Esther
I used to love the woods. It was the place where I could escape, where I could be alone with no one else to disturb me. I could let the events of the day slip away for a few minutes.
The night sky coated everything in black, the silver moon turning my hair a shade of orange, my eyes a blazing gray, chilling my skin. I breathed in the humid air, the rain that fell in the past days, as I walked along the gravel path. I spotted the tall trees ahead, and weaved through the vines in front of me, watching the emerald leaves fall to the earth, melting in with the grass.
After Hanna had fallen asleep, I had snuck out. Mom was still sitting in front of the television when I told her I would be in the woods, in my special tree. All she said was, "Be careful." Like I was a child again. Like I would get hurt. Like I would wander past the safe zone.
My gaze drifted up to the sky, and my eyes began burning, my throat closing. The last time I was in the woods like this was... was when I was four years old. The night after Dad left. The night where I thought he would come back in a year. The night where my naive mind thought he would come back.
The night where I began to doubt everything
I shook my head and found my eyes locking with a tree in front of me. My tree. The intertwining branches made spirals and zigzags, and I felt a wicked smile forming on my face. I shifted my weight so I lined up with the first branch, and pulled myself up, placing my foot on the bark, with the other stepping on the base of the first branch.
One more, then another, and I looked to my left and saw the yellow lights of my house disappearing, fading away. The other houses were melting in with the navy sky. I felt a pang of guilt. Everyone was asleep, and I was here, in the middle of the night, in the woods.
I let it sink into the back of my mind and kept climbing, feeling the wind pulling me away from a crooked branch, but I managed to place my foot on it, then quickly stepped on another nearby as it snapped, digging my shoe into the trunk. My gaze dropped down to the stub where it was before. My hair fell in my face, blowing in the slight wind.
Then, my head broke through the leaves, and I hoisted myself up in the last branch, and I could see the moon and the stars aligning perfectly. A silver circle on a navy canvas, white dots around it forming a heart. Beautiful.
A gleam of gold caught my attention, and I saw a yellow chain connected to what looked like a star on a thin stick in front of me. The locket that Dad gave me when I was three. How did it get all the way up here? The only people that climbed this tree were me and Hanna. I bit my lip as I reached for it, and clicked the button on the side, watching it open. There was small calligraphy engraved in it. I squinted a bit in order to read it in the dark.
My dear Esther, if you see this, let Hanna and Tyler know that I need your help. Do not tell Mommy a single thing. Head to Hillside to the subway and take the orange line, the red line, and the black line in that order to get to Portland. I will be waiting for you.
Next to the writing was a photograph of Dad.
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Broken
FantascienzaEsther's dad left her when she was young, and she never understood why. The only thing she was told was that his work needed him there. She believed it up until the point where and when she finds the secrets he was protecting, the dangers of keeping...
