The Casanova's Class Clown

Chap. 58: And Beyond

AND BEYOND...

Troffer Brook was a gallant valley between two high hills at the Eastern part of the city, nearest to one of nine elementary schools in the city, hidden by forests. One could get there via special path of rock slabs left there by someone before either Oliver or Emma were born.

When they first went there during their childhood, said rocks were mossed and mostly overgrown by the near vegetation. But as they grew older and more able, they cleaned up the deeper ends of the path so they'd have an easier time getting to where they wanted to go. It was quite surprising that for almost eight years, no one else has come by Troffer's Brook, not even Troffer himself, the person Emma theorized the place was named after. Oliver often debated that the original person the place was named after might be long dead, and Emma would counter that one never knew, and besides, said Troffer could be a surname and there might be descendants.

"We were always technically trespassers here, weren't we?" Oliver said in a somewhat nostalgic voice, their hands swinging as they walked, their fingers intertwined and wouldn't let go.

"I guess you could say that." Emma mused, not having thought about it before. "But if ever we get chased away from this place by the original owners, what'd you do?"

They kept walking, the slabs they stepped on getting cleaner and cleaner as they enter deeper into the forest. Oliver was seriously considering the question, but instead of answering, he looked back at Emma without breaking their step. "What would you do?"

Emma was looking forward. "I guess I'd be okay with it."

He blinked. "Really?"

She smiled. "Well, if the owners really wanted to do something about their own land, who are we to interfere as squatters? Besides," She looked up at him, her cheeks a slight blush. "Our bond isn't as weak as to fall apart the same time as we lose a certain place of memory, right?"

He stared at her even when she looked away, his feet so used to the path that he needn't look where he was going.

Later on, after a little comfy silence, Oliver said, "You sure have a way with words, don't you?"

She blushed. "I-it's all thanks to Kat! She got me hooked on this really stellar book series that has all these complicated sentence structures that most of the time I don't understand!"

"Really?" He was intrigued. "What's the title?"

She looked away. "I keep forgetting."

His hand unconsciously gripped hers too tightly, but he immediately eased up. "Then tell me when you remember, 'kay?"

She nodded, then looked at the path. "We're almost there." She voiced out, a bit excited.

He smiled. "It's almost dawn, too."

They reached a clearing, and once their feet stepped on the first blades of overgrown grass, all life went silent to welcome the sudden visitors. For a moment in time, all was still but the flora being blown by the cold morning wind, the mist still by the ground yet showed signs of disappearing. A brook zigzagged through the valley in graceful curves, the rushing water trickling through the pebble-small rocks. Further from them was a slight elevation where the grass refused to grow higher than their ankles, an old yet lofty acacia standing sturdily with all its might, the leaves getting ready for the upcoming winter.

They stood there, together, in that quiet moment in time where all life feared their presence for the shortest while, hands intertwined, and as much as they both spent time in that place before, now it looked a tad different; a tad colorful.