Girl of the Forest

One

CHAPTER 1

"Yes, you have to go." My mom said attempting to pick up my luggage to hand it off to me. I shouldered my backpack and picked up my two suitcases.

"But mom, what makes you think going to a camp all summer will be the way I make friends." This had been the same argument in our apartment for the last two months.

My mother stared at me struggling to bring an answer to her tongue. She was saved by the sound of busses screeching to their thunderous halts in the parking lot. Soon these busses would be on their way to camp- filled with a mass of teenagers hyped to get away from their families and screw around for 3 weeks. I wasn't into that stuff...

"Look at these kids mom," I continued, "I'm not like them."

"Oh, Hush! You're just like everyone else... You'll be-" the end of her potential statement of pity was cut off by the growing roar of jocks and huge groups of friends screaming with enthusiasm embracing each other with high fives and chest bumps as the busses started accepting passengers.

I was most definitely not like them

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I didn't have any friends- let alone large groups of them. Quite frankly, I enjoyed being alone. I enjoyed watching depressing movies with just myself in the dark. I enjoyed drawing for hours with just my plain #2 pencils. Nothing spectacular just average- so I don't really show anyone my art- I like it that way- drawn from the passion for the pencil not for approval. I enjoyed sitting in my room blaring my music through my earbuds. Classic rock and heavy metal was what mostly blared. I enjoyed looking out my apartment window out into the streets and just watching the people go by. Seeing kids run circles around their parents just trying to get through the day of errands. Making up their life stories and struggles in my head. I was a loner. I enjoyed being a loner.

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I am most definitely not like these teenagers.

The mob started inching forward toward the busses. The enthusiasm around me only grew. Not much tears and goodbyes actually- that is, besides my mom and I. Everyone else probably made their parents drop them off a mile away to avoid their parents' "embarassing" love for them. I wasn't like that.

I love my mom. She works so hard to give me a good life. She's on her own- which was why she had to work so hard. My dad was an addict. Drinking, drugs, you name it he did it. But.. my father is gone now.

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When I was about 3 years old my dad got hammered one night- and I mean hard. My mom, being as sweet as she is- in attempt to protect him- tried to sneak his bottle off the kitchen table to keep him from it while he wasn't looking. My dad caught her and they got into a huge argument- Well really it was whatever profanity HE could slur out a her. My mom rarely reacted to dad's rants and screaming. After a couple minutes my dad got up from his bar stool, wobbled over to the door, and slammed it behind him. My mom didn't think anything of it- she thought he just went out for a walk.

Later that night we got a knock on our door. My mom thought it was my dad finally making his way back. She walked over to the door and turned the knob slowly pulling the door back. In the doorway stood a police officer. My mom glanced over at the window and noticed my dads junky pickup wasn't in his usual spot. Her glance made it back to the officer whose face had an expression mixed between his stern uniform straight face and compassion for the innocent woman curiously looking into his eyes for answers.

"How may I help you officer...?" My mom said sweetly but with uneasiness in her throat.

The officer addressed my mother and explained that she was not in trouble and that he was with the local police.

"Ma'am, is this your husband?" The officer asked softly holding up my fathers wallet flashing the divers license stored in it.

"Y- yes it is... What is going on?" My mom stumbled, sneaking another look through the window at the empty parking spot.

The officer explained that my dad had been swerving for several miles down the expressway and found his way under a semi and didn't find his way out. My mother crumbled to our apartment floor in agony.

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Yes... my father is gone now...

I was now only a few feet from the folding doors of the bus. A dude probably somewhere in his 20's held out his hands and stared at my suitcases with an annoyed look. I handed him my luggage and he took it to a van where he then threw in onto a pile with the rest of the suitcases. I nodded and smiled in sarcastic gratitude and turned back toward my mom. "Do I really have to go?"

"Yes, you really do." She explained to me with a smile straightening out my shirt. "It will be fun! It'll be nice to get away for a while and meet new friends."

She wasn't trying to get rid of me I understood that. She really did want me to just have fun and make friends. But, I just knew myself too well. I don't make friends that easily.

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I didn't understand how my mom could afford this camp for me but I decided not to ask. Money was a bit of a touchy subject with us.. We didn't have much of it- but that didn't mean we weren't happy. We enjoyed each other's company- we were okay. My mom made the money we had from the candy shop. She owned and practically ran by herself the "Real Sweet" candy shop in town. She inherited it from her mother when she realized that her dream of being a nurse would be impossible. Going to school with her dad so sick just wasn't an option. She stayed home and took care of her dad until he passed, and soon after, took care of her mom until she as well passed. She felt like she had missed her chance at school finally when she had me and got married to my dad. So she took over the shop and stuck with it. She does a fantastic job but the amount of customers is slowly getting smaller over the years she says.

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I reached the doors of my bus. I faced my mom with one last expression of plea to stay home. My mom kissed me on the forehead and wiped away where she kissed with the back of her hand like she always did to comfort me. I could hear laughs from the first couple rows of seats on the bus directed toward me. I was surprised at the lack of maturity I had already experienced in these teens.

"Love you, mom." I expressed genuinely- looking away from the front row hyenas- ending our conversation and started up the steps of the bus. I didn't want to go- "one step" I thought to myself. I didn't want to leave my routine of being a loner in my room- "two steps." I didn't want to go to another place just to get picked on- "three steps." It's not that I don't think it could be fun but I'm just scared of the outcome I usually get everywhere I go- rejection- "four steps." And I was at the top...

I turned at the top of the four steps and faced the seats that were staring back at me. The kids in the staring seats had already seen what my mom did outside the bus- so finding a seat was going to be next to impossible. I started my walk down the aisle looking into eyes that quickly looked away from mine upon contact. Full seats, shaking heads, and cold looks lead me all the way down to the back of the bus. I spotted an empty bench- the one seater in the last row on the right side of the bus. I slipped my backpack off my shoulder and put it to rest at my feet as I sunk into my new seat.

Looking out my lonely window at the back of the bus I noticed I was just about the last person to board and those behind me had already settled in with their friends. The bus roared into a slow roll beginning departure from the stop. I saw my mom alone in the middle of the otherwise empty parking lot waving in the direction of my bus looking for me. Although realizing she probably couldn't find me In the back window I waved to my mom anyway- pretending to myself as though she could see me. it would be the last time I'd see her for a month.

My heavy heart pulled my head to rest on my lonely window. Closing my eyes and realizing that I wasn't getting out of this I took a deep breath. The low hum of the engine rang in my ears.. But it was calming- it drowned out the yelling. I listened and felt the subtle rumbling of the vehicle In my seat. My tense muscles relaxed and before I knew it- Slowly and all at once- I had fallen asleep.