The Meeting Tree [WWBM]

Chapter 5

Recap

"'...I forgot we were even different. I didn't even remember I was black or you were white. So if we love eachother, my color can't keep us apart.' His hands rest on my face as he pulls my lips to his. His hands eventually move down to my waist to pull me closer. I love him."

Narrator's POV

As they pull away from eachother, they look into eachother's eyes; putting away all differences they ever came to known.

*SPLASH*

Daniel quickly puts his hand in the water grabbing a fish by it's tail, scaring the life out of Alana.
"Sorry, it was just so slow I knew I could get it. Ya know, my plantation was located right by a river. I'd go over there and try to catch fish by hand after we worked. I'd do that everyday."
Alana sees the difference between her childhood and his. He grew up working and had to grow up quick.
"Sounds like a lot of fun!" Alana says to try to sound interested.

"Ya know, this stream flows pretty strongly in the opposite direction. I wonder if it leads to any sort of body of water." he says excitingly.
Alana shrugs her shoulders, "Well let's go see."
Alana slides her hand into his, which doesn't even surprise him. He was going to anyways...

They walk down the stream for 5 minutes, admiring nature, until they reach the end. It's a small clear water pond. You can see the fish swimming in it and the sand at the bottom. It's too good to be true. They walk to the edge of the pond and look down at the fish.

Alana is so caught up looking at the fish that she doesn't notice him take his shirt off.

Scars and cuts cover his torso. There's a particularly large one going diagonally across his chest.

He looks at her and smiles, but she continues to stare at his scar intently. She runs her hand over it, "Daniel, h-how'd you get this?"

He takes her hand from his chest and kisses it, "Don't worry about that. All is well."

Alana repeats herself, "Daniel. How did you get this?"

"2 years ago, I made a mistake. I was walking downtown, which was my first mistake, and smiled at a white woman. Simply that. Nothing more. Her husband took it as a threat and took action. He took out a knife and slashed right through my shirt. It healed."

Alana looks away and tears well up in her eyes. "Oh no no no. Stop." he begs. He wipes the tears with his fingers and pecks her on the lips. "It's okay! I'm okay! You're okay! We're okay. Please don't worry."

They both look back as they here rustling in the trees behind them. Two white boys maybe aged 14 come through the trees. The boys take one look at Alana & Daniel and take off running yelling, "Help! Help! A black boy is gon' hurt a white girl! He's keeping her captive!"

"We gotta go. Now." Daniel says quickly with a stern tone of voice. They both take off running back through the forest.

"WHAT THE H*LL! WHERE'S THE BOY!?" they hear an older voice yell. "They were over here papa! I swear it!" one of the boys yells.

Daniel guides Alana through the forest until they hear the voices getting closer. He stops and looks at her, "Can you climb?" Alana nods while panting. He starts climbing up a tree with thick leaves and thick branches that will easily hide the both of them.

He climbs up all the way and sees people in the distance coming closer. Out of instinct, he grabs her hand and just pulls her up all the way, giving her no chance to even try to climb the tree. He's holding her on his lap tightly, ready to do anything to protect her.  He holds his hand over her lips as they see the group of men & boys run directly under them, sending chills up their spines.

It's starting to get dark and Alana knows that it's past her curfew. They jumped down from the tree when they knew for a fact that the mob was gone. Alana kisses Daniel softly, "I have to go home before I get crucified Daniel. It's already past my curfew." He looks around then looks back at her, "It's too dark to walk alone lookin' like you do. If we take the back trails, it's faster and safer." Alana nods then is confused, "But how would you know the back routes to my house?" Daniel looks down at his feet and kicks a stone lightly, "Well, since the first day I met you, I've made an effort to follow you from a large distance to make sure you got home safe." Alana giggles, "Well alright then. I trust that."

They both head back to her house. When they're about 500 feet away from the house, he kisses her and lets her go.

Alana runs to the backside of her home and climbs up to her window. She opens it and crawls in. As she peaks her head out to wave goodbye, there Daniel is, shaking his head in disbelief that she just scaled the wall. She giggles and waves him goodbye. Watching him walk away, she studies every move he makes and loves every bit of him.

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author's note~

my bad. it's been a hot minute (year) since i updated. a lot has gone on. i'm gonna try to get this rolling again because ideas are finally coming to me. love you guys so much for reading.