The Western diaries

Dear diary

Dear Diary, Life has been so boring lately...I haven't written since we moved from Lodgeave.
Well, there wasn't much to write about.
This city is huge...as big as my boredom, I would say.
I really miss my adventures with Jas, exploring the woods and all.
The only adventure I experience here is as I try to find my new high school classrooms.

I also don't like the school, which is very different. It is huge and there are so many people. I've tried talking to some of them, but we just don't have the same interests. Most of them think I'm weird because of my Lodgeave stories. The only thing they talk about is some boring stuff like trendy clothes, popular people...just not my stuff.

At all.

Well, I can't say that everyone is like that. I got along with a few people.
It seems they didn't like one of the classes the other day, and neither did I. Then this girl, Hannah, came up to me and we just started talking.
To my surprise, we actually had a lot in common.
When the bell rang for lunch, Hannah and I sat on top of the school yard fence and just looked at the mountains in the distance, beyond the huge buildings of the city.
A few minutes passed when one of the boys joined us.

- There must be so much to explore there, don't you think?
He said leaving the two of us in shock. It felt like he was reading our minds as we were thinking the same thing.

- I was thinking the same thing!
I replied.

- What are you doing Oliver?
Hannah asked a little annoyed.

- Same as you. Daydreaming of that something interesting would happen. This city is killing me.

- Well if that's the case, you're welcome with us.
I said with bored voice.

- Wait, aren't you like daydreaming of football and that shit just like the rest of the team?
Hannah asked still annoyed thinking Oliver wasn't like us.

- No, not anymore.
He said calmly while staring at long forest around mountains.

That was the moment when everyone went silent.

- Those forests remind me of Lodgeave.
I was the one who broke the silence

- What's Lodgeave?
Oliver asked still enjoying the view.

- A small village at the west side of town. I used to live there.
I explained.

- What's so special about it?
Oliver asked.

- Everything. You city kids probably wouldn't understand.
I giggled a little.

- Who are you calling city kid?
Oliver didn't like what he heard.

At the time the bell rang and disturbed our argument. We had the same class so we headed to the classroom together. The nex class was geography and of course we didn't expect anything interesting. We sat down waiting for teacher, Hannah and I in the front and Oliver next to us. At the moment we heard a loud knock on the classroom door, witch was kind of weird. Oliver walked to the door to open it. Everyone was surprised and very curious when we saw our teacher with a pile of some old books and papers. He held so much of it that we could barely see his head.

- Morning professor, shouted the class with a curious expression on their faces.

- What's all that?
Oliver was first to ask while helping him carry the stuff to his table.

- Probably the most important part of the lecture. I mean the whole year.
He answered in his usual raspy voice.

Everyone went silent looking at professor putting all of the unusual stuff around on his desk. I could see old books, old and dusty papers. Literally everything looked old, but interesting at the same time, especially those drawings I could see. It looked like some nature, rocks, cave maybe?

- Huh! There it is!
Professor said happily, holding something that seemed like map.

- Now this class, this is the Western forest.
The most mysterious and the biggest forest in this area.

Hannah immediately stopped yawning. I'm pretty sure the same thing flew through our mind - finally something interesting. Surprisingly it took me few seconds to realise what he was talking about. Kinda disappointed in myself. It was the forest me and Jas always wanted to explore, but our parents never let us even near there, but we never knew why. I got so happy thinking I might get some answers I didn't get from my parents. He rolled out the map that appears to be huge. He raised his hand but the map was still almost touching the floor. Even tho it was huge, the lower part of the map was missing. It was ripped at the bottom. I couldn't help but ask why is it ripped.

- Well you see, on the top is the beginning, where you enter the forest. The bottom is the end of forest.
He started explaining.

- But the end is...ripped.
I was so curious.

- That's right.
He continued explaining.

- This map is thousands of years old and this is the only recording of the forest that we have. A thousand years ago, some brave people went through all parts of the forest to make a map. As stories say, it took them five full years to complete the map. The whole village was excitedly waiting for them to come back because they saw the smoke that signaled that they were coming back. To their surprise, only one of the six explorers returned. People immediately started questioning the guy who came back alone with the map in his red hands full of blood and dust. He did not mention any details except that the other five were killed or got lost in the woods. After that announcement, he entered his house and locked the doors and windows. That same night he was killed by some people who lived in the village and wanted the map for themselves. As the stories say, before he was killed, he tore off the end of the map so that he was the only person who knew what was at the end. Something very valuable is assumed. After killing him and getting the map, the three decided to go to the end of the forest to see what was there. They thought it would be easy because they now have a map of almost the entire forest. What they didn't know was that the third guy had other plans. He was the one who carried the map, so that night when they entered the forest, after walking for a while, he ran away with the map back to the village, leaving the other two alone in the forest. They never came back, and the third guy sold the map for a ton of money from a rich man who lived in this town. He was never brave enough to go to the edge of the forest because he was afraid of what might be there so he kept the map on his wall as the most valuable thing he had in his mansion. After his death, his eldest daughter received the map, but she donated it to the museum.
I am holding it in my hands now only because the school paid a lot of money to borrow it for just one day for teaching purposes.

- My yaw almost dropped hearing this story, and I can say that Hannah and Oliver had the same reaction.

- But professor, what is all of that other stuff you have, like those drawings?
Hannah asked curiously.

Good question i thought.

- Um, nothing important. Class is over!
He said with a really weird voice as the bell rang.

- Is he seriously gonna leave us not knowing the details!
Oliver got really upset I could tell.

- He must be hiding something.
I said confidently.

~1~