Lost In Our Desires

The Castle

Him.

But on my adventure I didn't think I would be finding treasure.

I was walking on the tracks, balancing myself with my arms raised on either side of me. After I got the hang of it I remember looking up and seeing the sun kissing the tips of the trees. I was debating if it was time to go back yet or not. Then I noticed my surroundings. I spent so much time with my eyes on my feet watching my step that I didn't even notice when the trees on my left stopped and the water began. I found a lake. I must've tripped over my feet a thousand times as I raced down a small hill before reaching it. In that moment I swore that was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. If I knew how to swim I would've been in the water in a heartbeat. But of course I didn't. In New York I didn't have a pool or someone to teach me.

Instead I decided to walk around it to take it all in. By now, my 'nicest outfit' was my dirtiest. I picked up a stick and dragged it across the surface of the water as I walked next to it, humming a song my grandma used to sing me before she passed away.

I stopped dead in my tracks, frozen, when I saw a deer up ahead. This was another thing that I've never seen before. I knew that if I moved the slightest it would run away like I've read about so I just stood there, watching it as it walked up to the water.

I was so memorized by all these new things that I didn't notice I was being followed.

"Pretty cool right?"

I don't know what she was thinking, sneaking up on me like that. I turned around so fast with the stick following, I almost hit her in the head. And in that moment, I realized that the lake wasn't the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. She was. She was my height, strawberry blonde hair, pink lips and huge green eyes. I pulled out an inhaler from my pocket. I was embarrassed.

"Hey I have the same one." She smiled and pulled out hers. I noticed she wore boys clothes. Or at least they looked like boys clothes. She must've noticed my staring. "These aren't mine. They're my cousins. My clothes got wet. You must be the new kid next door. My names Jasmine Lovelace. What's yours?" I've only felt like this once and that was when Joe's mom, a friend back in New York, kissed me on the cheek. My mind just forgot how to work. "You don't talk? That's okay. I have a friend whose deaf who doesn't talk. C'mon, if you think the lake is cool then you got to see this."

She took my hand and started to run. It was hard to keep the same pace as her. She also seemed to talk a lot. I don't know why I didn't say anything to her. I felt bad. For some reason I just couldn't. She practically dragged me half way around the lake and towards the trees. Only then did I remember the deer that was no longer anywhere in sight. Then she stopped running. It was huge. It was amazing. It was perfect.

"My dad built it for me before he passed away. That was his job, to build houses. He said that he wanted to build me one so I'd always have a place to go. He was really amazing." Her father built her a huge tree house if you could even call it that. I mean it looked like an actually house, except it was up in a tree and smaller. "C'mon this isn't even what I wanted to show you." She started pulling at my wrist, signaling for me to follow. We climbed up a ladder to a little porch where we were met by two small foldable chairs. She sat down and looked out ahead of her. When I sat down and looked with her, I thought I was dreaming. Through the trees you saw the lake and everything around it. It was like a watch tower, a castle. It was a castle with its king and queen.

I learned a lot about her that day. She was my age. She lived with her aunt. She had three brothers who were all old enough to have their own life and family. She said that after her dad passed her step mom married some douche. She said it reminded her of the Cinderella story, how the father dies and the evil step mother takes over. She lives with her aunt in the summer and the step family during school. Her aunt fought with them about who'd get to keep her since really now she was living with two people who had zero relation to her. She said she didn't understand why her step mom wanted to keep her so bad if she doesn't care for her in the first place. She also told me no one knew this tree house was here. Not even her two cousins she was living with. It was a secret she was willing to share with me only if I'd promise to meet her there every day after our dinners. And I did. Every day that summer I met her there and she talked about everything. We played games and pretend. Our favorite was the one we called Apocalypse. It's pretty self-explanatory. There was a zombie apocalypse and we are cut off from the world, surviving out here, in our little kingdom.

I remember the first time I spoke to her. I sat under the tree house in the shade waiting for her. She was late. She was never late. I didn't think much of it though. She probably just got caught up with her family. So I waited, and waited. The sun was completely set by the time I got the hint that she wasn't coming. I was hurt. I had one friend. And now that friend abandoned me too. It was too dark to see much on the walk back. If I knew I was going to be out here this late I would've brought a flashlight. The only reason I saw her ahead was because she was wearing a neon pink dress. She was sitting in the middle of the railroad tracks, not moving. I knew something was wrong. When I got closer I saw her hand was raised telling me to stop. But I didn't. I didn't see it till I was maybe ten feet away from her. Her face looked soaked with tears. On her lap was a Northern Copperhead. I read about them once. Getting bit by those were rarely severe but that didn't matter to me. I was thinking of what to do. I honestly had no idea. I stared clapping my hands to get its attention. Then I realized it looked angry so I stopped. What if it bit her? What if the bit was sever. I guess my clapping got its attention because it started towards me and off of her. I took a few steps back with my hands up as if I was surrendering. I put three fingers up in the air, counting down, hoping she knew what I meant. Once I hit one we both bolted. We were so scared that we didn't stop running till we made it back behind her aunt's house.

I grabbed her by the shoulders and started inspecting her to see if she was okay. "It didn't bit you did it? Holy shit Jasmine you scared the crap out of me." I said pulling her into a hug. When I pulled back she didn't say anything. She just stared at me for a while. Me being who I am I started to panic thinking she was going into some kind of shock before she pulled me into another hug. This one even longer than the first. She smiled.

"You saved me. It was crazy. I was just walking on the tracks to meet you when I saw it. I didn't see it until I was already in front of it and I fell back trying to get away. I couldn't move because I was so scared. Then after sitting with it for what felt like years I realized how cool it was." I smiled because that was Jasmine; always finding the unthinkable exciting. Then she wasn't smiling anymore. As if something has crossed her mind. Of course I already knew what that something was. "You talked. You talked to me."

I just smiled, turned and started towards my house yelling goodnight over my shoulder. I still don't know what kept me from speaking to her all that time but it was the thought of losing her that brought me back.