Reaper

Chapter 3

A week passed before I decided to try and find the boy that I'd talked to. I woke early one morning and dressed. Afterwards, I walked out of my small room and found Mother making bread.

"Is it alright if I go for a walk in the forest, Mother?" I asked.

"I suppose that's alright." She smiled faintly at me as she looked up. "Just be careful not to lose your way."

I nodded. "Yes, Mother." I stepped outside into the cool September air and started towards the forest. I was excited; I had only been in the forest a couple of times and Father and Mother had been with me both times.

I crossed over the small bridge and walked into the thick forest. As I ventured farther into the trees, the sounds of everything awakening around me filled my ears. Birds chirped and animals came out of their homes, whether they be in trees or underground. I looked all around me, taking in the sight of everything. Somehow that morning, the grass seemed greener, the leaves on the trees had a more vivid color, and everything just seemed more . . . alive.

My feet carried farther and farther into the forest until I reached a small clearing. The large trees surrounded the clearing in a circle and when I looked up, I could see the still changing sky through a break in the tree leaves. Light shone through, illuminating the area.

I turned in slow circles, looking at everything that surrounded me. Everything was so beautiful. I was in complete awe of all of the beauty that nature held in those moments. It wasn't until a familiar voice spoke that I stopped.

"Are we in deep though yet this morning?" that familiar Irish-accented voice asked me. It struck me odd that I had only spoken to him once, yet his voice seemed as familiar to me as Mother and Father's voices were.

"Not quite yet," I replied without turning to look at him, "However I believe that I shall be in deep thought later on today."

He laughed as if I'd told him a joke. "What will you be thinking about?"

"Things that are very difficult for some people to understand." I said I feigned seriousness but it slowly turned into real seriousness as I continued to speak. "Things that feel as though they are unreal but are often very, very real." I turned and looked at him, meeting his gaze. His blue eyes held curiosity and I quickly looked away. "However, these things are only as real as you believe to be."

"Yet more wise words." he said then laughed quietly. "You really do have much more knowledge about the world than most people that I know."

"I still have no idea as to why." I said quietly.

He smiled and started to step closer, his shoes snapping the small twigs that lay on the ground. "So what brings you into the woods?"

"I decided that it was a very fine morning to take a walk." I half-lied.

"It is a very fine morning. It is quite beautiful here in the forest." he said, meeting my gaze.

"Yes, it is." He stopped a couple of feet away from me, just close enough for me to reach out and touch his arm if I so chose to. "The forest is a very beautiful place." I said quietly.

"Would you like to see one of my favorites places in the forest?" I nodded and he gently took my hand in his. "Follow me."

As he led me through the forest, I started to wonder what the place was that he wanted to show me. I also began to wonder what his name was because he still hadn't told me what it was.

We stopped before I had a chance to ask him any questions, though. I watched as a waterfall rushed down a large rock into a pond. The pond's aqua water sparkled under the rays of the rising sun that shone through the trees.