The Stars Will Come

Chapter 3 - What the...?

With nothing better to do during lunch, I decided to amuse myself by seeing what Eden and her brother had to say. As I walked I could see Eden was already waiting for me.

"Great, I'm glad you decided to come. I was starting to get worried."

"Ya, well, I had nothing else to do. With no friends you tend to have a lot of free time."

Eden gave me a sympathetic smile and started walking away. "Come, it's time for you to meet my brother."

I followed Eden to the woods surrounding the back of the school. She didn't stop there, she continued walking. It wasn't until we were deep into the forest before I spoke.

"Ummm...," I started," are you sure this is the way to go?"

"Yes, it's this way. My brother practically lives in the forest. He especially likes the quiet, away from other people and technology." Eden sounded a bit sad. I guess she hardly ever see's him, since he seems to spend a lot of time in the forest.

"Oh, ok." was all I could manage. I continued along behind her, silently. By the time we stopped I had begun to fear that I would probably never get back home without Eden's help.

"We're here," she announced. I looked around me, I didn't see anybody.

"Uh... Eden, I don't see anybody."

"That's because he's up this tree," she said pointing at the tree next to her. "You have to climb up. Don't worry, I'll be right behind you."

"You're sure," she nodded," well, ok then." With that I started climbing. It was extremely difficult, with very few footholds to hang onto. I looked down to see how Eden was faring, but I didn't see her.

"Eden...?" I called. Thinking she might have ditched me, making this a cruel prank on me.

"Up here, you slow poke! What's taking so long?" Eden shouted down to me from far above. I looked up and I could barely see Eden from between the branches. I sighed.

"Nothing," I shouted back," just taking in the view." I added sarcastically.

"Well, hurry up. There's a better view up here, trust me." This time when Eden shouted, she sounded farther away than before. I sighed again,'This is going to take awhile,' I thought to myself. I tried to pick up my pace, but if anything, I seemed to go slower than ever before.

By the time I made it up to the top of the tree, I knew I was never going to make it back in time for my next class, or the rest of my school day. 'Oh well, this better be worth skipping class,' I thought. 'Actually, anything is better than class,' I correct myself. When I burst through the treetop, I gasped. It truly was a better view up at the top. You could see the whole surrounding area. As well as the school, if you squinted hard enough at the horizon and knew what you were looking for.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Eden asked from behind me. I turned around and gasped again. There stood Eden, on the edge of a huge tree house.

"What...what...? How?" I was speechless. We were on the very top of a tree, with very little room for me to stand on the few remaining branches, and there was a tree house.

"My brother built it. Took him awhile, but he did it. I don't know how he managed to make it stable. My guess is that he has the surrounding trees support the tree house. Come, let's go inside." Eden grabbed my arm and helped me up onto the porch.

The inside of the tree house was just as amazing as the outside. There was even a fireplace. 'How can that even be possible!? Aren't they worried that they might burn the whole forest down?' I asked myself. As I surveyed the interior, I saw a boy sitting on a bed looking at us with a book in his hand.

"It's about time you two got here. I've been saying your approach for nearly an hour now. What took so long?" I was puzzled by his words to respond so Eden spoke for me.

"It's nothing. May here is just not used to the woods." I was about to ask Eden's brother what he meant by 'saying our approach', but he started talking before I could ask.

"So you're May, huh? Nice to meet you. Eden's been talking about seeing you for awhile now, I'm glad to finally meet you, instead of talking about you. I'm Grift. It's a strange name, I know. But can you blame my parents, they had 5 seconds to decided on a name before they died. They could have meant to say Griffin, but died before they could finish. At least they had time to finish saying Eden's name, I guess it was lady's first with them. But, enough about me, what about you? Anything interesting?"

Everything that came out of Grift's mouth just made me even more confused than I already was. Seeing the confusion on my face, Grift decided to continue along as if I had said something.

"Well, you certainty -prepare- have an interesting life. I dare say it's al -for- most as interesting as mine, but th -Them- at would be ly -They- ing." He laughed," H -are- ey sis, do you ha -coming- ve something to say?" I could feel a headache coming on with the amount of stuff that poured out of his mouth. Also, what really confused me was the unnecessary words he added, sometimes in the middle of other words.

"Ah... ya, I think I do have something to say, to May. May, why don't you come with me outside for a moment. I think you could use the air. I'll explain, if you want."

"Uh... yeah. I think that might clear up the fog that seems to have settled around me. Thanks." I followed Eden out the door, leaving Grift inside, who just shrugged and returned to his book.