thank you!” Kieran smiled.
“Anytime” Emma looked around then back at Kieran, she
smiled, “First you have to warm up.”
“Huh?”
“You have to get ready, stretch and stuff!” Emma looked
knowingly at him the instructed in a superior voice, “Hop up and down a bunch.”
Kieran was baffled but did as she said. Hopping in place
then on one foot like she instructed him to. Next Emma assured him the flapping
his arms would help him reach higher. After a moment or two of doing this Emma burst
into laughter, the sound of it echoing around the forest. Kieran stopped his
antics and looked at her, finally cottoning on the joke.
“I don’t really have to warm up do I?” Emma shook her
head, shaking with laughter. Kieran could feel the ridiculousness of the
situation and how the embarrassment was creeping up from his toes.
“That wasn’t very nice you know,” he said slowly,
embarrassment turning to anger, “actually, it was downright mean.”
“Oh but you looked so stupid! Hopping around like that!
Oh!” And she dissolved into laughter again.
Kieran could feel his face flush scarlet with anger.
“Fine then!” the words were shot out of his mouth like
poison, “laugh if you like, I’m leaving!” Kieran knew it was childish to turn
his back and walk away but this was infuriating! Emma seemed to have two
emotions, extreme anger and mocking indifference.
Kieran had gone scarcely gone two steps before he heard Emma
calling him back, he ignored her and continued walking.
“I’m sorry I laughed! But it was so funny watching you,”
she paused and giggled a bit, “I didn’t think you would actually do it! Oh do
come back, I didn’t mean anything by it. Kieran, come back! I’ll teach you how
to climb the tree! I promise I will this time!”
Kieran was still angry and the fact he was being so
immature only incited a deeper anger. Emma’s calls started to sound more upset.
Then all of the sudden he was jerked violently back by his arm. Vivid words
flowed around him that surely, if spoken by Kieran around the village, would
have gotten Kieran a good thrashing. Kieran landed on his bottom and looked up
to see a furious Emma glaring down at him.
“I was talking to you!” the expression on her face was
horrible, it was contorted and irate. Kieran could feel his mouth hanging open,
shocked, where was the sweet little girl from just a minute before? She had
suddenly turned into the violent girl from the day they met who had pushed him
down the ravine.
Emma was still shouting but Kieran realized her voice was
more hurt than angry. Maybe he had hurt her feelings by walking away, he had
never thought of Emma acutely as a human being with feelings too. In fact he
rarely thought of anyone that way, he couldn’t exactly say how he viewed other people, but it certainly wasn’t as feeling and
emotional as him.
Kieran could only look up at her, trying desperately to
find his voice. When he finally found it, it came out as a low croak, “Emma,”
He tried again, “Emma, I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” Her voice quieted and she looked at
him, looked long and hard at him.
Then Emma spoke, her tone low with carefully controlled
anger, “Kieran, you better start thinking about the effect you have on other
people, and how you treat them.” Then she stood up and walked away. Leaving
Kieran sitting on the ground of the quiet, still forest.
The next few days were horribly boring for Kieran. His
father had started work on a new stable for the lord who owned the land in the
village and so was home even less and left Kieran with little to do in the days
following Emma’s violent outburst. Kieran felt embarrassed and guilty over how
he had treated Emma, these were entirely new feelings for him and guilt
especially curled and uncurled hotly in his throat and stomach, making him want
to squirm with the total unpleasantness of it. It was so strong he avoided the
forest for over a week, making himself well seen in the village so no rumors
would run about.
Not that they would. Kieran wasn’t generally well liked.
His father’s unpleasantness was enough that most people steered clear of the
family. People paid little attention to children to begin with and combine that
with a father that was well acknowledged to be very bad tempered and it made
Kieran practically invisible. But this was all very well with Kieran who viewed
any attention as bad attention. It was always better to be forgotten and left
alone. Except when it came to Emma. Kieran didn’t enjoy it that much when Emma
paid no attention to him, in fact he rather disliked it.
Still, the days dragged on. Kieran spent his time
wandering around the village alone most of the time. He avoided the other
children; he didn’t feel much like talking with Astrid or Lukas. Unfortunately,
Kaja caught him skulking around near the smith’s early one morning, grateful
for the warmth, and dragged him away to join in with the others in a game of
find and chase. Kieran was utterly surprised to find himself having fun.
The next day followed in the exact same manner, except
that Kieran himself went and found the game by himself. Kaja was ecstatic to
see him and the others were kind as well, Lukas even made a comment about how
he was turning into a regular social person and Kieran couldn’t help but smile.
