The Boy In The Woods

1

        It was a cold Saturday morning when it happened. Such a beautiful day, for such a tragic event. I remember it clear as day. The gun going off. An empty bullet clinging to the floor. My mother falling on the cold stone. My father wasn't going down without a fight so he tried to punch the man. But he was too slow.

       I tried to push out these terrifying thoughts out of my mind as I walked next to my mother and father's caskets. My father's black army boots followed the gravel path that led to the cemetery. Only a few people came along for the burial of my parents. Most of my family had passed away or lived somewhere else, so only my uncle and his wife, and two of my cousins were there along with the people carrying the casket.

        I had never really gotten why you would take the effort into carrying the casket all the way to the place you were to bury it. Until now of course. It was a sad and depressing moment, and you could feel death in the air. It was like my life was flashing in front of my eyes. I remembered memories that I didn't even know I had.

∆∆∆

        The burial was long. I stayed through the whole thing. Besides, where else was I supposed to go? I had no other family, and I was certain that my aunt and uncle would take me in with their new baby coming around the corner. I had no one to stay with. Nowhere to go. No one to talk to.

        As I sat on the bench a few yards away from my mother and father's grave stones, I stared at my hands. Trying to push the terrifying images out of my mind. I sniffled and rubbed my hand over my nose. In a flash, I grabbed the photo of my parents beside me, and I just stared at it. It's something you do, right? When someone dies? You mourn, you cry, you feel responsible. Besides it was my idea to go on a walk that morning.

       I felt like I was being watched. Being observed. But there was nothing but trees around me. My eyes slowly rose from the photo to look around me, to see if I wasn't going crazy.

       I scanned the trees to my left and right but when I finally turned my head to in front of me, I saw him for the first time. He was wearing a black leather jacket with a red scarf it looked like, and a black strap was around his nose. His dark brown eyes stared at me mysteriously with his curly brown hair that fell into his eyes slightly. All followed up by a hat on his head.

      I frowned. I didn't know what else to do. I was about to open my mouth and say something when I heard a voice behind me.

       "Eleonora?" The voice said. I knew who it was so I didn't have to look. I just looked back down to the photo in my hands.

       When I looked back up to where the boy was, he was gone. Vanished into thin air. I looked back down at the photo and sighed.

       "I know you are going to try to milk it. Saying their in a better place now. Their time was coming anyway." I mumbled under my breath, not looking up from my photo.

       My uncle sat next to me on the bench and put his arms around me. I don't know what it is about hugs. It always makes you feel better. I squeezed my eyes shut and went limp in his arms. I didn't have the strength to hug back. Tears started to slip out and they fell off of my cheeks and onto his black suit.
I always loved my uncles bear hugs. They were the best. And he always found a way to cheer you up.
"No my brother is definitely not going to a better place." He sighed jokingly.

       I let out a soft, tired chuckle. Probably not because it was funny, but because I wanted to laugh, I needed to laugh. But he was just warming me up for something.

       "I know you can't take me in." I whispered into his chest. He didn't answer so I went on, "It's okay really. Don't feel bad, you have to take care of your new baby." I sighed softly, "I understand."
I didn't want to go to live with him either. It would just remind me of my parents anyway.

∆∆∆

      Everyone left after the burial was complete. Except for me. I sat there staring at my parents gravestones. I wasn't finally realizing that death could happen at any time. I found that out when my father accidentally ran over my cat.

       I was looking back at my life. It hurt to do so. But I couldn't stop thinking after I started. I had been crying for hours by then. I couldn't cry because all my tears were already cried. So I sat there. Staring at my beautiful parents in the photo, my eyes red and stinging from crying.

      Suddenly, out of nowhere, a hand wrapped my mouth and another roughly wrapped around my chest, close to my neck. "You should have stayed where you were princess." Someone sneered in my ear, his breath warm on my cold skin.

       Quickly I grabbed a small knife that my father had given to me to protect myself from my pocket and stabbed it into his hand. He screamed in pain as he tried to snatch his hand back but ended up making it worse. My knife made a long cut on his front hand when he pulled his hand away the knife still in it.

       Before I could look behind me to get a good look at him, he was gone. The hands disappeared and there was no trace of him whatsoever. I tried looking around but he was nowhere to be seen. But right where he was supposedly standing, there was a long brown striped robins feather lying in his place.
I recognized the feather from the ones that were around the boy's neck.

        I bent over and picked it up softly. I tried to search for him in the trees above me but all I could see was tree branches and leaves.

        As I looked back down at the robin feather. Who was this boy and why was he watching me?