The Tale of Achlys

Achlys My Friend

I'm Mateo. A boy. That goes to school. Has a sense of humor. Is hopeless. That's me. Just there. Right, I have friends. And that's where things get funky.

Achlys, my friend, can be different. Her heart lays beyond these civilized boundaries. Sure, she's a math wiz, a walking dictionary, and more. Still, she's always distant. Ask her what she's thinking? Nature. It changed once, for a short while, when the class went for a school field trip to the forest beside the creek. She was suddenly so alive, at the very front of everything, carrying a pair of binoculars and on high alert. Her camera kept clicking, and her hiking boots digging into the earth, like that was where she belonged. Achlys pointed out a herd of deer. And a while later, a fox, a salmon, a robin, I can't remember more.

When we got back to the school, in the afternoon, she suddenly slipped away like flowing water. One moment she was there, breathing the same air as me. Then the next, part of her was left beside the rushing waters.

We all noticed that. The whole class. The teacher too. We tried our best, but she was far away from home. 

I thought and thought. Then I remembered, she's only a block away from my home. I told my mom, she encouraged it. One day, I hopped on the bike and knocked on door sixty-three. It swung open and I stared at a man. He asked and I answered. Finally he called her. Achlys stood behind the door, and asked me, "Why are you here". Then I told her, "I don't know".

She talked to the man, addressing him as 'dad', then grabbed her own bike, leaving the helmet behind (like me) and led me to her favourite place. The woods. Should've guessed. She walked in the bike and stashed it under a bush, I did the same. My heart beat wildly, "why are we here". Then she told me, "You'll find out". 

Achlys led me up the hill. I stopped in front of a small cliff. She made a beeline to a hole, dark beside the white rocks, she gestured to me, "come on in". I followed slowly, my eyes adjusting, and spotted an underground stream. I glanced at her as she stepped over it lightly and continued walking through the cave illuminated only by the cracks in the roof. Finally light seeped in, I rushed to the exit, passing her, and saw why this was a favourite. I was on a mountain, with many others sprawling in front of me. The rocked glistened in the sun and reflected the bright light. Trees grew in the valleys, and deep snow covered it all. I looked down and saw my feet ankle-deep in the snow. My mouth dropped, "it's... winter".

Achlys grinned, "it's curious. It's summer back there. I looked up the mountain I was halfway up, "I want to see home". She shrugged, "Be prepared for the unexpected". Then she sat on a rock and glanced at the valley.

I looked back up and began trekking up. I ducked under a tree branch and hopped over a rock. Finally I encountered the cliff. I looked forwards and saw... mountains. I looked down to a large fall that could kill anything, it went down until the snow rose again. I ran back to Achlys and found her brushing snow off her hair. I caught my breath, "Mountains". She smiled faintly, "I know".

Then an eerie sound filled the silent air. A wolves howl. But there were no wolves near home... I caught her undisturbed eyes, "Achlys" I said wit horror, "where are we?"

She looked forwards back at the valley, where the wolf howl had come from. The softly, almost too quiet to hear, "Home".