The Tree's Heart

Epilogue

"Are you sure you want to go back to college already? You only just got home a week ago!" her mother said, as she was packing her things. Clover rolled her eyes and nodded. Her mother had been fussing over her ever since she came back. She got everything she wanted – all the books and clothes and food she asked for. It was a little annoying if she was honest. But her mother thought that she had been through some terrible trauma, that something had happened to her in the forest and that she wasn't telling them the whole truth. And of course, Clover wasn't telling them the whole truth.

But while they were thinking she had been held captive by some serial killer, Clover's actual story was very different. She knew she couldn't tell them. Not even if she wanted to. If she started talking about Willow and fae and satyrs and magic, they would just look at her with those sympathetic eyes and send her off to the psych ward immediately. They'd believe her alright – but they would think she had been hallucinating.

But Clover knew she wasn't hallucinating. She had her wedding dress as proof, and she had the blindfold. She knew what had happened in the forest, she knew that it had all been real. And she also knew that she wouldn't be able to stay in her family home another week. The way they were all trying to talk to her, trying to figure out what really happened – it was suffocating. She needed to get away from them.

Clover wasn't sure whether college would be any better, but at least people would ask less questions there. She would have all the time in the world to do some research on the things she had found – and she had all the time in the world to figure out how all this magic stuff worked. And then maybe she would return to the forest one day. She wasn't sure about that yet, but she felt like there was nothing for her out here anymore.

The feeling had started almost immediately after she had woken up the next morning. She felt like everything out here wasn't real or meaningful. People were so worried about so many mundane things when she had seen things none of them would ever believe. It was hard to deal with those two different realities. Still, she wasn't sure if that would last, or if that was just the effect of her being back home and everyone asking her all these questions – her parents, her friends, the police, reporters.

She didn't really have anything to tell them. She had survived on berries and leaves and the odd squirrel she managed to kill. She had been sheltering, waiting for her leg to heal. But still, people seemed to want more. They seemed to want some sensational story. Clover had been sent to about a million check-ups with doctors, she had been fed more food than she had seen in the last three months. It was exhausting. She needed to get out of this place and go back to college to see how it really was to be out in the real world again. Whatever was going on back home was skewed because of all the fuss about her.

"Yes, mum. I'm sure I want to go back to college. I don't want to fall behind and I think I've had enough of all the questions by now. I'm fine. Look, I've even put on more weight again." Clover said, spreading her arms, so her mother could see that she was starting to fill out her clothes again. Her mother just sighed.

"I know, I know. But it's just... it seems so odd, you know? The way you just came back and went back to normal almost immediately. I mean, you've been out there almost starving for three months. Who knows what you've eaten in that time? What if you got sick and you just don't know it yet?" she asked.

"Mum, we had all kinds of doctors have a look at me. Surely, they would have found something if something was wrong. But there's nothing wrong with me. I'm fine. I feel fine. I don't have some weird trauma or whatever. Sure, what happened was pretty insane, but I'm back, I made it, I survived."

"Fine, fine. Just... you seem kind of different, you know? I'm just worried about you." she replied. Clover sighed.

"Of course, I seem different. I spent three months out in the wild. Anyone would be a little different after that. But I'll be perfectly alright. I swear. Just let me go back to college and I can do what I enjoy doing and I'll be happy." Clover said to her. Her mother nodded slowly. She looked over the suitcase on her bed.