The Decameron 2.0

Day 4.2 Misunderstanding - TRESPASSERS ChayAvalerias

"I have a story," Chayton said, as she stood up. She pulled back the hood of her sweatshirt, revealing a face worn beyond her years. "It's also about misunderstanding, but not in a bad way. Sometimes a misunderstanding can lead us to discover something important about ourselves and others."

She began her story.

TRESPASSERS

By @ChayAvalerias

Zimm tugged at my sleeve, and I rolled over on my sleeping mat. I pulled the blanket over my head. "Leave me alone."

"But I need to show you something, something important." His words bounced around my consciousness.

"Go to sleep." I felt myself on the verge of drifting away again.

"Elleth," he whined. "You need to wake up or it will be too late."

"Be quiet. Do you want to wake up father?" I sat up and wiped my eyes, adjusting to the dim light that filtered from the hut's open doorway. Behind the curtain, father slept in the back part of the hut.

He pulled on my arm. "Elle, I really need to show you something important. We are running out of time. Please."

My little brother had been acting strange ever since the accident. He stared at people in the market for long moments. He talked nonsense in his sleep and carved odd figures and shapes into the bark of trees.

"What's gotten into you, Zimm?"

"Please, please." The boy pleaded with such desperation.

The accident occurred three days ago when Zimm went fishing. He had just turned twelve and the elders assigned him to the fishermen as an apprentice. No one knew how he got caught in the fishing net. When they finally pulled him from the waters and untangled him, he had stopped breathing. The men rushed him to the medicine woman who chanted runes about his body and blew the breath back into him.

When Zimm arose from the dead, he told them, "The spirits are nigh."

"Don't mind him," the medicine woman said. "He'll talk gibberish for a while until he has fully recovered."

I guess I shouldn't be so hard on him. He could have died after all, just like mother did five years ago from that strange disease.

"What is it you have to show me?"

"I can't tell you. You won't understand. You just need to see for yourself."

I sighed. "Okay, fine, Zimm, but I don't want this to take too long."

"Hurry, we don't have much time."

He beckoned me to follow him outside. I grabbed my cloak and sandals. We crept through village careful to avoid being seen. Eventually, he led me on the down the dirt path and closer to the forests. The moonlight illumination the way just enough.

"This way."

"Wait!" I pulled him back. "We can't go in there." The elders had warned against entering the Forbidden Forest. Some said it harbored monsters. Others said it was the hiding place for thieves and outcasts. A few of the oldest women in the tribe referred to it as a spirit realm, saying that soon they would be resting there.

"But that's where we need to go. I know the way." He grabbed my hand. "Come on. We are running out of time."

Before I could protest, he pulled me deep into the depths of the forest, around fallen trees and over rocks and across a small stream. We sprinted through rows of thin trees with increasing speed.