detonate (ON HOLD)

Chapter Twenty Six

"come fly with black. we'll give you freedom from the human trap," 

(I s2g you have to listen to this song as you read it)

        The rugged bark in my direct line of vision was a light caramel kind of brown like the mop of curly brown hair on the boy that darted in and out of the thick trunks as though he were traveling on a wide and civilized path. A soft, damp moss crept up the sides of the mix of the massive evergreen Eastern Hemlocks, the White Birches with their thin, zebra-like appearances, and the wide assortment of maple trees. The thick, neon green plant seemed to crawl up each tree's bark like caterpillars that would soon transform into magnificent and delicate butterflies. The forest that surrounded me seemed so familiar, but I couldn't put my finger on why. My memory was shot. I had no recollection as to how I had gotten into the vast expanse of wilderness. I did not know who the boy only a few yards ahead of me was, but I felt the strange desire to follow him. I needed to know whether or not he had answers, but from what I could tell, he was just as lost as I was.

        "Wait up!" My voice finally rung out in dense forest air.

        My feet began to pound the cool ground in a repetitive and rhythmic manner as my toes tore up the mossy ground. The occasional leaf and twig crunched beneath the coarse skin on my feet. The long arms of the ferns tickled my ankles as I rushed after the boy. Rich soil became packed underneath my toenails as I danced around the small boulders and fallen trees in a delicate manner the way a deer would.

        The space between the boy and I decreased when he suddenly stopped. His shoulder leaned up against the thick trunk of a pine tree. The dead needles blanketed the ground as a prickly orange coating. They gave off sweet sort of pungent odor. It seemed to linger on my body due to the fact that the sap covered needles stuck to bottom of my feet as I took the few necessary steps closer to him until our shoulders brushed from the close proximity to each other.

        At first, we both remained silent. The area in which we resided was breathtaking in a haunting kind of way. The scene that was laid out in front of our eyes was mesmerizing to say the least, and I had never witnessed such an intense kind of beauty that it physically caused me to falter at its magnificence.

        "Where are we?" I finally breathed out ― breaking the silence.

        I followed his gaze up to the thick evergreen foliage above us. I wondered what he was thinking as a soft white light managed to sneak through the leaves. The light was bright enough to the point that it made his eyes look more like a pale emerald rather than their natural hazel color. My eyes shifted from the canopy to the boy's strong profile. They followed his sharp jawline and his high cheek bones. As I took in the boy's appearance, I found myself struggling to figure how I knew him.

        "I don't know. I can't remember how I got here either. It was like I just showed up and started running... Like it was a natural instinct," The boy confessed with worry taking over his features as his eyes darted around ― still searching for some sort of explanation. A sigh left his plump lips as he redirected his attention to me. His eyes sweeping over my every feature as if he were taking it all in. Suddenly, he spoke again. "The only thing that I can remember is your face and that voice of yours. It's like you are my only clarity, but even still, that memory is hazy."