Whisper

Chapter 5, Tragedies

As I walk down the road, I begin to feel that I am being watched. I look behind me, only to find that I appear to be alone. Looking ahead of me I can now see what looks to be a small road. The sun blinds me as I turn towards the masses of birds chirping in the trees. Putting my hand above my face, creating a makeshift visor.
Ducking from below my hand, I search for the seemingly invisible birds. finding none, I rest my gaze back on the road ahead of me. I stop walking as I spot a shining piece of machenery in my path. seeing as though it is merely the sunlight catching on the metal of the mechanism, I steady my gaze upon it. I see that it is not a machine sitting in my path, but a car racing towards me. I wave my hand slowly, as to catch the driver's attention. I watch as it speeds closer and closer to me, realizing that the driver has no intention of stopping, I leap off of the road, just as it barrels past me. I shout after it,"No! Don't go that way."
The driver didn't hear me. As I hear the skreeching of breaks in the distance, followed by a fratic yelp, I know that the car was swept away by the raging waters. Holding my hand to my mouth in shock, as I see the car tun over in the rust colored water. Whiping away the tears that are egining to form, I turn around and continue on my way.
Standing on the dirt road that ends the other, I look to the left of me, then to the right. Deciding that the path that lead towards pines was my best bet. Before continuing, I examine the intersection, looking for a road name, but I find none. As I begin to walk, I see that this road is only wide enough to fit one car. Seeing that there are two indents in the earth, from repeditive use of the road, I pick one to walk along. I do this knowingly that it would be easier to walk along one path, than to attempt walking in the middle of the two, due to my constant habbit to veer towards lower ground.
Wandering along the winding dirt road, I find that it is getting more difficult to see as the path ahead of me appears to be blocked. Increasing my speed, and lilting my head a little to the right, as if to try to understand what lies ahead, I approach the cluster of trees and bushes blocking my path. I tap one of the branches, and attempt to pull it apart from the others clustered around it. As I do so, I find that they seem to have intertwined with eachothers branches.
Now realizing that if I want to continue on this path I would have to climb over these branches, as I did the same with the fence. Placing one hand atop a thick branch, and my other along a skinnier branch, I begin to haul myself up to a point where I can see if I should continue on. Feeling the need to go a bit higher, I place my hand above me and put all of my weight on it. I shrink back in pain as I quickly remove my hand from what was left of a rose bush, clinging to the branch of a tree.
Deciding that it is a better choice to climb an actual tree, rather than trying to climb a tangle of branches, and roots, and bushes, that could just collapse at any minute, I shuffle to my right, and grab on to the branch that is dangling in front of me. As I place my foot on one of the branches below it, I reach upwards, as to gather another branch. I can't seem to find one within reach, looking around the tree, I see that there is one on the other side. Planning my move towards it I stand on my branch, clutching the one above me for extra security, and balance.
I swing across the side of the trunk, as I reach the other side, I stick my hand out in front of me. Catching the sticky, sap covered branch I cllimb it, as I used to with monkey bars when I was a kid. Placing my feet on the branch in between the two, I remove my hand from the one that I'd swung on, and duck below the one that my other hand is on. Reaching out, and grabbing the branch that is above me, I steadily climb the branches, as though they were the rock wall that I climbed in gym class.
As I suffle around in the cluster of needles from the pine tree that I am sitting in, I begin to think, whet if I can fix this from out here. If I return home, I will surely never be permitted to leave the house again, well by my mother anyway. She calls herself my mother, but she is really my stepmother, she stepped in to fill the empty space in my life after my real mother died in labor. I never knew her, I don't even know her name.
My father on the other hand wouldn't do anything, I coud be gone for a year without him noticing. He is always either working on a case, drunk, or passed out on the couch in our living room. To the rest of pines he is a heroic cop, but to my mom and me, he is our reason for hiding in the shadows, avoiding the rest of the world. We both know that eventually someone is going to find out that he is nthing more than a drunk, and we need to pretect urselves when he falls. He is just too wrapped up in his own skrewed up life to worry about mine.
I sigh as I remember what our family used to be like before my brother died. We used to sit around the cherry stained table in the kitchen, and eat as a family. Sitting and telling eachother about our day. Occasionally caughing up some food, or shooing milk out of our noses, from laughing at a funny detail. We would be up for hours after our bedtimes laughing at the funny stories that dad used to tell us. They were no different from any other bed time stories, well at first anyway.
There was one story that I used to ask to hear again and again. It began in a land not so far away, there was a girl who would sit in a tower all day combing her long, beautifull hair. One day she was greeted by a knight in shining armor, or so she thought. Letting out her hair to him he climbed the tower walls, as he reached the top, she screamed in fright, as she saw that this was no knight. It turns out that the man was no more than a peasent, one that was very much a starwars geek, seeing as though he was wearing a costume made entirely out of references to the movie. As he took of his helmet, a shining black mask with a man wearing a very big mustache, the young girl saw that he was not as terrifying as he seemed. After getting to know eachother, they fell madly in love, and rode off into the sunset in his bright yellow SUV.
I smile as I think about all of the great times we had together. Then that smile fades away, as I remember what happens next chapter of the story of my life. It was a Tuesday evening, and I was six. My dad had gotten home late from work, and carelessly left his medication on the counter. My brother and I, had gotten up to get a midnight snack, and I went rummaging through the fridge looking for something to eat. I closed the door to the refrigerator, and turned around. I couldn't see my brother, so I had assumed that he'd gone back to bed. What a foolish mistake.
I got up the next morning to see my mom crateling my brother's lifeless body on the dining room floor. She looks up at me with pleading eyes. Watching the tears fall down her face and hit his cheek. I sit down beside her, and ask what's wrong with him, why won't he wake up. She replied with her voice shaking, he is not going to wake up. I place my hand on his, and quickly take it away when I find that it is cold as ice. I step away from them, and shout, no, he has to, he has to wake up.
I feel a tear making its way down the side of my face, I quickly wipe it away, as I don't like to feel vaulerable. Back in reality, I peer through the branches of the pine tree, trying to make out where I should be headed next. As I begin to see something on the other side, my attention is turned back to where I am standng, as I feel the branch beneath me crack and fall, sending me plummiting towards the forest floor.