Burying The Past Part 1

There was a lot I got off my chest earlier with Bella's help. We went back to Rowan's house. Breakfast was served, and we ate like it was a drab affair.

I was struggling to accept she gone but everyone has been dealing with rather well, considering.

Me, I wanted to know what was going to be my next move. I had to climb the mountain. That was definitely going to a hard task.

As far as my family and friends, now was probably the worst time to leave. One thing that nagged me was what grandma said before she left this earth. That flower, what was it?

My vision of the place I read in that book had purple flowers. There must be a connection. I had to figure it out. Rowan left to find Joel. We've been waiting for him to come back to show us where the burial ground was, but the anticipation was threatening.

My mind needed occupation. I went under the wooden framed doors towards a room looking for privacy.

The main room had everybody's parents sitting in somber peace. It was suffocating. They never even noticed me leaving, for they too wrapped in their thoughts.

The room smelt nice. Oh, it's Bella's. There were some clothes stacked on the bed. Outside of that, there were potted flowers in one corner, a knitting and needle set sitting on a low table in another.

I sat down and slid my journal out of my sheep pack to write. I wrote the activities of today and a bit of reflection on yesterday.

My thoughts muddled, but I hadn't goals. "Nils?"

I looked up to see Bella. She stood in the doorway, tapping her left foot behind the other. "Sorry, I borrowed your room to write in my journal."

"Didn't know you had one."

"I started when I got the news. I felt like maybe I should chronicle my life since…" What was this feeling?

"It will be nice to read."

I watched the swimming swirl of her eyes and comfort settled into my bones. A smile appeared on my face. "That would be nice."

She came inside and started tilting back and forth in front of me. "No, mama asked me to help her make some baskets earlier to trade at the market, before you know… I don't know if you want to help me make some? It would give you something to do, take your mind off stuff."

Most of what I wanted to write was already written. I jumped at the opportunity. My mind was racing a mile a minute. I felt like breaking into a run myself just to get everything to settle down within me and make the noise in my head make sense.

There was no clue given to me on where to start, but I zealously followed her out to her garden, where we gathered palm leaves that were previously picked, stripped, and left to dry outside. I basically just imitated all her movements as we went to the pond and dipped them into the water, then went inside to lay the materials down on the floor.

I then stood behind her as if I was waiting for permission to move. She softly asked me to go to her father's shed and pass her a partially thick rope. I did as I was told, then we both sat down cross-legged on the floor.

She used a sharp stone to cut the rope and give a piece to me. Bella cut another piece for herself. She felt me staring and looked up.

"What is it?" She smiled.

"Um... I was just... uh... waiting on you to start."

"Why? Wait, have you ever made a basket before?"

"No."

"Nils." She chuckled. "This is going to take all day, but don't worry, I'll teach you."

"Okay." I smiled.

"Okay, so take your rope." She held hers in her hand and I mimicked her movement. "Good, then roll it inwards, like this." She showed, and I followed suit. "Nice. Now grab a piece of palm leaf and push it through the center like a needle piercing fabric."

I watched her movements and did the same. "Right! And now, we're going to wrap that piece to secure it, then take the other end and basically act like we're sewing the basket with palm leaves by inserting it in the same hole and pull it through, push it through again. Pull it through while spreading it out, so that it wraps and conceals the rope. Then once we're done with that palm leaf, we're going to continue to turn the rope inwards, then wrap it again with a palm leaf and we're going to continue that process until we have a sturdy enough base that's going to act like a floor for the basket, to keep it structured."

I tried keeping up with her. She was doing all these delicate movements with such speed. I was struggling just to weave the rope into the pattern she was making.

Suddenly, Bella slowed her motions and I couldn't help feeling she sensed my true thoughts.

I loved that about Bella. She never needed to say anything. Her actions shouted above to the heavens.

"Once we have that base, then we're going to continue to roll the rope inwards, but we're going to sew along the rope, not within the same hole. Like this. We'll use the pointed end of the stone to make a clear enough entrance every time. We start with a new piece of palm leaf, so that it goes in easily and then we just continue sewing alongside each wrapped part. Next to each other until we have a deep enough and wide enough basket, got it?"

"I think so." I nodded. She showed this to me slowly until I got the hang of it. Then we were both just focused on weaving our own baskets separately. now and then, I'd glanced up and saw how quickly her fingers moved and how far along she was.