Believe (A BOTDF fanfic)

Chapter 5- I'd climb the highest mountain even in the dark

Since it was such a beautiful day Jayy decided to walk home the long way which meant going through the slightly eerie forest. It was names so because everything in it was either dead or on its way to being dead, nothing apart from you moved in there. Jayy remembered he used to be petrified of the forest when he was little because of all the fairy tales he used to read, but now those were just silly childhood memories that became insignificant over time. Besides no one else would be in the forest, why would they want to take the long way through a creepy forest rather than getting home quicker and taking a route which was familiar and safe. Jayy's answer to that was that he needed time alone away from the world, time to think. He hadn't done that for a while as he knew it was potentially dangerous, but now he just needed it.

Without his iPod for once Jayy walked into the forest through a little gap in the blackened trees and stood there for a minute or so, letting his eyes adjust to the poor lighting. It was so pretty in here, nothing had been touched by human hands it was just pure nature taking its own course. There was no dirty engines rumbling on or ugly concrete buildings blocking the view, just miles of foliage and nothingness. When he was in here he could pretend that the apocalypse had taken place on earth and he was the sole survivor, alone yet at peace.

After taking a moment to admire his surroundings Jayy started to walk along the slightly over grown path which was really just where the grass had been worn down by many other feet before him. He started to imagine people walking the same route, sometimes in groups, sometimes alone, and wondered what their life was like. Did they come to the forest just for a leisurely walk on a Sunday afternoon or to escape society for a precious hour or so. As he walked deeper and deeper into the heart of the forest he made up some of the stories of people's lives. That may be strange but it stole his mind away from his own life, distracted him.

After a while Jayy came to a clearing and walked away from the shade of the trees out into the blazing sunlight. He became blind momentarily, waiting for his eyes to adjust to the sudden burst of brightness, then opened his eyes slowly to take in his surroundings. The clearing wasn't just a clear patch of green, in the centre was a cluster of rotting logs, fallen from trees long ago and sat on by many. There was also a place in the middle of the logs where the grass still hadn't grown back from a bonfire of long ago, and this is when Jayy's stomach dropped.

Jayy's POV

I realise that I've reached the heart of the forest and painfully memories come flooding back and start to attack me, ripping previous thoughts of happiness to shreds. Now I start to remember why I haven't been here for such a long time, and I wish I never came back. I stumble over to the log I remember sitting on on that day and out my head in my hands to try to stop the whole world spinning around me. I feel sick. Images of him keep flashing into my vision and I try to shake them away, his perfect face souring my mind. I'm desperately trying to hold on to the here and now but I'm slowly slipping into the past.

-1 year ago-

"Come on slow coach, a snail could beat you in this race" Cameron, Jayy's best friend at the time, calls behind him at Jayy. They're racing each other to the little clearing in the very centre of the forest, something they've done too many times to count and every time Cameron has won.

"It's not my fault that I run like a retarded chicken with twisted ankles" Jayy laughed almost tripping over a root. He watched as Cameron jogged into the circle which they had made out of bits of fallen log the first time they had come here and sit down, smiling back at him smugly. His smile was the cutest thing in the world, no matter how crap Jayy felt that day it always made him feel better. Jayy would climb the highest mountain even in the dark, he would swim the deepest ocean to get to Cameron. He would do anything for him.