Ever Fall [✔️ 2016]

Chapter 5

Sophie was a good friend.

She wasn't bothered with how slow Timothy was compared to her, or how easy it was for him to stumble. His pale and usually cold skin didn't make her uncomfortable when he sat next to her and her warm skin that was few shades darker. She was a very healthy little girl, with a clear, contagious laugh.

Her favorite game was tag, but Timothy couldn't very well play it. He was too slow and grew tired quickly. After a few other games didn't work out due to his frailness, she sat down at a little pond with a small huff.

"You're not easy to play with," she said. That was the biting truth, wrapped in a sweet voice to hide the blade before it dug in. All children had it; that strange honesty that sounded so sweet to the ears, but could cut deep into the heart.

Timothy wondered how the children with no voices managed to communicate. Maybe they could talk in people's brains; that'd be pretty cool. Wouldn't mindspeak take less energy than real talking if you didn't have to move your mouth all the time? Timothy thought so. He found himself wishing he could do that, but settled with the fact that he just had his own soft voice to communicate with.

"I know," he said, sitting beside her after catching up. "I don't know why, though."

They sat on a huge root of a tree that rimmed a small pool of water that was more a tiny pond than a pool. He wasn't sure what to call it, so he settled with "poond" as the body of water's new name. The large, moss-covered tree's roots seemed to curve around the poond before stretching out and away from their origion in search of nutrients. The poond itself wasn't very deep, maybe from two to three feet, and was crystal clear. Moss grew across the roots in a soft carpet that he and Sophie sat on and the bottom of the poond was decorated with tiny white and pink pebbles, water moss growing between them.

Sophie, having no shoes to begin with, dangled her legs over the root into the poond's surface, her toes grazing the surface and sending little ripples bouncing about the edges that rebounded back to the middle. Timothy wanted to try it, too, and so he removed his shoes to dip his toes in as well.

He was surprised when looking at Sophie's feet. Even though she had been running through the forest, her feet were still very clean. His had been in shoes and they still were a little darker with filth. It didn't seem to distract her from her thoughts as she gazed up at the wide boughs of the tree, though, so it must not have been important. Silly him, focusing on things that never mattered.

Then again, that was often how he learned all he did. His father always advised him to look at the bug picture, yes, but also the smaller things as well, for it was those smaller things that made up the picture everyone already looked at. It took a while for Timothy to understand the picture metaphor, but he got it now and it made sense. So he wouldn't stop, no matter how much the things he noticed didn't matter. They mattered to him, and that was all that mattered to him. Wow, that was a lot of matters.

Timothy smiled at his thoughts when Sophie finally spoke up again.

"So what do you want to play now?"

"I don't know," he replied.

"Well, how about the imagination game?"

He tilted his head. Was that like the battles he'd conduct with his tree friends? Or the times he was a secret ninja? The pen was still clasped in his hand, silver barrel letting off a metallic shine in the dim lighting.

"Here."

She stood up, holding out her hand.

"Now imagine that these roots were really alive. The root in front of me has a salamander spirit in it, a really big one that stands this tall!"

She hopped up with her hand held out to indicate height. Timothy watched, entranced.

"It's a cubby salamander whose skin looks like the root with moss and everything growing on it. It has a kind smile and a wide head and small eyes so it has to squint if it wants to see you very well."

Timothy tried to imagine it.

A huge salamander spirit, rising from within the root. It was a spirit, so it phased right through it before squinting at Sophie's legs since it was on all fours. It's body was solid in color and it had to do a sort of push up in order to get enough momentum to stand up on its two back legs. That was it!

Timothy grinned widely.

"I see it!" he exclaimed happily. "I see the salamander!"

Sophie sat down again and so did the salamander, it's tail dipping into the pool as it squinted at him, then Sophie. She giggled and raised her hand, the creature moving it's head to where she could scratch it under its chin. A very happy look from it was her reward.

Beside Timothy, smaller vines awoke and writhed apart, little green dragon head appeared on them. They looked more rounded and innocent looking, like what he would expect a baby dragon head to look like. One even had a little toadstool on top of its forehead. They all watched Sophie and the huge Salamander. It must have been the mother. That must be why it was so fat! It was pregnant with more baby dragonvines!

Timothy's smile grew impossibly large, the largest he'd ever smiled before. These creatures, these figments of his imagination, would never die. He would always remember them and always come back here to visit them.

He'd always come back for Sophie here, because that's what a friend did- they always came back. Timothy would be a good friend, no matter what.