The Forest

Natalie was puzzled by this sudden request by Jean. She had expected Jean to ask her one or two questions as they moved around. But this abrupt stoppage, came as a shock to her.

Looking in Jean's direction, Natalie sighed.

"What is it?"

With a snort, Jean lingered.

"This other part of the perimeter wall…"

Pointing at the perimeter wall that stretched along the forest length. He paused for a moment, prompting Natalie to look at the wall.

He then continued, in a startled tone.

"Why is that it is virtually open at the top, different from the other wall?"

With that, he quickly turned around and glanced at the perimeter wall, now standing a couple meters behind them. A second later, he turned and faced Natalie, who was still mute.

After a few moments of silence, Natalie cleared her throat and glanced at the forest wall that was standing a meter away from her.

"You have to understand that, in order for plants to grow well, they need a clear circulation of air around them."

Pausing for a moment.

Jean's eyes narrowed a bit, trying to concentrate on what Natalie was telling him.

She gulped, glanced at Jean and then added:

"The structure of this fence was designed this way so that they can allow easy circulation of air between the trees and plants."

Jean dropped his head and remained silent for a while. He was trying to digest what Natalie had just told him.

'If this fence was constructed with such a theory in mind, does it mean that the fence was erected almost the same time the forest came to existence. Or perhaps, it was the fence that was encircled around an already existing forest? If that is the case, then the forest must be older than the fence. But from what I have seen so far, this forest doesn't look old to me… maybe there are some other parts of the forest that were older than this.'

Jean was right. The forest was indeed young, especially the part in view. This was evident by the young plants and trees on these parts of the forest. But still he might be right to suspect that there might be some other parts of the forest that consisted older trees. However, there was only one way of confirming this.

After a short moment of silence, Natalie curled the corners of her mouth upward.

"Any other question before we proceed?"

Jean just shook his head and stepped forward. With a tuccid understanding, Natalie progressed forward.

Jean moved side by side with Natalie while maintaining his position away from the forest. This was as a result of the ominous thought that had been surfacing his mind for quite some time now.

He was concerned about his safety. This was because he thought that there could have been some possibilities that there were fierce wild animals in the forest. 

'Why did I forgot to ask her about this… since I have wasted the chance, I have to pry on another one that could come around.'

Struggling with outrage, Jean didn't like the fact that, he had let go the chance of questioning Natalie about the possibility of fierce wild animals dwelling in the forest.

While still pondering on the matter, his mood darkened a bit.

'How stupid could I think of such… The answer is as clear as daylight.'

Scratching the back of his head in embarrassment, Jean smiled bitterly.

He had just been struck by the understanding of the forest lacking fierce animal. This was because, he realized that Natalie had dared to leave him to explore the forest alone, some moments ago, of which she changed her mind afterwards.

This was not the reason to why he was sure with his assumption. The real reason lied in the fact that the two of them had entered the forest unarmed.

With the location of the forest next to the compound of the house, it could have been suicidal for a stray wild animal to enter the compound through the narrow gate. In case it was left open by accident.

That fact alone nullified Jean's initial thinking.

Regaining his composure, Jean straightened his face and continued with his adventure.

The air around them was fresh and soothing. Bird-chants could be heard from different parts of the forest. The trees swayed from time to time in the wind that blew across the forest.

Being accustomed to such environment back in the village, Jean didn't bother much about all that was happening around him.

However, there were two things that bothered him the most. First, if the narrow gate was to act as an emergency exit, then it must lead to an opening that could take someone out of the compound. His eyes darted, shifting from the forest to the perimeter wall on his left. He was busy checking to see if he can notice an opening on the wall.

The second thing that bothered him the most, was the so called 'Main purpose' of the narrow gate. At this point, he had deduced one thing that he could relate to what he was seeking.

It was the forest.

The moment Jean passed through the narrow gate and saw the forest lying behind it. He immediately thought that he had understood the 'Main purpose of the gate.' But after analyzing his answer, he suspected that there could be some other thing that he is yet to understand about the forest, of which he was yet to find out.

That was what was keeping him concentrated to the point that he rarely asked Natalie questions after that. He was busy checking to see if he could notice anything out of the ordinary within the forest.

It reached a point when Natalie could explain something to him, but remain mute. This could prompt Natalie to pat him on the shoulder, or shout at him from time to time to get his attention.

After a few minutes, they had reached the edge of the forest. Nothing had changed along the way in terms of the structure of the forest and the perimeter wall.

The pavement on the other side, was deformed at some places. It seemed to have been impaled by something heavy. This was the part of the pavement that was closer to the edge of the forest.

At this point, the concrete pavement turned sharply to the right, looping the forest.

The pavement could have been constructed with one thing in mind. To ease navigation around the forest. This was what Jean had thought. This made sense because, it was with the aid of the pavement that the two had used a short time to get to the edge of the forest.

Standing while facing each other, the two remained mute for a while.

A few moments later, Jean opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, Natalie cleared her throat.

"Do you have any question about what you have seen so far?"

Lingering for a moment, Jean curiously studied the surroundings.

"…I don't think I have much to ask, other than the marks I saw on the pavement a moment ago."

Sighing heavily, Natalie blinked severally and glanced at the pavement, her gaze distant.

'I don't like this, but I have to bring it up without a doubt.'

Natalie didn't like bringing the topic about Jean's dad in her conversation with Jean. Maybe because she was hurt by the fact that he was not there or because she felt pity for Jean not having a chance to meet him. Or perhaps some other reasons that were only known to her. This was the reason to why she was finding it hard to respond to Jean's question.

"I can't be sure about that, but there are some chances that your dad hit something on it. Maybe accidentally or intentionally. Who knows?"

Jean opened his mouth to say something, but at that moment, Natalie continued:

"Your dad was the one who constructed this pavement we are walking on, and this perimeter wall around the forest. He also planted all the trees that you have seen so far."

With a sullen expression, Jean paled.

"Do you mean dad has ever lived here?"

Natalie lingered.

"Oh, yeah. He could spend some time here whenever he visited the town to run some errant. This was when he at times came to sell some farm produce from the village."

With a surprised expression, Jean blinked severally.

"By then, where was grandpa?"

Natalie scowled and looked away.

"…He was already late."

The light in Jean's eyes deemed.

"How I wish I had a chance to meet them in person."

In the next moment, Natalie approached him and enveloped him in a tight hug.

"…I am sorry, my son."

Letting him go, Natalie straightened her face and assumed a reserve state.

"Let's try to make this tour as quick as possible. You can still visit this place some other time, and familiarize yourself with what you would have missed."

With that, the two turned to their right and advanced deeper into the forest.

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