Episode 2: The Secrets of the Forest

I wondered how it could still be there just as I had left it. Maybe Joanne and Larry came here regularly and maintained the place. A thin mossy layer was coating the roof of the tree house but other than that nothing had changed. In a flash of memory, I saw a twelve-year-old me playing hide and seek with my friends. Larry counted till twenty with his eyes shut as we slowly climbed out of the tree house to go hide in the forest even when the forest was off limits for us kids. As if in a trance I had followed the twelve-year-old me out and into the forest. Everything felt more familiar than it should have been, not to mention the nostalgia creeping in the back of my mind.

I had always loved the woods. They fascinated me. The darkness, the chill in the air and their familiarity appealed to me in a way unfathomable by any normal person. I could see the few rays of sunlight that penetrated the thick layer of canopies. It meant it was still day and I didn't need to hurry back home. So, I made my way through the woods, smelling the damp air until I reached a clearing. A very shallow stream of water flowed through the pebbles, not with so much force as to move them but rather caressing them on its way. I wondered where the stream ended but of more sudden importance were the trees sitting on the other side of the stream.

As far as my sight took, I could see golden showers, willows, maples, cherry blossoms, rhododendrons and many more trees equally out of place with each other as much as they were with this dense forest. Grandpa always said, "The forest has its own secrets." Maybe this was what he had meant.

While I was busy being awed by the nature, I hadn't realized I had company.

"How did you get in here?" A breezy, husky voice said from behind me as I jumped around, startled. An old, wrinkly man with large pointy elf-like ears was glaring at me through his deep, dark eyes.

"I am sorry. I was just passing by." Perhaps I shouldn't have come this far. It might be someone's personal estate. The exotic trees said a lot about the owner's tastes.

I started heading back the way I had come when the man blocked my path and said,

"How did you get in here?" The man was starting to get hysterical. A little scared, I lied trying to sound convincing, "My friends must be looking for me. I have to get going."

"They can keep looking forever but they will never find you here." Okay, now I was scared. I started calculating my chances of outrunning the man. Would have been better had he not been guarding my way. The man stretched out a hand towards me, and I was running the other way, panic seizing my legs as I hit the stream. The man kept swearing behind me but never stopping or even slowing down. He was awfully fast for a man of his age and I had taken the wrong path. But the only thing I could do was keep running. So I crossed the stream, sidetracked the golden shower tree and ran with the orange arches of maple leaves above me, distracted for a moment as I hit against something hard and fell down and everything started growing dark.

In my semi consciousness, I heard my savior's voice. A melody to the ear. He placed a cold hand on my forehead as I lost consciousness completely.