Ill at Ease

       PLEASE READ: I didn't want to have to put an author's note, but it seems like I have to... Keep in mind that this is a short story. I know some short stories have several chapters, but this one, for the time being, does not and it is completed. So once you reach the end of reading this, it is the end. Finished. Done. Fin.... Okay. Sorry about that! I just felt bad every time someone thought I was going to continue. You may read now! ...That is, if you'd still like to....

           I ran my hands through the soft dewy grass, my eyes closed, enjoying the sounds of the early morning. Animals moved about the woods, following their morning routines as I followed mine. The elders of my tribe have always warned us to stay away from the forest, but ever since I was a youngling I have been drawn to it. The first time I traveled into the woods, I was nervous. I worried about getting caught, but was never scared of the dangers I’ve grown up hearing of. Since that day, I have taken every chance I get to steal to the woods.

            I stood, knowing that if I stayed much longer my mother would worry. I brushed my wet hands off on my leather breeches and began my trek back to the village, making sure to avoid stepping on twigs or other objects that could mar my bare feet. When I reached the edges of the forest, I made sure that no one was around to notice me.

            My village lay on the bare land on one side of a large, clear lake with the forest parallel to it on the lake’s opposite. Most people were still inside their tents eating their breakfasts of porridge or fruit. A few people milled about, too immersed in their various activities to notice me. I hurried around the edges of the lake to the center of the village. Once I was at a safe distance from the woods, I looked behind to double check that no one had seen me exit the forest. While my head was turned back, I unexpectedly ran into something hard.

            “You have been in the forest again, haven’t you?” asked my childhood friend, Keaton, as he picked a twig from my hair. He looked down at me with the same troubled expression that covers his face every time he discovers I have left the village.

            I grinned sheepishly back up at him, causing him to sigh and pinch the bridge of his nose. “One of these days you will be caught, Mikaehla, and I doubt I will be able to stop my father from punishing you. I am scared for you. I have no idea how severe that punishment will be, considering no one besides the hunters has ever gone willingly into the forest before.”

            Keaton was the son of Chief Nolan, the leader of our people for the past two decades. Chief Nolan was the most opposed of anyone against entering the woods. Keaton’s only older brother, Tucker, had been a hunter. Two winters ago, he was attacked while on a hunting trip and was killed. Ever since, Chief Nolan has hated the woods more than ever. If it were not for the fact that our people rely on the meat and plants that the hunters gather from the forest, the chief would have banned even them from going inside of it.

            Slowly, I lifted my hand and tilted Keaton’s chin so that he was no longer looking at the grass by our feet, but into my eyes, “I know the dangers, Keaton. But I know those woods like the back of my hand; I will not be injured. As for your father, if he finds out, let him punish me. Spending time in the forest is worth any punishment he could bestow upon me.”

            I paused, allowing my words to sink in. When he looked ready to protest, I cut him off, “I… I cannot explain it… When I am in the woods, I feel free. All the stress just melts away. It is like every time I step foot into its boundaries, I am reborn because I just feel so alive. Please, Keaton, You are my best friend, please do not make me feel guilty for doing the one thing that makes me happier than any other in this dreary world.”