This is wonderful. I thought to myself. Now what am I supposed to do? Should I go to Avelina? No, I really shouldn't bother Avelina and her mom, they are probably talking. I sighed and headed for the one place where I always felt at home, the woods. I snuck by Avelina's house and made a run for it when I hit the tree line. I ran and ran, ignoring my lungs' pleads for air until I made it to my favorite spot in the whole world, the clearing. It's a nice flat, grassy spot that is sheltered by the leaves with shade all year round. A large oak tree was cut down some number of years ago, leaving a giant stump wider than my bed, in the middle of the clearing. Some of the bottom of my dress was torn, but I didn't care, I was in a beautiful place of serenity and solace. I walked up to the stump. Some may say its just a tree, its worth nothing, but to me, it has one of my best memories.
I nimbley touched the wood and remembered when Avelina and I sat on the stump and we were talking and Avelina pushed me off and we started laughing. Another day we had sat on this very stump and spoke about our dreams, making promises to each other and picking wildflowers. During the spring, the clearing was covered like a blanket with wildflowers of yellow, pink, and white. We always came out and sat in the clearing and made flower crowns, pretending to be the king and queen. That was, until the king died. We still made crowns for the people who walked through here trying to get to the city, just to say welcome.
I just sat there in my thoughts for hours and I only noticed once the sky was turning a fiery orange tint that I needed to make a solid camp for the night. I gathered some twigs and some stones because the last thing I wanted was to set the clearing on fire. I looked through the bag my father gave me to find something useful. I shuffled my hand around inside the bag but I didn't see anything. I put the rocks around in a tight, perfect circle and placed the twigs in the middle of the fireplace. In one quick movement, I had lit the fire with a couple pieces of flint I found. This was one thing that I always did better than Avelina, frustrating her often when she could barely get a spark. But all those childish games and activities we used to do seemed to be paying off so far. Hopefully it'd last.
I search through the bag again and upon finding no sort of blanket, decided to lay my extra clothes on top of me for warmth. But that night was hardly chilly at all. Instead, it was muggy and humid, making my hair stick to the back of my neck and I could never get into a comfortable position. The fire was a waste as well, only making me sweat even more, and any wind that came by was also warm, and merely blew dust onto my sticky body. The only thing the fire helped me with was it gave me a flicker of light, but besides that it was useless. I never was ever scared of the dark, or much for that matter, but just the thought of being alone in the woods, with no possible sort of help, and my best friend so close but so far, it made me sad and lonely. Every shadow that danced across the flames or flickered in the corner of my eye made me jump, and my heart pounded against my ribs.
But dawn came anyway, and I watched the sun rise, like I did every morning with Avelina before we'd start on our chores. I watched the pink and soft orange streaks in the sky for a bit longer before I decided to head down to the lake and take a dip to wash all of the dirt, grime and sweat off of my body. So I packed up all my stuff and snuffed the fire out before I left.
This went on for I don't know how long, but I fell into the routine of it, and almost forgot about my home life. Then one day, my silent living in the forest was disturbed in the best kind of way.
I treaded on a small trail Avelina and I made when we walked around here. I was silent, I just listened to the birds, I heard the sound of the wind, rustling through the leaves. Sounds of the squirrels running on the oak and nibbling on nuts found their way to my ears. I heard nothing but nature. When I finally got to the lake, I dropped my bag and yanked out my forest green shirt and my plain brown skirt and folded them neatly on the ground. I took off my dress and laid it in my bag. I dipped my feet in the water.
