Roots ; s.mendes

W H I S P E R S

All I could hear was muffled whispers. We had arrived at Pipers after walking through the jungle of a neighbourhood, our journey was only just safe, no animals ready to pounce. When we arrived we were greeted with an empty house, one just as flimsy and cramped as my own, broken bricks and long green ivy snaking up the front of her home, she invited us inside but only Eloise was allowed into the mysterious bedroom of Piper, leaving me on the other side of the door, which was safely locked and secured to prevent me bursting in- though it didn't prevent my eavesdropping.

The warmth from my cheek pressed against the door, I listened carefully and quietly, though it seemed my own breathing was more apparent and audible than any of their brief exchange. Though i was desperate to hear and translate their whispers despite the guilt lacing my stomach. I was always taught not to eavesdrop, eavesdropping was wrong yet I did it so well as though it was the only thing I knew.

And as my warm cheek and ear leant against the door, I was greeted with a terrific shock when the door was ripped from my face and I toppled into Piper who had opened it.

"Shawn, you know not to eavesdrop." Eloise warned and I smiled the guiltiest smile. Eloise looked different, as though her masking smile was almost transparent, allowing me to see the problem that lay dormant beneath it.

"I know, I know. Where do we escape to next?" I asked the question and Piper's eyes glazed with deviance, smiling with charm. How charming she was, despite her crooked smile and misshapen teeth and her worn out clothes, she was incredibly charming, charming to me at least. To anybody else, I wouldn't know their impression but I was sure mine was of charm.

She pushed her gnawed at fingers through her curly hair and scraped it loosely to the back of her head, securing it with an elastic into a bun.

I admired how she looked with her hair from her face, so pretty and graceful, Like a ballerina. I wondered why she didn't pull it from her face more often and why she usually let it hang my her shoulders, not that she didn't look beautiful when she wore it like that.

"You see, Kid, all these years I have known you, I've kept a terrific secret from you both." Eloise turned to me and I to her, she pulled an expression which I was sure I was unknowingly mimicking too.

"A secret?" Me and my sister spoke in unison, the same puzzled tone, the same way our head tilted lightly to the right, it was as if we had rehearsed it profusely, practising until it was perfectly simultaneous.

"Yes, and I think it's time I showed you."

Piper didn't tell us anything the whole walk to her secret, we crunched leaves beneath our feet and begged for a clue, desperate to squeeze something from her. Though Piper -rather amused with herself- didn't squeak a word.

"Dear god I wish you'd tell us." Eloise moaned, smiling to herself meekly as approached a large cluster of trees, ending the sidewalk and beginning a forest. The trees inside this particular forest were very small, not like your average tree that would reach more than double your height.

"A forest?" I asked quietly, unsure of our purpose here.

"No, it's not just a forest." Piper continues to walk through the forest, the bitter breeze licking her skin ever so lightly and tossing her stray hairs from her face, the dead fallen leaves crushed beneath her black boots as she lead us to her notorious secret.

We walked until we reached a huge sycamore tree, one that definitely outshone the rest, it was tall and large with a huge white trunk and what seemed like thousand of individual branches, and million of clustered leaves. All the other trees had lost their brown leaves but this trees were a bright green and not one had fallen. A beautiful tree, it was, and Piper looked at it as though it was the love of her life.

"This is my secret." She introduced us to her secret and Eloise slouched her weight onto her hip, looking up at the colossal tree that towered before us with confusion.

"My, what a large secret to keep." I observed, watching Piper rum up to the tree like a child on a playground. She climbed the trunk like monkey bars and swung from the branches like a kid. The innocence in her eyes and the utter delight on her face as she climbed to the top of the tree made me happy, my heart beating like a marching band.

"Isn't it spectacular?!" She shouted from the tallest heights of the tree, swinging around the branches like a wild monkey. "Come on, join me!" She beckoned us, waving her about urgently. "Quickly! you'll miss it!" She spoke with enthusiasm, the biggest smile on her face I had ever seen.

And so we did, me and Eloise raced up the tree with such urgency and joy that I truly felt alive in that moment, my heart pounded maniacally from my chest and my lungs so violently filtered my oxygen.

Branch after branch, hand after hand, I finally reached my love at the top of her castle tree, a princess she looked, the setting sun kissing her skin so sweetly.

"Look over there." Her voice came down to almost a fragile whisper, releasing one hand from the stable branch she was resting on and pointing it at the horizon.

A beautiful view lay out in front of us, a picturesque scene all of our own. I felt as though the world was beneath us and it was all ours to own. I felt as though we ruled the world, as though it belonged to Eloise, Piper and I.

I smiled so happily, adrenaline being one of the many rushes of emotion I was feeling. I was breathless, it was breathless, everything about that moment snatched my breath and I didn't care, I loved it. I loved every goddamned second.

"Isn't it stunning?" Piper spoke with so much pride. So happy that this discovery was all her own, nobody else to owe such an incredible success.

"My god, it is." Eloise spoke, looking at the setting sun with the same twinkle of admiration and amazement that me and piper did.

We stayed there for the entire sunset and afterwards too. Just as it had gotten dark and we decided to rest our aching legs by sitting on the branches, our feet dangling from it, Piper lay her fragile head against my overworn hand-me-down pants and let me fiddle with her hair. Locks of it lay helplessly in between my fingers and a cigarette lay between hers; it was how most of our nights went, this time our setting had changed and Eloise lay beside us.

"You know how I found this tree?" She removed the poisonous roll from her lips and spoke to me and my sister. "A few years ago, when I was maybe a little younger than you El, I had a rough night and had an argument with my family and I decided I wanted to runaway. I packed the small amount of things I owned and trekked into these woods and i found this tree and climbed to the top of it with the idea of maybe building a house in it but instead I found this view. And my, I can't compare this view to anything in the world. I come here every morning or night when I can and it instantly improves my day." She closes her gentle eyes as she spoke, as though she was envisioning her story as she told it.

"I'm truly glad you felt you could share it with us." A smile spread onto her face, and I looked so lovingly at that familiarly rare smile and I appreciated it and savoured it, as though I knew it wouldn't last. And it didn't.