Beautiful Secret

Forests and Friends

Ella

It was a fine Saturday morning and Ella woke up to the eery sound of distant chainsaws at work slicing through old pine trees.

She picked her cell up from the bedside table next to her to check the time.

It was already 8:30 A.M. She preferred waking up early because it made her feel like she was somehow being more productive. Along with the time, was a message from Euri. Ella went into it.

E! U up 4 a hangout sesh at Tongass?

Ella knew Euri was talking about the Tongass National Forest, which was almost right next to her house. She wasn't ready to be within a 5 meter radius of Jason, who'd been unexpectedly rude to her the other day, but she figured this was her chance to make friends with these people.

Ander could be there too...

Ella texted back,

Sounds great! See u soon x

She waited for the two ticks to appear next to the message before stretching her arms out wide above her and letting out a deep yawn.

Suddenly, an image of her mother invaded her vision and senses. This must have been her mom before she'd gone crazy and taken drugs because she still had a healthy rosy hue in her cheeks and her smile was pure and genuine. The flashback only lasted a moment before it faded away into reality.

Seconds later, she felt an agonizing weight hit the bridge of her nose. Her IPhone 5S bounced off of her face and onto the floor, before beeping loudly from an incoming message.

Forgetting about the sudden pain and the flashback, Ella lurched her body sideways and leaned off the bed to pick her cell up.

Euri had replied to her Whatsapp already.

Cool! We're meeting up by the sign ;p xo

Euri was referring to the little frail wooden sign that was wedged into the open ground just in front of the forest. It indicted the start of the long strip of pine trees.

Several minutes passed by as Ella lay on her bed, deciding whether to go or not. She really wanted to confront Ander about his strange behavior and there was a minuscule chance that he would be there. So before she could think herself out of it, she pulled herself up off the bed and walked over to her closet.

***

With her black All Stars, ripped grey jeans and knitted thick white sweater on, Ella walked down the quiet gravel road that surrounded the East side of the forest. The sign was just 2 km away.

Her dad said he was out working late. He'd gotten a job at a Genelle & David building nearby, which was the law firm he worked for. Since he'd worked for them in California, he was offered the same job, just in a different place.

She started feeling a nervous ache creep up her stomach as she approached the sign and no one was there. Had they ditched her? Or maybe they were pranking her. Or they were planning her murder...

Ella shook off the dark thoughts beginning to cloud her mind and started to look around the sign to see if there were any clues she could find as to where the group had gone.

A small black paper was taped to the smooth wooden backside of the sign.

Ella ripped it off slowly, careful not to make it unreadable. She unfolded it and saw white writing inside.

E :) We're a little deeper in (Tristan's really impatient). Just keep walking straight from here and the turn left when you see a blue scarf tied on a tree.

See ya soon xo

Great, now she had to walk into a gigantic snowy forest all by herself and find a tree with a blue scarf. She was convinced that she would most likely get lost.

Ignoring her anxiety, she went on and advanced straight into the deep quiet forest.

Sorry about the short chapter everyone :( lots more will happen in the next chapter x