Beneath the trees

Forest

Three years ago

. . .

I wake to a crashing sound coming from downstairs in the kitchen, I roll over and look at the clock, it's only seven why am I up? I rub my eyes and reluctantly get up, squinting my eyes at the sun coming through the windows. I walk out of my room and Into the dark hallway, it looks like my brothers still asleep... lucky. I slowly skip down the stairs and make my way Into the kitchen. I find my mother cleaning a broken bowl off the floor careful not to miss any pieces. "Mom do you need any help", I groggily say, "no sweetie I'm just trying to make a nice morning breakfast for everyone, I've got it". "Alright, I'm going back to my room for a bit then, okay?", "Okay, I will call you when it's time to eat". "Hey where's dad at"? I ask "he went on a little adventure in the woods, he should be back In a little". I nod my head a turn on my heal and jog up the stairs, I plop down on my bed wishing I had just been able to sleep a little longer, but my thoughts are soon cut off as a fall back into a deep sleep. I wake up about an hour later to my mom calling me downstairs for breakfast, I trip at the bottom of the stairs over boxes, I curse under my breath just quiet enough for my mom not to hear. I hate moving but I'm so glad to be out of the old house, Virginia was such a beautiful place and we been living in a crap hole of a town with no mountains or forest, but now I can look out the window see the steep mountains and look into the deep forest. I walk into the kitchen a find myself a seat at the table, dad was still not there, he had been gone quite a while, but then again there were many lands to be explored. "Hey is dad going to be here for breakfast"? I asked " no sweetie he is still out poking around and I don't feel like waiting anymore, he can grab a bite to eat when he gets back". I nod and turn my head not actually caring about what she had to say I just wanted a yes or no but she always talked to much. I watch as mom brings the food over to the table she smiles sweetly at me noticing my cold stare, I just sarcastically smile back. "Hey josh let's go breakfast is ready"! mom yells up the stairs. My older brother comes running down the stairs in his over sized sweats and hoodie and take a piece of bacon off the table and plops down in a chair carelessly, I roll my eyes at him just to get him heated. We sit at the table quietly, we normally talk a lot more when dads with us, he's the loud funny one. It's very awkward just sitting here the noise of our food being crushed by our teeth, josh clears his throat preparing to talk but instead he just looks at me and continues eating. About thirty minutes later were all finished eating, me and josh set our dishes in the sink and try to run out of the kitchen before mom snakes us into doing chores. "Hey you two need to come help, I made the breakfast you clean" well so much for getting out of chores. Josh somehow talks me Into doing his chores by bribing me with money, I guess it's not that bad considering I'm getting paid. I finish the dishes and other exciting Sunday morning chores and go upstairs to get ready. I look in Josh's fifthly room as I pass by, "did you finish my chores"? he smirks, "actually yes I did and I want my money", "did you actually think I would pay you" he chuckled, I pick up the nearest thing, which happens to be a pair of socks and throw it at him, his only reaction is laughing as I walk away. I look at my reflection in the mirror and cringe when I see how bad my hair looks I chuckle and realize how lucky I am to have the way my hair looks be my biggest issue. I finish getting ready and pull out a book to read, I sit in the same spot I sit to do homework, paint and just about everything you can do at a desk, I look out the window into the vast forest wondering where all my dad had walked already. I open the book and get lost in the pages that Carry me to another world where I experience other peoples lives. About a half an hour later I get interrupted from my second world by my brother, "hey has dad called you, he's been gone for a while and won't answer his phone", "no I'm sure he's just busy climbing a tree or something he's fine he will be back soon". "Well you should try to call him Melanie, just in case". I wanted to yell at josh for bossing me around, even though I was younger didn't mean anything, honestly I was more mature. he would rather play video games than sit down and read a riveting book, but we have always had differences and I definitely didn't think that was going to change by picking a fight so I just left it. I pick up my phone in the same motion I put my book down and decide to call dad, it went to his voicemail after a couple of rings so I called again this time it went straight to voicemail as if it was off, this was definitely not like dad and I knew something was up. I rarely get worried but something about this situation wasn't right. I run down stairs taking two steps at a time and find my mom biting her nails in the kitchen. Now I really knew something wasn't right, mom never bites her nails unless she is really upset about something. "Mom, is everything okay", "yea honey, just a little worried". After that she didn't say a word just nodded her head yes and no to any questions I asked. About five minuets passed and she got up and picked up the house phone, her knuckles were turning white where she was squeezing the phone, and what she did made me worry so much more. "Hi my husband went out into the woods this morning and we are getting worried he has yet to come back and he won't answer his phone" the rest of her sentence is drowned out by her sobs. I feel so helpless there was nothing I could do I just had to sit back and watch my mom cry and worry about my dad. Something in me sparked, no caught on fire, I ran up the stairs put my rain boots on grabbed a coat from my closet without looking and ran back downstairs. I put my shoes and coat on at the foot of the stairs and grabbed a flashlight from the closet. The next few things were all a blur, me running out the door, mom dropping the phone and screaming "no", and me shutting, no, slamming the door and sprinting to the woods. The next thing I know I'm in the middle of woods, I'm out of breath and I'm scared and lost. Its only about 6:00 but it's already dark from the clouds it's cold and rainy and looking at the vast and seemingly never ending forest I begin to worry less about finding my dad and more about finding my way back home. I venture further into the forest, or maybe it was closer to the house or the road. I start to freak out I realize how small I am in this big forest, that no matter how much I walk how far I go there will still be more, it will never end. Right when I'm about to break down and give up I hear a cracking noise and see a shadow move across the trees. I start running in the direction if the shadow, my heart is racing, it might be my dad. A branch cracks behind me and I turn around to see what I least thought I would see, josh and my mom standing soaked and cold shivering and out of breath. "Melanie, come here, what were you thinking it's dark you can't just run off like that", she stops and looks at me, she looks right through me and then I realize she's not looking at me at all. I turn around and see my dad and a small hunched over lady disappear into the ground, through the roots. I run to the the spot where they were just standing and fall to my knees, I hear screaming and turn to look at my mom, josh and her have looks of horror on their faces, but the screaming was coming from me. I can't let him just go all this and I was so close, I start frantically digging at the ground. "No, Melanie stop, stop right now"! Mom yells at me. She has to rip me up off the ground to get me to stop, it's then that I notice I am crying and I can't stop. I look down at my hands and my nails are broke and my hands are bleeding from the digging. My mom comes over and hugs me and I collapse in her arms. I want this to all be a bad dream, I want to blink my eyes and wake up in my bed with my dad in his room. I want to be able to run to my mom and tell her to get rid of the monsters but she can't because my monsters are now my reality. He is gone. He is gone.