neptune. / harry styles ( DISCONTINUED )

one

Greetings
+
o n e ;

I've always wanted out of the world. It has been that way since I was a little girl when I watched a movie that made me believe there was someplace else to be besides Earth. My childhood revolved around it. I don't even remember what movie it was, now that I think about it. As far as I've come, I couldn't begin to comprehend anything that happened before this. I've thought of ways for that to happen. Become an astronaut? No. I feel like I might be too much of a wimp for that. Writer? If I can't actually get out of this world, maybe I can imagine it. Even then, so many years later, I still hadn't figured it out. The eternal back-and-forth in my head. I had no one to ask either. Because no one felt the same as me. But that was until I met him. Harry.

But my inability to leave Earth ends now.

Because I found a way out.

***

Forests always calmed my nerves. They always have since I was a child, when my mother used to take me to see all the pretty, seasonal flowers that grew in patches. How I would prance through them like a small animal. I still continued to come here every time I got stressed, angry, sad, or whatever other emotion that I needed to clear from my mind, after she passed.

My mother died when I was only fifteen years old from some sort of sickness that seemed to kill her in a week. The police never looked into it because, well, they thought it was just a sickness. But I didn't believe it. My dad - after some time - forced me to stop with the "nonsense" that I was going on about. I haven't spoken a word of it since.

Currently, I had my earphones in, listening to whatever was playing on my playlist. I didn't really pay much attention to the music that came on whenever I was taking my walks, but they all related back to my life at one point. They all did. But I was more focused on the tall trees and bright greens that took up my vision. I always have been more interested in the colors.

My worn Converse stepped through the moist dirt and broken leaves. Cracking sticks and breaking branches. It was all peaceful to me. It always has been.

This forest has been sort of abandoned for many years. Probably close to a decade. Maybe more. I remember I used to maybe see a few children play here and there when my mother took me here when I was younger. But that was then. Maybe my mother was the only reason they played here. Because they all stopped after she died.

I came to the center of the forest, stopping dead in my tracks as I heard a rustling beyond my earphones. I plucked them out, holding them tightly in my fist in a jumbled mess as the rustling continued. Footsteps pulled my attention from the faint music playing through the dry air of the forest. My heart rate quickened when I heard the crumpling of dry leaves get closer and closer. I closed my eyes, squeezing them tight as thousands of thoughts raced through my head. Was I going to die? Is it a bear? What could it be?

The footsteps stopped abruptly. They sounded close, deathly close. I didn't open my eyes. I was terrified to. The breaths leaving my lungs loudly and in short spurts. I had to open my eyes. I needed to know if I have to run or not. Open your eyes, Geo. C'mon. Open your eyes. I kept telling myself the same thing over and over.

Until finally, I did.

I opened my eyes quickly, searching in front of me until my eyes fell on a curly-haired boy. Only about ten feet away from me, looking just as scared as I was. His eyes looked like they were matching the evergreen trees around us as he observed me. Just taking the sight of each other in for a moment. Both of us seeming to be waiting for the other to say something.

"I'm sorry for scaring you," he said. He had an accent. One that surely didn't belong to someone who lived in a state like Oregon. His soft but masculine voice put me at ease a little bit, letting me relax for a moment. I put my head down, my chest still lifting up and down largely to try and get back oxygen I had lost to my anxious state. It felt like oxygen had been taken away from me for a minute or two. I shook my head, trying to stifle a laugh as I did my best to catch my breath again.

"I-It's fine," I managed to say while I shoved my earbuds in my pockets, standing up fully as I finally took in the full sight of the mysterious boy in front of me. He smiled at me, dimples pushing through his cheeks as he did so. He stepped forward slightly, making me want to lurch away from him, but I stayed still. Still cautious about this random boy that showed up in the forest.

"Are you all right?" He asked. I could now see the density of his green eyes. They were beautiful. His words were soft and caring, and that was the exact moment I chose to trust him. I smiled at him, pushing a hand through my short hair to get the ends out of my eyes and to calm its tousled state.

"Yeah, I'm all right," I told him. Suddenly feeling safe now that I chose to trust him so easily. His teeth were bright as he smiled at me, taking another step towards me. I had no desire to move away from him. He reached out his hand to shake my own, smiling politely up at me as I reached my own out and shook it.

"I'm Harry," he told me. His accent thick as he spoke his name out loud. His green eyes pierced into my own brown ones as I responded. Looking around his face with any sign that he was unhappy, and there were none. I laughed quietly as I sighed, replying.

"And I'm Georgia."