Through the Veil

V - The Rainy Day P2

I fought through the thorn bushes and flower beds, my ankles getting attacked by regiments of rose thorns. Nettles stung the scratches like angry bees as raindrops fell down my knees and met the minor war-wounds.

How can Effie find this fun?

As I made my way deeper into the woods, less light penetrated through the leaves that hung above me and the air grew thick and quiet - even the surrounding sounds of rain had died down. It was very much as if the atmosphere had some kind of cloaking magic, suffocating any sound before it could be heard by nearby souls which wandered this way. The mud squelched beneath my feet with every step like an abscess.

Every now and then I could hear a faint rustle and twig snap which always seemed to occur behind me, never in front. But they were sounds of which were so quiet I began to question myself if they were even real at all.

After a short while, I had realised my mistake. I'd walked into the woods without having any idea where I was supposed to be headed to meet Effie and Gabe.

Being several miles wide in every direction, it wasn't even likely that I'd stumble across the specific clearing as a lucky, little accident. Anxiety washed over my skin, numbing me to the rain as I lost myself in my worries further, dissociating from my senses and everything around me.

A mutilated wind chime sung in the wind as it swayed from the arm of a lone birch tree in a sea of oaks, bringing me back into the peaceful trance the forest had briefly lost over me. It was hung years ago by the locals of Crescent Bay to deter old spirits from venturing out of Gaia's prison.

I paused against a tree, the bark of it peeling like the wall of my staircase at home. My breaths couldn't be heard above the pattering of the millions of raindrops.

A vertical field of green caught my attention from the corner of my eye, it was as if it was trying to hide from me but couldn't help but tease it's whereabouts. As I stumbled closer, I realised it was by far the largest willow tree I had ever seen. She stood strong and wide in the field of puddles fed by the clouds, her leaves fluttering in the breeze brought by the turbulence of the days storm.

A strange intuitive spark stirred in the pit of me as my attention focused upon the peeled bark of trees, the chimes which sung melancholy notes and the willow tree. It all felt so familiar, as if I once had a vivid dream of this moment. Perhaps this was the place that Effie was talking about.

Everything there was different to the rest of the woods I had traversed through. It felt alive. Like it had its own thought processes - its own consciousness. As if it was self-aware.

I couldn't decide whether I liked that feeling or not. The feeling that even the leaves on the trees and the budding flowers that surrounded me had eyes, and they were all looking intently at me.

I checked my wristwatch in both anxiety and anticipation. It read 9:56am and at the very least half an hour since Effie had left me at the bridge. I predicted that I still had about another twenty minutes to go before she and Gabriel would even reach the outskirts of the forest; her estimates always fell short.

Galena Bay was just under three miles from the bridge. Hardly anyone on the island owned cars and it was the norm to walk distances as far as that - we were all used to it. And as kind as I was, I couldn't help but hate Gabriel.
I was there, alone, in Florans Wood surrounded by nothing but the unknown which didn't even feel like the unknown. He had to have chosen the worst day to be a nuisance and I hated Effie for being brave.

The heavy mix of anger and worry in every essence of my being had eventually bubbled over and couldn't be contained any longer. My tears ended up joining the rain's migration to the dirt, as if they wanted to escape the state of my head. My fingers were cold at the tips and stinged my eyes as I rubbed them clear.