✅ The Wishing Tree - Book Two [Completed]

The Ribbons - Part 14

The wind begins to whip my hair around my face, stinging my cheeks, sticking to my lips; I close my eyes again. I think about my pain, the ache in my joints, and the weight of my body. I'm not sure it's possible to survive what I think is coming next. I remember Mason's claim that it's possible to compartmentalize emotions. I wonder if it works that way with physical pain. 

In my mind, I build an impenetrable black box, thick and dark as the night. In it, I pack away my emotional pain and then I focus on all the parts of my body that ache or feel like they might rip from my body. I pack each of those pains, tiny and large in the box and then close the lid, sealing it tight. Mason didn't have a chance to teach me how to build his mental walls, but I know I'm capable of strange feats. 

In my mind's eye, I begin to build a brick wall around the box. Each brick I lay down becomes lighter and lighter until the wall is higher than me and solid. I imagine pushing the wall over but it doesn't falter. I open my eyes again and I see the spiraling clouds coming closer. The trees rock violently, pulling my limbs taunt and relaxed, my body rising and falling at the whim of the wind.

I close my eyes again, feeling a strange sense of peace envelope me now that my physical body is no longer in pain. I return again to the beach, standing across from Ryan.

I remember the weight and feel of the dress under my hands and as it fell away from my body. I looked up to meet Ryan's eyes, but they are no longer worry free and clear. I look down and up again, trying to rectify my vision.

"Ryan?" I whisper, stepping closer to look into his eyes.

"Hannah, how are you doing this?"

"Am I doing this?" I touch his face, afraid that my beaten body is playing tricks on my mind. "Are you real?"

"You just stepped into my dream. Hijacked it." He pushes a strand of hair away from my cheek and a grin appears on his face. He is radiant and healthy.

I glance around the beach and realize that I've brought the storm to the run down cathedral. The wind is whipping through my hair, threatening to bring down the few bricks that remain.

"I don't know what I'm doing," I admit.

He pulls me close to him and his lips cover mine. They taste of salt and are so soft a sigh escapes when he pulls away. I lean in again, desperate for his touch. When I open my eyes, the wind is ferocious and Ryan's clothes look as though they could break free of him and take flight. The heaviness of my dress is like an anchor, keeping me from drifting on the currents of the wind.

"Are you really dating Sarah?"

Ryan puts his hands on either side of my face, forcing me to maintain eye contact. I know that my insecurities and anger aren't well hidden.

"I promise you. I give you my word that it isn't at all like you think," he says.

Over Ryan's shoulder, I see Mason in the distance. He's walking toward us, wearing a white shirt and dark pants. He's holding his arm across his face, shielding himself from the violent wind. I step off to the side of Ryan and call out to him.

"Mason! Mason!"

He crouches lower and drives his head into the wind, making some progress. I turn back to speak to Ryan, but he's gone. When I look up again, Mason is standing in front of me.

"You have to go back, Hannah. You can't stay here."

"I don't know where 'here' is, Mason. I thought I was in one of Ryan's dreams."

Mason shakes his head. "I created this, to try to help you up there. But, I can't sustain it. The storm is too strong."

He touches the side of my face with his hand and his thumb brushes away a tear I didn't realize I shed.

I swallow. "He wasn't here."

Mason doesn't answer me but instead smooths my hair away from my face. It's futile. The wind picks it up immediately and throws the strands around.

"Go back, Hannah."

"I don't want to do this anymore, Mason. I feel like I'm losing sight of why it even matters. Ryan's doing things that don't make sense. He looked sick and I think he and Maizie are lying to me." I know I'm on the verge of pleading with him. "I just wish everyone would let me go. I just want to let go." Tears spill down my cheeks. "It doesn't hurt anymore, Mason."

He gives me a soft smile and brushes away my tears as they fall. "Then why are you crying?"

Despair threatens to sink me. I choke on a sob. "I lost my anchor. I'm drifting. I..."

His touch is tender and his eyes are like the color of a well-tended field. "I'll be your seabed; anchor to me; I'll get you home." He pulls me into a tight hug and the storm around me starts to calm. The wind dies down to a whisper and when I open my eyes again, I'm still in the tree. I look down, greeted by a sea of white fabric. My wedding dress.

"We're here, Queenie. We're going to cut you down." Mason's voice drifts over from the nearest tree.

I don't turn in his direction, instead I look up at the sky and laugh. I made it.

I can hear the grin in his voice when he says, "Now, there's my girl. Only you could face death and come out better dressed."

Author's Note:

How does Hannah survive the ribbons? How does Mason help her in this chapter? What does the dress symbolize?