The Forest

Sunflowers

Jack stepped closer to the statue that was beginning to resemble someone just like him. And the closer he got, the more it showed him its power. He stood firm on the struggling vines of fear around its base, staring inside to a collage of rivals pouring out a raw core of confusion. The twigs, sticks, leaves and bits of chiseled stone that once cluttered its belly, now lie littered at the base of soil, dried and unanswered. Like gifts that were never found. His tread was careful on their delicate form, following their lead into a grand forest of sunflowers, tall and uneven, that trampled and sassed the damaging weeds still growing in its core.

Doubt buckled under the weight of their stalks and the smallest seeds began to show. And as they grew, his mind wandered back through a lifetime of memories, knowing that each of them would reveal their beauty in time. He stopped, kneeling down to touch the damp and aging moss inside that soaked in flourishing weaknesses, feeling it change into a source of nourishment. Its charm, now a reminder of the will to continue.

Jack was finally beginning to understand the undiscovered world he found and the way in to Forgotten's forest, with words he finally believed.

"It's a magical night for a mystery, a mystery of magical night. Upon a course I go walking and walk with a course in my sight. Make no mention of dark intention that haunts my reflection of will..."

And there, attempting to prevail amongst the stalks of flowers, seeds and memories, he found a simple gift, silently stealing a presence. It looked alone without an obvious source. Like a lost part of its stone structure that had unintentionally survived its broken frame. It held a wisdom of time. It knew a contrast of thought. And it felt the other side of pain. Sensing ownership, he caved down into the thicket and gently picked it up to admire. He clenched it, allowing the ridges and angles of its surface to pierce his fingers and palm. The two sides were bound together by a solitary ridge with a view of both sides. It stained his hand with scars, then waited patiently until it healed.

"Why did you wait so long to take me here?" He asked.

"Why did it take so long for you to find it?" He whispered back.

Jack stood up to the sound of sunflowers growing taller alongside him and heard smiles show up in the most unlikely places. He felt raindrops gather force in his cuffs, then pour out a tide of reasons as his sleeves unfolded over his hands. He saw a blush of color sprout tiny blooms and sweep across the landscape of time. He watched mountains rise. And sunsets fall. Night skies dream and daylight sleep. He touched loss and made promises. He searched in every undiscovered direction to find a path that wasn't seen; one where beauty left sparkles and glitter left trails.

He found nothing. And he found everything.

Then his whisper, quiet and firm, spoke again.

"...I want you to absorb its strength in your hand, hold it tight to your heart, feel its weight inside you and listen to its direction...you will instinctively know which way to go. And the way you go, will be the right way."

And he closed his eyes and felt the undeniable conscious at his feet, Jule, sitting next to the man who found the way in and the boy who found the way out.