By the River

Chapter 3

It was the coarse sound of gravel in the drive that brought me up from my book. The library had a direct view onto the drive and when I looked down from my window seat I saw the car with a figure who I assumed was my aunt in the back, driving away. I wondered where she was going, perhaps to tea with someone, but she didn't really seem like the sort to go and sip tea, nibble on biscuits, and giggle graciously with her lady friends over the latest gossip. In fact, I laughed out loud at the thought of it. Where did she go, really? In the few weeks I had been here she had only been out four times, not including our visits to the church, but I'd never managed to find out where to.

I was interrupted in my thoughts again when the clouds parted dramatically and the sun illuminated the tree line in the distance. I'd wanted to explore the grounds since I first arrived and now even the old oaks seemed to be beckoning me, telling me to explore. My aunt was out, cook had the morning off, and I had just been reading The Call of The Wild, everything was conspiring to get me into those woods and I was going to accept it and take the opportunity.

I felt the cover of the book in my lap once more to try and bring myself back to reality. I had been struggling with that more and more. All the books I had been reading were taking me back to my old ways of hiding inside them. Hiding in the worlds, in the characters inside them. I sighed and then slid off the seat and walked over to the shelves to gently put it back in its place. Its green cover contrasted with the other mostly red books, reminding me of an evergreen amongst the glowing trees of autumn. Making my way towards the stairs I was grateful I had chosen to wear boots this morning. I hoped they wouldn't get too dirty for my aunt might question where I had been. I was about to open the front door when I decided it would be best to go through the kitchen, lest my aunt arrive home suddenly. So I continued through the house steadily and only hesitated when I turned the frosty-cold doorknob that would let me out of the kitchen and a wave of cold air washed over me. Spring was much warmer in town. Out here the air seemed to remain cold constantly, no matter the season.

Making my way across the huge lawns made me feel so exposed, I felt as if someone were watching me from the house, so I hurried irrationally to get the cover the trees would supply. The grass below me began to thin out slowly and finally my feet hit dirt. The trees around me were all saplings or sparse ash trees, it was as though the forest was stretching its arms out and reaching for the house. The real tree line only started after a few feet of walking, where I could truly feel the ancient forest, the one that had been calling me.

I sauntered through the towering trees, my hands brushing their rough trunks as I went and my feet softly crunching in the soil. Being in this forest gave me the energy I had been lacking, being cooped up inside for weeks. The entire forest was alive with springtime spirits. I could hear birds above me and constant movement in my surroundings. As I continued my stocking snagged on a bramble bush and when I looked down to free it, I found myself almost completed surrounded by the plants delicate pink flowers and their sweet scent. I picked one and fixed it behind my ear before gently detaching my stocking. I found myself dearly wishing that these plants weren't here. I loved their flowers and the berries they would soon supply, but they had vicious thorns and I now had a pair of torn stockings added to the possibility of muddy boots I had to deal with.

As I walked further I became more and more uneasy. The trees surrounded me in an eerie silence. Where had those birds gone? I had thought that this forest would be a retreat from the house and its primordial presence, but I realized that the trees probably predated the house and held an even richer history. As a shiver ran up my spine I instinctively clutched the locket that sat on my chest and ran my fingertips over the engravings, trying to distract myself from my fear. It was hers once, before I lost her. Sofia's. I remembered when she first showed it to me.