The Red Moon

Chapter-4: The Forest And Us

"What is your name?" John asked me.
" Ericka ," I replied.
"Okay, Ericka, so we'll be going outside. Outside there's a forest, I suppose you know that ?"
" Yes,elder brother! "
When I called him ' elder brother ' , he felt exceedingly happy and thereafter, he tried to act more like an elder brother. He behaved as if he knew and understood much about the world than me.
He said, " Follow me ! " and walked towards the front door. I put on my shoes and followed him.
I had not observed the door before. This door was far different from any other front door I have ever seen in my life before. It was a wooden door, extending upto a height of at least two or three metres from the ground and it's breadth was probably double the length. The latch was nearly half the length of the door and so, it was at a height where John could easily reach it ,even though he had to raise himself a bit on his toes.
He opened the door and slid out into the forest. I followed.
This was the outskirts of the forest and so there were only a few trees scattered around. The ground was covered with grass, but the grass had not grown to much height, indicating that footsteps have often treaded on them. However, when I jumped down from the stairs in the front of the house, onto the grass below, there was a weird smell coming from somewhere. I felt sick and confused. I looked at the grass below me. A kind of thick and sticky fluid, which seemed to be dark red in colour, was attached at the base of the grass. My eyes went examining this strange thing. What was this ?
Just then, John called me and I ran towards him . He rested his left hand on the bark of a tree and put his right hand on his wrist and asked in a dominating voice, " Do you know how old this tree is? "
I shook my head.
"Very well,then listen. This tree is actually a hundred years old !"
Like a fool, I listened to him with wonder. He opened a bag of lies in front of me and I searched that bag for every piece of information that I could gather. I thought that John was a very great person, perhaps someone who could be compared to Sir Issac Newton in intelligence and to Christopher Columbus in terms of courage. I imagined him to be a ruler of the seven seas and the vast continents. Now I am still not sure why I thought of him like that.
When we decided to return back, the sun had already disappeared behind the clouds. John tried to push open the door, but it was locked from inside. So he rang the bell. I was expecting uncle to open the door, but it turned out to be one of those figures I had earlier mentioned about. Of course, it was not possible for me to recognise him by his face. I had not yet been able to examine the faces that clearly. The only thing that made him recognizable was his extraordinary height, as compared to me at that time.
By this time, me and John were thoroughly exhausted by running and jumping behind each other for no apparent reason. Over here, I need to mention one strange thing. John wasn't panting and sweating as much as I was. In fact, he wasn't really panting or sweating at all ! He had caught his suspended breadth once or twice when we were in the forest, but now he looked more or less like a normal person.
The person who had opened the door glared at him. His look made me frightened, but John casually walked in as if nothing had happened. Silently, I followed him inside, looking down.
When I went inside the house and opened my shoes, I was totally confused about where I should go. I once looked at the door of my room and wondered if I should go in there.
Then I looked at uncle when I heard his voice, calling me, " Ericka, just come here once !"
I ran upto him. He sighed and looked to his right side once. On his right side, at a distance from him, two people were standing. The man who had opened the door came and stood beside him. Uncle placed his hands on his knees and bent down to look at me.
Then he said, " You have school tomorrow, right?"
"Yes," I replied and nodded my head , starring at him.
He sighed and again looked to his side, gulped and hesitated before again asking, " You know the way to your school, right? "
His voice showed his confidence, but it also showed that he was extremely exhausted by something that constantly kept pressurizing him.
"I think so," I replied. I glanced once at those three people standing over to the other side and a fear grasped me.
Uncle then said, " From tomorrow morning, you will go to school with John..."
All of a sudden, he paused and glanced at John before again looking at those three persons.
Then he again looked at me and said, " Yes, John will take you. Wait for John when you will go to school, okay? Also, return with John,okay?"
I nodded.
He then stood straight, sighed, looked down and then looked up at John. John stood as if everything that was happening in that room wasn't even a matter of concern to him.