Red Canoe

Maggie

    Some days I just want to get away; go down to the little river on the other side of the road and I listen. I hear how the water hits the rocks and seeing how the wind disturbs the leaves causing them to swirl. I don't know what it is but the sounds and the movement causes me to go into a deep trance. I do hope there's more to life than just school and boring people. When I'm by this river, sitting on this rusty old red canoe I know no one can tell me what to do; I'm on my own and detached from society. All I want is to be free.
I'm sitting on this canoe, I begin to smile and notice every small detail there is around me like how many lines leaves have, the tiny crystals that are embedded in the rocks, and the ripples in the water. Then suddenly, I feel the gentleness of someone's hand like they are touching my right shoulder, as I peak over my shoulder to see who it is, the wind picks up and all the leaves jump off the ground and begin to fly around me like they are dancing. No one's there and chills run over my body and I find myself completely alone. I see this shadow appear in the forest across the river and my first instinct is to run into the water and follow it. So that's exactly what I do and I find the shadow farther into the forest. I keep running till I trip over a log and fall face first onto the ground, I get up and look up; the sun is shining and all the leaves on the trees light up. Everything stops and everything is brilliant. I stretch my arms out as I was reaching for the impossible. Further into the forest a faint voice calls out my name, "Maggie" I stop and look in the direction the voice is coming from and I walk towards it even though my mind is telling me no. My bones tense up and I can't move but I fight it and run as fast as I can into the unknown.
Sitting on this big rock in this open space is a boy, and he's smiling at me like we were friends since forever and something about him made me feel like we were. I run up to him and ask his name, "I'm Ash" he replies while coming down from the rock, he approaches me I somehow feel safer, and then suddenly he disappears. But it doesn't seem like he has gone far.