They ran through the streets again, swiping a bit of food here, and a trinket
there. It was all good fun, being with other people lightened Kieran’s heart in
a way that he rarely felt. But the feeling was becoming very familiar to him
and Kieran couldn’t say that he minded.
Kieran spent every day for almost week like that,
streaking around the town under the warm sun in a large band of children.
Looking in on the litter of kittens in the mill and catching mice to race along
the side streets. Some days they just wandered and others they played wonderful
games like Kieran had on the very first day.
“Now!” Kaja shrieked, “Run, Kieran! Magda is coming!” She
seized his hand roughly and nearly yanked his entire arm off as she burst from
their hiding place behind some old shipping crates and sprinted up the street,
Kieran in tow. Magda, a younger girl of about eight with a cramped sort of
face, let out a squeak of surprise indicating she hadn’t known they were there
then took off after them. They had been playing the hiding game for most of
the day now and Kieran
Kieran was unlucky enough to be well acquainted with the
feeling of Kaja dragging him and quickly found his footing and raced ahead of
her, only to have her catch up easily. They ran giggling through the town,
other children popping out of hiding spots and joining in when they were seen
coming. They went on playing, Kieran himself being the Finder a few times and
Kaja multiple times as she had an unlucky affinity for being too late in her
escapes and even her superior speed was useless when she ran right into the
Finder (like she did with Lukas). But the game was loads of fun and Kieran
barely felt the hours slip by and before he knew it, it was time for dinner and
to go home. Kaja parted wistfully with Kieran, making him promise to play again
tomorrow. Kieran agreed and she lit up, twirling around a few times before giggling
out a good bye before heading up the streets to her house. Kieran watched her
go, smiling at her bouncing gait, then turned and made his way to his own home.
When
Kieran left his house the next morning the sun was shining down brightly,
evaporating the wisps of damp mist left over from the night before. He made his
way through the town, heading for the area where the children gathered
normally. He was looking forward to seeing the other children and playing the
entire day again. He had actually enjoyed the day before and didn’t even miss
the forest so much. He still felt the
odd tug in his stomach from the tree though; it still made him want to jump and
climb and swing from its branches. And he missed Emma.
He was pondering this when something caught his eye, a
flash of green on the dull grey of the wall surrounding the town. Kieran saw
that it was a branch about the length of his arm lain across the top of the
wall. It was full of green leaves just blossoming which meant that it had been
cut from a tree and placed there by someone. Kieran went over to investigate. Three
leaves had fallen from the branch and rested in the dirt; Kieran picked them up
and inspected them. He half recognized the leaves, he had seen them before,
obviously in the forest with Emma. No wonder he had recognized them.
Kieran was just turning away when it struck him, he knew exactly which tree these leaves came
from. He jumped up and down a few times trying to grab hold of the rest of the
branch. When he did finally grasp it, he inspected the switch quickly once
more. It was green on the inside and had been cut off cleanly with a knife.
Kieran was willing to bet everything he owned he knew who had cut it. Emma. She
was sending him a message! Maybe she missed him, maybe she had something to tell
him. Kieran turned around and hurried off, leaving the piece of his tree laying
on the ground next to the wall.
The
trees filtered sunlight down onto the forest floor and everything around Kieran
was dappled and beautiful. Kieran felt the beauty of it all swell in his chest
and he had to clench his fists to keep himself from screaming and laughing and
dancing with joy. This was his true home, he felt happiest here. The way the
birds sang in the trees and the insects buzzed around him sounded like the most
glorious music. How could the somber hymns played in the church be considered
closer to God than this, the spectacular tune He created Himself? This was
God’s true house, the dazzling sun and bright life around him seemed a much
more holy than the dank, stone building in the town.
Kieran was still pondering this when there was a rustle
from up ahead and someone stepped onto the path in front of him.
“Hi, Emma,” Kieran said. Her arrival had startled him as
it usually did, though Kieran knew she had brushed through the bushes on
purpose to make a sound. She stood stock still in the middle of the path, her
arms hanging limply at her side, her dress as earthy green as ever. She had her
signature look on her face, the one she almost always wore when really
scrutinizing Kieran; it was confusion and wonder and suspicion and a little bit
of happiness. Kieran could spend all day just trying to read a single moment in Emma’s face, when she was
expressive that is. Emma seemed to have a veritable ocean of feelings just
below her surface but the only part she showed was the dull, blank sheet.
Except sometimes her emotions got the better of her and they burst across her
face in a collage of hidden things. Lately, this seemed to be happening more
and more, and Kieran could only wonder what else she hid below her calm
demeanor.
“Hi, Kieran,” Emma took a long step forward and held out
her hand to beckon Kieran to her, “Come on, I’m going to teach you how to climb
a tree.”
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