Dyani

Part 9

A dedication for a sweet girl who really motivated me to proceed with my story.. she deserves it and please check out her stories as well.. she's a very good writer!

I rode my bike around town for an hour or so, but it was still so early in the morning. The church bells hadn’t even rung yet, they would start announcing time from six in the morning, otherwise people nearest would wake up every hour in the night. I had absolutely nowhere to go. My only friend nearby was Gabriella and her parents wouldn’t let me visit, certainly not before dawn. The city was quite big, but outside town, there was a lot of farmland and even a forest. I suddenly had the extreme urge to go to the forest. It would take me some time to get there, but it might clear my head and give me a chance to think about what had happened. I stepped back onto my bike and made the trip to the forest edge. As I got there, I actually felt a lot better. The air was noticeably more fresh and it almost felt like nature was happy to see me. Like the trees were stretching out for me, trying to reach me, console me. I placed my bike on one of the stalls, designed to hold bicycles of visitors and locked it. I took my bags, even though it was early, I didn’t want to take the risk of someone stealing my property. Slowly I walked over the man made path that wandered into the forest. I would have to be at work by six but on saturday they opened by noon. We had a lunch menu, just on saturday. I decided that I would do there at eleven, but I still had to find something to pass the time with until then. I had lived in this town for my entire life, and when I was little, my mom used to take me to this forest a lot. When we were here it was like my mother would make the plants grow, or bloom. But that was impossible. I took my bags and strayed off the path to where I believed there had to be a clearing with clear green grass and a small stream of water. It was so long ago since mom had taken me here, that I took a few wrong turns, but eventually ended up at the clearing. Sighing deeply, I dumped my bags near a tree on the side and just dropped myself in the grass.

Two hours later I woke up, dazed and confused I looked around, my bags were still near my head against the tree. No one was interested in nature near here, besides there weren’t many people leaving the path around these parts, because the forest was actually quite big. As soon as my eyes were getting used to the light, I noticed something strange. I sat up and looked around, in a small circle around the place I was laying, there were flowers all blooming. It was spring, so it should be blooming, but when I had dropped myself, it had only been grass. There were pretty yellow daffodils and white little daisy’s, I went down and smelled one of the daffodils, I didn’t want to pull it out. I got to my feet and picked up my bags. I admired the flowers for a moment, I could see the contours of my body and the circle of flowers around that place. I decided it was time for me to leave. I took one of the cans of water and drank all of it at once. The empty can I tossed out in the trash bin near the edge of the forest. I walked back to my bicycle and went back into town. The high clock tower in the centre of this place, told me it was ten o'clock already, so I took off to the restaurant. I got there a little early, Jennifer hadn’t arrived yet. I put my bike in one of the stands and sat down on the steps of the restaurant, with my bags at my feet. It didn’t take long for Jennifer to arrive and when she saw me, she was confused to see me there.

‘Why are you so early? You aren’t supposed to be here ‘till six,’ she said.

‘I.. ehm.. I ran away from home,’ I mumbled, I didn’t want to start lying.

‘Why?’ she asked, sitting down next to me.

‘My father, he blames me for my mom’s death. He was trying to pick a fight two nights ago, but he was too drunk to actually make sense and yesterday,.. well.. this morning at around three, he came to me again, yelling and angry. He was incoherent at first, but suddenly he accused me of being the reason my mom had passed away. So I became very angry, furious even. I yelled back at him that I wasn’t to blame but the man who drove his car into ours and that man had probably been drunk as well, before I knew it he hit me in the face. The pain has passed by the way, but he left me and I packed my bag and left. I wouldn’t be surprised he didn’t even notice I am gone yet,’ I told her.

She put her hand on my back, to comfort me and suddenly my eyes teared up. I didn’t show her that, so she started opening the restaurant. I cried as silently as I could, it was mostly about my mother, but also because of the other things that had happened.

‘You will have to go home tonight, but for now you can stay here,’ she promised.

‘Why do I have to go home?’ I asked, a little confused.

‘Sweetheart, you can’t stay outside forever.’

I knew she was right, I couldn’t stay on my own forever. I had to sleep in a bed and eat.

‘But what if he hits me again?’ I asked her, about to start crying again.

I took my bags and went inside the restaurant.

‘Then you lock your door when you notice he’s starting to drink, I think he’s very remorseful, but some people don’t know what they do when they drink too much.’

Jennifer let me put my bags in the office and she locked it. We went into the kitchen and she assigned me some small tasks for lunch as the rest of our colleagues entered the building.